Over the past year or so, I have gotten several requests for interviews from current students who wished to go into production design. I have answered their questions quite happily, and with a modicum of flattery. I don’t know when I went from being a student to an expert (though we never really stop being students) but I’m always happy to pass along what I’ve learned. I realize there are probably others who would benefit from what I had to say, so I decided to compile all my various answers here, for all up and coming designers to see.
1. Why did you decide to become a Production Designer?
I was really inspired by movies with very strong production design elements like fantasy, science fiction, and period pieces, because I loved stepping into a completely different world through the film. When I realized it was someone’s job to create those worlds, I knew that’s what I wanted to do.
2. What techniques and skills do you typically use in you work?
A production designer has to use a range of skills. You have to be an illustrator, graphic designer, architect, interior designer, painter, furniture designer, textiles expert, color expert, photographer and storyteller all wrapped up into one. In low budget film they often don’t have the resources to hire a full art department, so I have done sets, props and costumes as have most of the other designers I’ve met. Even if you specialize in one area, it’s best to learn them all because you may never end up doing costumes, but you will want to work with the costume designer to create a unified look.
I have a background in architectural design, so I call upon those skills quite often. Other designers with skills in other areas might go about creating their designs differently, to play up the skills that are strongest for them. But it’s best to study all areas of design, because you will be required to call upon all of them at some point, and will become a better designer overall.
3. What is the typical process that you go through when designing for film/theatre? (for example, meeting with directors, conceptualizing the script, producing preliminary sketches etc)
The first thing I always look at is the script. I like to see a script even before I meet with a director if it’s at all possible. I want to be inspired by the story and have a desire to actually create sets for it, otherwise the work is not going to be worth it in the end. Since I often work on very low budget independent movies, I then talk to a director and get all the logistics; what the budget is, how much time is available, what the location and set requirements are. Quite often, people have expectations that cannot be met in the time period or under the budget restrictions, so it’s good to gage that right off the bat. And the sign of a job well done, is one that exceeds the director’s expectations
The next step is to conceptualize the designs, which I usually do by writing notes on the script about certain props or set pieces that are mentioned, or moments that help inspire the mood for the design. Then I create concept illustrations either by hand or occasionally by collage on photoshop. I like this method because I get to both look for images that help inspire the design, and create my own concepts at the same time
From there each project takes its own path depending on the needs and the logistics of the project. Some of them require a lot of shopping and sourcing, others require a lot of designing in advance down to careful details. It’s important to have flexible working methods that fit the needs of each project.
4. What are the differences between designing for film and designing for theatre?
The one major difference is that in theater everything has to be built for, fully functional for, and scaled for the specific project. You cannot improvise as much in theater because everything has to work for a real time performance. In film, you can change your ideas as you go along, you can move a set around to suit the camera angles, you can cheat the positions of the set pieces and where the actors stand, to better the final result. And while film is about both the big picture (wide angles) and details (close ups) theater is really about one big picture. Yes, all the details have to work, but they are nothing compared to the impression of the overall set.
5. What is the most difficult aspect of your work?
Getting decent pay. Enough said.
6. What is the nature of the industry that you work in? (for example, is it ever difficult do find employment? Do you work freelance or are you attached to a certain production company?)
It has not really been difficult to find projects to work on as a freelancer, but it is difficult to find projects with sufficient or even any pay. More often than not, production designers will not be attached to a particular company. Most set designers do freelance contract work. In order to make a living you would probably be working on multiple projects at the same time or have a day job. I used my design skills to maintain a steady job in architecture for years, while I worked on indy films in my spare time.
In the US there are a lot of unions and guilds one can join, depending on where you live, which will offer the benefit of more regular work. The one disadvantage of joining a union is that you must take a certain amount of union jobs per-year and are only allowed to take a limited number of non-union jobs. If your numbers don’t match, you end up owing them money at the end of the year. Steady work comes easiest from a solid reputation. Once you have impressed a few directors and producers with your work, they will recommend you to others. Building a network is the most powerful tool you have for getting work and eventually getting decently paid work.
4. From your experience overseas, what have been the local differences in design for film?
The film industry is noticeably smaller in Sydney. In New York I was often picking and choosing between projects. Out here I have taken a lot of the work I have found because there were fewer options. And even in just a few short months, I have worked with the same people again. That’s both a good and bad thing. An Indy filmmaker has a much better chance of standing out and making themselves known in a market that has a lot less noise, but it does make for limited opportunities.
I have also noticed that in Australia, people give significantly less time to development and pre-production. This means they are hiring designers WAY TOO LATE! I am floored whenever I see a posting for a production that is hiring within two weeks of their shoot date, and looking for production designers along with boom operators and PAs. The production designer is KEY CREW! It doesn’t matter if you are shooting entirely on location and have an extremely limited budget, without someone to pay attention to the overall look of your film, it will not be consistent and will inevitably create a distance between your audience and your story. Film a visual medium, so how it looks is just as important as what it says. I have also run into many producers and directors who said they tried to design their projects themselves. They only make that mistake once.
5. Finally, do you think that design for theatre and film will change and progress in the future? Are there any new technologies that will revolutionize this area that you know of?
CGI and 3D technologies have already revolutionized the industry. People can now make very stylized films quite easily. In the past, the painterly touches you now see on films like Avatar were limited to films with heavy fantasy and a more narrow audience appeal. But now, audiences have adapted to films that have a very stylized look. They no longer expect everything to look real in order for it to feel real.
This type of filmmaking is still in its infancy and, as is always the case when learning a new art form, a lot of design mistakes are being made. (This is where I insert my personal opinion) Movies like the latest Star Wars trilogy and Indiana Jones incorporated elaborate CG sets that had no practical reason for existence and served no function for the story. Television shows like V use fancy camera movements to show off sets that are, frankly, cartoonish, badly rendered, and laughable. Remakes like King Kong and Clash of the Titans, go overboard creating highly detailed monsters to the point where the original stop motion creatures look much scarier than their rubbery-limbed modern day counter parts. And in the latest Alice in Wonderland, filmmakers went out of their way to design for a 3D experience, but didn’t utilize the technology properly and the film fell short of showcasing the designs they way it should have.
This technology will make for some amazingly beautiful films, but people have to adapt to, and learn the advantages and limitations of the technology. And most importantly, they must remember that the rules of good design; practicality, functionality, emotional response and contribution to the story, still apply.
To learn more about my design work, you can click on any of the images above to be directed to my portfolio, or take a look at my list of services on immmagination.com.
