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OH what COULD HAVE BEEN! This FULL SIZE Set of the Garden outside the Moulin Rouge In the Commemorative Pavilion
(Stage 1) Fox Studios) only lasted five shooting days before it was destroyed to make way for Star Wars. Shooting continued right up until the very last moment (3am Saturday) with the bulldozers moving in by 7am the same morning. Particular attention should be drawn to the intricate lighting display above the rear facade of the Moulin Rouge - built entirely of welded steel sections and using over 4000 festoon fittings painstakingly installed by Artist Elex staff Phil Landers and Tony Lannoy. Fortunately (in between the wrap at 3am and the destruction four hours later) we were able to save a number of these fantastic constructions - they remain in storage at the Artist Elex warehouse today!

Below : Spectacular Spectacular, otherwise known as the "Hindi" set and attached to the Main Hall Set at the stage end. For example,
every light on the TajMahal at the rear of this set is a SBC BRASS fitting (regular festoons were deemed too large). There are 450 of them
on this panel alone, each wired independently by hand and looped.. by Art Elex staff. In the original design, the lights installed on the
giant hearts and steps on this set were "definitely not required to be chased". Direction was given to wire them as a complete block,
and no additional funds were allocated to wiring them for a chase (which would have trebled the cable required). I was uneasy
with this, and managed to "borrow" funds from other set's allocations and we wired the Hindi for chase anyway (unknown to the
production staff.) Imagine the Art Director's feelings when the Directors' call came.. Whoops.. we need them to chase after all!.
"Yeah well I guess we can do it".. came our reply.. knowing full well that the work had already been completed and it only required
a slight rearrangement of wiring at the supply end. A potential expensive disaster had been averted (again) by the forethought of
Artist Electronics staff - and the results looked fantastic. But then again, that's all in a days' work at Artist Electronics!

The "Chop and change" aspect of this production (like most) made planning difficult. However due to a close and trusting relationship
between Art Elex and the Production staff it was possible to keep enough materials and workers in reserve to meet challenges as they arose.
Many decisions added significantly to costs and whilst we saved significant funds on the Hindi by pre-wiring it to chase, this was
quickly swallowed up by production schedule changes which required most of the work to be undertaken at the same time as
shooting commenced in the adjacent Main Hall set. This led to a 50% time waste factor as all work stopped for every shoot, meaning most
tasks took twice as long as they should to complete. If I hear anyone sing and yell "Roxanne" I still get a shiver up my spine today..

THE MAIN HALL SET

This hall was electrically made up of;

) Upper and Lower "Friezes" (two rows each of 25w globes spaced 150mm apart) consisting entirely of rear wired
Clipsal festoon fittings. Total 1850 fittings.
) Upper "Curtain Lights" and the lights above the bars, which consisted entirely of SBC Brass fittings individually wired
with 25w globes. Total 380 fittings.
) Large and small "Wall Sconses" (two per "section, plus numerous larger ones affixed to the central columns).
These were built from scratch by the Models dept using
plaster moulds with cables installed in the moulds, and then
BC Brass fittings installed by Art Elex. Total 180 fittings.
) The two Grand Chandeliers (which are hardly seen in the film) built entirely of welded steel with 40 x BC Brass 100W fittings
and globes per chandelier (4 circuits per unit, Wieland
Multipinned).

Unlike other sets, there was over three months allowed for the rigging and wiring of this set. However there were continual
additions occurring all the time. A significant number of low voltage "Windmill blades" also featured on this set which
were built in the same way as the other Moulin Rouge models. The decision to re-shoot most of the "can can" dance
resulted in this set "going back in time" and being re rigged as the original Moulin Rouge after the Spectacular Spectacular
details were already shot. this meant a significant amount of the set was built twice. The CanCan was re-shot after Baz
decided to include Fatboy Slim's version of "Do the Can Can" in the film. (The original Can Can as shot first time
can be seen on the DVD). As with the Garden set, shooting continued right upto "the bell" at 1am Saturday Night, with
demolition comencing later the following morning. Fortunately Art Elex were able to salvage most of the electrical materials from this set before it was demolished and these remain in storage. This was the third time Fox's "Heavy Handed" approach had resulted in such a fiasco happening (earlier it had happened with the Garden set and waaay back with the Babe Backlot in 1998). For this reason Fox has developed a sour taste in the mouths of some Australian producers as being inflexible and draconian.