All language subtitles for MasterClass Ron Howard Teaches Directing - 111 - Production Design

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production designers are very

interesting people they they have to

understand

construction um they're practical people

they have to be but they also really

need to be dreamers they're you know a

little bit more like

Architects um and uh uh and and they're

artists you know many of them are

artists they could you know I mean they

could they could paint beautifully they

can draw it's uh very very

useful to

not dictate too specifically early on to

a production designer um unless it's

just so vivid in your mind or you know

you know you're recreating something

that and authenticity is what is going

to be uh driving every conversation and

and every defining every

expectation um very creative people and

it's important early on to um allow them

to dream and dream along with them and

they can be a real secret weapon in

terms of helping to to elevate the

visual possibilities of a story and help

Define the tone uh perhaps in ways that

might surprise you as the Director and

Elevate the visual pallet uh and um um

and and and and um impact of a of a of a

movie and even if you're talking about

using all practical locations and not

investing and building sets I think that

if if you work with the production

designer sometimes along with the

cinematographer that you create a kind

of a visual understanding uh of uh of of

what the project can be and a creative

and emotional investment from that

production design ER to uh you know to

help not only get great locations and

sets not only uh come up with new ideas

that go even further in terms of details

and possibilities um but uh but but but

also just you know be willing to to

commit themselves uh you know

wholeheartedly in uh on on the project

because being a production designer on a

project is is a huge huge Challenge and

um and it's there's a tremendous

responsibility and that person deserves

to be a part of the the um the most

Inner

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Circle production designer is um you

know is the is the the individual who's

in charge of making sure that that um

you know that the stage is set for each

and every scene that if it's a practical

location that it looks the way it need

to look that it has the you know it it

you can tell the story well there um

that the um um it's the right it's the

right feel it's interesting it's got the

right props in it the right the right

set

decoration building upon that they're

the ones who are responsible for not

only designing sets built on sound

stages but also making sure that they're

they're there on time and that they can

be uh you know efficiently transformed

from for use in one scene uh into

another and and that all of that can

happen uh on budget and on time and so

their their job is both creative um and

uh and logistical and they there's a

tremendous amount of pressure on

production designers and they're also

not always in the flow of the

conversation because they're working out

ahead

of the production they're preparing sets

for a week from now two weeks from now

uh and um they're not around to ask the

Casual question and and sometimes you

know there's a sort of a um you know a

natural disconnect that happens and um

but a great production designer working

in concert with the director and of

course the

cinematographer uh can U um you know

they can literally move mountains

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production designers are very very

dependent upon their

reputation because it's kind of

mysterious what they do and it's also um

um you know a part of the production

that can suddenly become very costly and

no one sees it coming uh it can hold up

production because um dates weren't made

or um the expectations were not met

creatively in terms of what the set was

supposed to look like so um production

designers depend a lot on their

reputation it's a good idea to call and

talk to people who've really you know

been through the process with a

production designer the the other thing

though is that is that

creative connection the same kind of

conversation that you want to have with

really everybody on the production

whether they're the you know the the

costume designers uh the head of the

makeup Department the cinematographer

later a composer again it's vitally

important that the production designer

reads the script understands the story

and can come to you with a point of view

so that you understand on an organic

level what their instincts are telling

them if you disagree with

it I think it's important to state that

and I think it's fair to give a

production designer a chance to respond

to uh a sort of a disconnect in a

conversation so if if if they're

presenting one idea and you're saying uh

I never really thought of it that way

I'm I see these photographs that you're

showing me but I was thinking of

something like

this I don't think that's a hopeless

sort of um non-starter I think I think

at that point if you allow the

production designer to go back and think

about it and come back at you with

more um sort of a tangible evidence of a

of of a direction that he or she would

go that perhaps is more consistent with

what you were talking about I believe

that you can count on their ability to

execute that because very often you are

going to go through a process with the

production designer unlike what you will

with a cinematographer where you're

you're really in the moment as the sun

is going up or coming down and thee and

the weather is about to change and

you're trying to shoot and shoot quickly

you're going to be involved with a

production designer in a more methodical

way there will be blueprints that you

will look at there will be small models

perhaps of sets that are going to be

built and a chance to have a really

thoughtful

conversation um and um and and so it's a

it's a different kind of collaboration

it often demands

understands that you as a director have

begun to formulate your sense of what

you're going to need in terms of staging

the

scenes because that's what the

production designer cares about you know

where will the actors be where are we

going to look where will the camera be

you don't have to be exact but they need

to have a sense of whether they're going

to need to use the entire space if it's

a practical location or build a set 360

or

you know will a couple of walls and a

staircase in the foreground suffice that

that's uh very meaningful in terms of

the way they're going to aot their

resources and um so that that's where

it's very helpful for a director to to

you know have some ideas

cinematographers can help in this regard

and production designers can as well

because they can come to you and say if

we could shoot this with just two walls

and a bit of a you know u a railing in

the foreground or a staircase banister

and if you could shoot through that

banister we could give the impression

they could come walking down those

stairs and go through and if the scene

could play that way you know it's much

more manageable do you think that would

work and they often can come up with

ideas that are very

creative um and don't involve

overbuilding uh the set which can be so

costly

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the other thing that I that I would I

would say um in terms of of working with

a production designer even more than in

working with the cinematographer is to

come up with a lot of tangible examples

of what it is you're talking about

whether it's a fantasy or a comedy or

something very realistic the more you

can have a shared conversation over an

image um the the better

um it's um you know the more clarity

you're going to have as as a filmmaker

and uh the clearer line of communication

you're going to have with a production

designer whose job it is to make sure

that on that day um you know those uh

those sets are there are there to tell

the story in the way that you want to uh

express it I wind up spending a great

deal of time with the production

designer at the beginning because the

production designer is always there when

we go Scout locations and so um you know

the

the the

beginning collaboration usually starts

with a production designer a line

producer and perhaps an assistant

director and so um in in almost every

instance uh the production designer is

there you know at the the at the moment

that you actually open up a a production

office they're they're like the the

second higher after the after the uh

line

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producer sometimes the palette and the

colors that you're going to use um

something that you have very little

control over because if you're using

practical

locations um you're not going to be able

to paint everything you're you you may

not be able to control it and and um um

and sometimes it's not a character in a

in a movie but when it can be then

there's an important collaboration Not

Just Between the cinematographer and the

production designer but also um the the

costume designer that becomes vitally

important and and uh and that's an area

that's subtle but can be so significant

uh and you can have a

beautiful gown for you know your Leading

Lady

but uh if it bumps with the color of the

walls on the set it you know it it just

it undercut undercuts everything the

cinematographer can try to can try to

light it but if the color of the

walls um you know um clashes with uh the

the the lighting style it's not going to

be rich and um and cohesive visually so

in order to get that kind of seamless

feel there simply has to be an ongoing

conversation another another really

great um idea is to is to keep putting

up images in the common space I I'm um

um I I I like for the the production

designer the the the the costume

designer and um the the property Master

to take their their best pieces of uh of

research make color xeroxes of them and

stick them up on the walls over by

usually the bathroom of the production

office uh or the kitchen because I I

really I I always want people to uh you

know to be immersed in the aesthetic and

begin to get a sense of what the the

color palette wants to be then as you

get closer to production you can become

much more specific about it but you know

um color is another one of those factors

right along with haircuts and makeup and

um you know and the kinds of cars that

they're going to be driving all you know

all of these things add up they're all

part of the Mosaic and um the uh the

more you think about it discuss it know

to examine it and ask those questions of

yourself and of your team um the the

more uh sort of cohesive and um on a and

and and therefore uh communicative the

movie will be on a on a on a sort of a

subliminal level audiences should never

think about these things you know and

unless there's some extreme um stylistic

example but when it's right it means

they shouldn't have to think about it

they just feel

it the relationship between the

cinematographer and the production

designer and of course the the director

um is vital it's it's the ultimately

it's going to define the look of the

film The the sense of um of um you know

immersion that an audience is going to

feel uh

sometimes it's a little bit tricky

sometimes there's a kind of a tension

between cinematographers and production

designers very often they work very very

well together and yet there's this this

kind of um

a pressure

because the

cinematographer feels sometimes that

they're expected to make every scene

look exactly as it ought to look in some

interesting Artful way and yet if the

set or the location won't allow the

lighting it's either going to take you

know a tremendous amount of time to

create the look that the director wants

or that the scene seems to demand or it

may it may just be impossible and it may

be a you know a situation where they

have to compromise sometimes the color

palette can uh uh clash with what the

cinematographer is trying to do with the

lighting so it's so important to to

create um a running conversation and try

to keep that communication going very

often uh assistant directors can be

invaluable uh uh you know in in in this

regard um they are um you know the

absolute workhorses of every project and

a good assistant director can do a lot

more than just manage the schedule and

make sure the actors are there on time

um and they're telling people what the

next setup is it can also be uh you know

a

tremendous um administrator of

information thinking ahead and making

sure that people are going to be

compatible in their understanding of you

know what what the needs of a scene uh

coming up might be from the various

Department's point of view not just the

director's point of view so it's a uh

sometimes managing the the emotions of

these very talented people uh and and

their own feeling their own pressure is

U another part of the director's job it

doesn't just begin and end with

cinematographers and production

designers it can go into every area and

every key department and um you know

those collaborations are are are vital

as well