All language subtitles for 111 - Production Design

production designers are very interesting people they

they have to understand construction

um they're practical people have to be

but they also really need to be dreamers

they're you know

a little bit more like architects

um and uh and

and they're artists

you know many of them are artists

they can you know

I mean they can

they can 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 an authenticity is what is gonna be

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

perhaps in ways that might surprise you as the director

and elevate the visual palette and

and impact of a

of a of a movie

and even if you're talking about

using all practical locations

and not investing in 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 of of

of what the project can be

and a creative and emotional investment

from that production designer to

you know to help

not only get great locations and sets

not only come up with new ideas that go even further

in terms of details and possibilities

but but but

but also just you know

be willing to commit themselves

you know wholeheartedly

in on the project because

being a production designer on a project is a huge

huge challenge

and and it's

there's a tremendous responsibility

and that person deserves to be a part of the

the most inner circle

production designer is um

you know is the

is 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 needs 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 there on time

and that they can be

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

and they're not around to ask the casual question and

and sometimes

you know there's a sort of a

you know a natural disconnect that happens and

but a great production designer

working in concert with the director and of course

the cinematographer

can you know

they can literally move mountains

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 wanna 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 a

sort of a disconnect in a conversation

so if if they're presenting one idea and you're saying

I never really thought of it that way

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 tangible evidence of 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 gonna go through a process

with the production designer

unlike what you will with a cinematographer

where you're really in the moment

as the sun is going up or coming down and the

and the weather is about to change

and you're trying to shoot and shoot quickly

you're gonna 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 gonna be built

and a chance to have a really thoughtful conversation

um and um and so it's a

it's a different kind of collaboration

it often demands 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 gonna need to use the entire space

if it's a practical location

or build a set three 60

or you know

will a couple of walls

and a staircase in the foreground suffice

that that's very meaningful

in terms of the way they're gonna

a lot their resources

and 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 a a

a railing in the foreground

or about 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

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

the other thing that I

that I would

I would say um

in terms of working with a production designer

even more then 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 gonna have as

as a filmmaker and uh

the clearer line of communication

you're gonna have with the production designer

whose job it is to make sure that on that day um

you know those uh

those sets are they'll

are there to tell the story in the way that you wanna

uh express it

I wind up spending a great deal of time

with a 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 in almost every instance

the production designer is there

you know at the the

at the moment that you actually

open up a production office

they're like the

the second higher after the

after the line producer

sometimes the palette

and the colors that you're gonna use um

something that you have very little control over

because if you're using practical locations

um you're not gonna be able to paint everything you

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

and that's an area that's subtle

but can be so significant

and you can have a beautiful gown for

you know your leading lady

but if it bumps with the color of the walls on the set

it you know it just

it 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 the

the the lighting style

it's not gonna 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 I I I I

I like for the

the production designer

the the the

the costume designer and the

the property master to take their

their best pieces of

of research

make color Xeroxes of them

and stick them up on the walls over by

usually the bathroom of the production office

or the kitchen

because I really

I always want people to

you know to be immersed in the aesthetic

and begin to get a sense of what

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 gonna be driving

all you know

all of these things add up

they're all part of the mosaic and um the

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 communicative

the movie will be on a

on a sort of a subliminal level

audiences should never think about these things

you know and unless there's some extreme

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 director

um is vital

it's it's the

ultimately it's gonna 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 attention

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 gonna 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 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

a 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 there are

um you know

the absolute work courses 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

you know 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 departments point of view

not just the director's point of view

so it's a sometimes

managing the emotions of these very talented people

and their own feeling

their own pressure

is 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