part one of studio shoot: production designer

The Role of a Production Designer:

They are the Head of the Art department and thereby the person responsible for the visual look of the production and the choices made. They work with the Director, Producer and Director of Photography to select the best style to tell the story.

In our Art Department I'm the production designer, Anike is the set dresser and Grace is the wardrobe/make-up artist. As part of our first three studio shoot group meetings the concept of the story kept changing so we were unable to come up with much in terms of a look, so the three of us decided to meet up to discuss the possible look based off the outline of an idea.

First, we researched the photo and Gregory Crewdson's inspiration - David Lynch.

So after this I created a mood board to portray the sort of atmosphere I wished out set to convey in relevance to the story-line of an unusual family in a dystopian type of location.

I also mainly focused on the sofa as I felt within the image it was the most eye-catching piece of furniture and the careless/carefree way the girl lay was very much what inspired most of our ideas.

It's very much the starting days for our studio shoot and without a script and communication it's very hard to come up with much in terms of what the director and dop will want to see.

The next step would be reading through a draft of a script to visualise the story so that I get a better understanding of how the story will unfold.

As it happens at the moment myself, the director and the set dresser have all taken on the role of writing up a broader version of the story line from the previous script-writing team just so we could present a more detailed plot to our group tomorrow.

Based off this I have also created a rough set design and along with Anike and Grace we have come up with a rough list of possible props/wardrobe within a budget of £100 or less that we hope to pursue with the producer.


The list of things I have to do as a Production Designer:

• Envision the look and layout of the set based off the script
• Fulfil the requirements to portray the wanted atmosphere
• Brief the look of the characters
• Communicate this information to the DOP, Director and Producer for approval
• Forward these plans to Anike for budgeting with Producer
• Forward wardrobe/make-up related research to Grace

chapter 0 - belongings & the first look

'Individual contributors were selected and approached with the simple request to provide the artists with an object that had a special story or memory attached. They were asked to record that story, yet not reveal it. The artists used the loaned objects as muse and stimulation for their writing to unfold, creating new narrative potential. The artists publication contains photographs of the belongings and the writings they inspired.'


- Belongings by Lucy May Schofield and Sylvia Waltering

◾ the self illusion by bruce hood - what exactly is 'you'?

◾ what if our belongings own us? when there's too much or they're too precious and we never have that sense of nakedness because we always have something that's ours. who are the people who don't have anything? is it refreshing to have nothing?

◾ do they speak about who we are or are they merely objects? 

◾ does location affect meaning of objects?

◾ objectified memories and ambiguity of belongings

Richard Mosse - The Enclave

'The Enclave, 2012–13, is a visceral and moving work by Irish artist Richard Mosse filmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Commissioned for the Irish representation at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, The Enclave is an immersive six-screen video art installation.'

 IDEA of what I want to achieve: 

 Description:  

An exploration of individuals and their identities through objectified (objectify [verb] - express something abstract in a concrete form) memories to shape a metaphorical and authentic blueprint of people.

The source would be an invite to people to bring in an object of importance or value and vague explanation of their choice. Outcome would be an audio-visual piece using speakers and projection.

 Context:  

I think foremost this work relates back to individuality, self-discovery and self-awareness that has previously been present in most of my written work, i.e. poetry. I’m interested in drawing a visual sketch that portrays the human nature, in questioning ‘US’ as both a large group and individuals that make it.

I believe this work will also push my VFX skills as it requires a lengthy and time-consuming use of After Effect, as inspired by the Pujottelua video. I also hope to pursue this idea further in terms of contextuality as I find using belongings to explore a person to be a very intriguing and obscure subject.

In terms of output I have thoroughly enjoyed Richard Mosse and the way the audience can walk around his projections, thereby almost becoming a part of the piece. 

 Skills:  

I am currently looking into the use of an infinity table within a studio to capture photographs of items to use for the project. To do this I will require the assistance of students who could volunteer to bring in items as specified in a post I will put up online, as well as provide me with a vague explanation of their meaning behind the items.

Furthermore, this piece will push my creative skills as it requires research into the relationship of audio and visuals within a piece that is meant to almost hypnotise the viewer. For the outcome it would be important to have a speaker and projector as I will edit the sound to have specific bass levels and for the video to have a certain level of contrast against a white wall.

 Audience:  

The work itself is meant to question how we view each other and ourselves, and whether our identities can be stripped until all that’s left is our belongings that tell a story of who we were as people. I hope that this piece hypnotises the viewer until they look away and question why they were looking at such a variety of objects, and whether it ever meant anything, unaware of the depth of the story behind each individual piece that will fade in this large project.

I have found that the vibrations of a speaker would push the atmosphere of the piece and the projector would involve the audience in a physical way, hence the certain chose for the technical portrayal of the outcome. 

chapter 0 - map of your head

Despite the very unusual and seemingly insensitive title, this short film tackles a dysfunctional family using non-standard documentary/experimental media techniques - it tries to get inside the late father's head by looking at his belongings and possessions, as well as conversations with the family.

The unique approach to stop-motion that seems to relate to the soundtrack is very enchanting, and the mixture of film sources used is both somewhat overwhelming and extremely intriguing. 

I feel like this is an interesting approach to 'getting inside someone's head'.

However, I am looking for a less 'short film' kind of outcome and more of a visual representation of a journey through.

With that in mind, here are questions I'm trying to answer:

1. Who's head am I trying to get inside?

2. How do I do this? How do I draw a map of someone's head?

3. Why is this important? How can it impact/change the viewer?

4. What format is this going to be in?

(Currently am leaning towards an After Effects project with minimum sound (but still present).

However I should probably explore the idea of both visual and melodic journey.)

The style of this short experimental film is amazing and I'm at a loss of words to explain how it's been done. To me it represents a thin wall between two worlds where if you look from a certain angle you can actually see through that layer.

Here are some After Effects experiments I've done, such as smooth zoom and 360 footage turn. I've just done these to get more comfortable with using VFX.