This time next week, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 should be well on its way to a monster opening weekend. If you haven’t purchased your tickets yet, your local theater is likely sold out. In the countdown to the latest Hunger Games movie, I constructed a behind the scenes slideshow of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 for Ranker.com. There’s lots of cool little trivia bits and quotes from the stars of this latest Hunger Games film, but here are just three of the 30 to help wet your appetite.

1. Designers were careful not to make Katniss look like a superhero

When the Kurt & Bart costume design team designed Katniss’s Mockingjay battle uniform, they visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at their armor collection. “It was important to us and to director Francis Lawrence that Katniss not look like a superhero but more like a real woman soldier. Both the soldiers and Katniss have protective breast plates, but hers is a little fancier, while still being functional.”

2. District 13’s design came from 1960s and 1970s nuclear facilities

According to production designer Phil Messina, the inspiration for the design of District 13 came from 1960s and 1970s nuclear facilities. “The idea is that District 13 has developed as a kind of closed-loop society,” Messina said. “They have been completely cut off from The Capitol, so they’ve been adding on new technology on top of old technology. You will see analog push buttons next to high tech – and that mix was very intentional on our part.”

3. Hovercrafts seen flying in the film were hung from large cranes

The hovercrafts seen flying in the film were actually hung from large cranes to simulate flight. “It took a lot of calculations to make sure the crane would be safe,” Messina said. “The Atlanta special effects department built a steel structure that they were confident about. It had to be rehung at different places and it was a huge pain, but it really paid off with some fantastic footage that looks like a real craft landing from the inside.”

Ok, that’s it. Check out the rest of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 behind the scenes slideshow over on Ranker!