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WHAT TO WATCH
You can learn a lot from making mistakes, such as Lost in La Mancha. Unfortunately, the mistakemaking process can be really uncomfortable and expensive. However, there are lots of other people out there also making mistakes, so there’s no reason you can’t exploit their misfortune for your own edification. Terry Gilliam, director of Brazil, The Fisher King, and Time Bandits, made a whole sling of mistakes while trying to make a movie version of Don Quixote.
From choosing locations on an Air Force training ground to having his equipment wash away during a flash flood (in an area of Spain known for freak storms), his decisions on this film make fine examples of how not to make a movie. Fortunately, the movie Lost in La Mancha does an excellent job of documenting the entire debacle, giving you a chance to vicariously experience movie making gone awry. Other good “don’t do this” examples can be found in the documentaries Hearts of Darkness, about the making of Francis Ford Copolla’s Apocalypse Now, and Burden of Dreams, about the making of Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo.
Production Design
An important part of preproduction is the chance to work with your crew to create the “look” of your movie—from the elements on the set, to the way the movie will be shot and cut— a process also known as production design.
Whether you do it yourself or attach a professional production designer or art director to your project, defining the look is more than just creating a style; it’s a chance to explore how all of the elements at your disposal can be used to strengthen your visual image and, consequently, your story.
The goal of production design is to enhance the story by adding to the available visual palette. For example, in Trainspotting, every wall is painted a striking color, often covered in a thick layer of grime: turquoise, red, green, and mustard yellow. This dark, rich palette conveys an atmosphere of opiate sensuality appropriate to the film. In the film Red, the color palette is biased toward occasional touches of bright reds against a background of charcoal grays and rich dark browns. In American Beauty, the sets are dressed in typical suburban furniture just verging on “kitsch.” The comfortable excess of the main family’s house lies in sharp contrast to the austere, traditional Americana furniture in the house of the family next door. In Do the Right Thing, bright reds in the sets and clothing are used to increase both the feeling of hot summer and the emotional intensity of the drama (see Color Plates 8–10).
Just as the director of photography is head of the camera department, the production designer is head of the art department. The production designer usually starts working early in the process, helping to generate storyboards and an overall “look” for the project. The title of this position might vary—you might use an art director or a set designer instead of a production designer, but their duties will be relatively the same. On a big movie, the production designer is responsible for the overall vision, while the art director implements that vision and manages the art department crew, which includes set designers, set dressers, prop masters, modelers, scenic painters, set construction workers, and production assistants.
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Art Directing Basics
Good art direction is a combination of the symbolic and the practical. If your story is about a young girl growing up in Kansas in 1850, you’ll be limited to certain types of buildings, furniture, and clothes. However, you still have the choice of giving her a sunlit, whitewashed bedroom with furnishings upholstered in bright calico fabrics, or an age-darkened room with indirect sunlight and dull, dark fabrics. These simple details tell two very different stories.
One of the easiest ways to add visual symbolism to a scene is via lighting. Colors also have strong connotations for people. Black often connotes death, while red conjures feelings of blood and violence, but also love and passion; blue is peaceful and calming, but can also create a feeling of sadness, and so on. Similarly, styles of furniture and clothing can say a lot about a character. An elderly woman living alone in a house decorated in sparse Eames furniture from the 1960s might indicate someone who won’t let go of the past. Change the character to a young man, and the same furniture indicates a trendy sense of style. Clutter can be comfortable or claustrophobic; sparseness can be clean or indicative of emotional emptiness. In addition to externalizing the themes of the story, production design should also aid in focusing the viewer’s eye, a challenge that goes hand in hand with lighting and framing the shot.
WHAT TO WATCH
Narc, this gritty tale of undercover narcotics agents is set in modern-day Detroit, but the lack of modern props and recognizable establishing shots give it a timeless, placeless feeling: this is a story that could happen anywhere in America.
Building a Set
If your location needs are very specific, it might be easier to build a set than to find the right location. Whether you build your set on a stage or at a location, you’ll need to spend some extra effort to make it look real. Sets are usually built out of flats, large, hollow wooden walls that are held up from the rear with supports. If you rent a soundstage, you might find that several flats come with the stage rental. You can paint them the color of your choice.
Typically, a room built on a stage will have three solid walls and a fourth wall on wheels for use when needed. Many flats have doors or windows built into them. When shopping for a soundstage, look for one that has the type of flats you need. If your needs are very specialized, you may have to build your own flats and color or texture them appropriately. For example, you can easily create a stucco or adobe look by gluing foamcore to a flat and then spray painting it. (Spray paint dissolves foamcore.) Hiring a set carpenter can save lots of time and trouble.
Retail Therapy
Good set dressers and wardrobe people spend a lot of time browsing in the shops in their city. A thorough knowledge of where to buy odds and ends is one of the secrets of their profession.
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Set Dressing and Props
Whether you have a found location or a built set, the next step is to dress it. Because they’re completely empty, dressing a built set takes more work than handling a found location. On the other hand, your options might be limited when dressing a found location because you’ll want to avoid disturbing the occupants or ruining their property. Either way, a good prop (short for property) can really sell a weak location. A giant gilded Victorian mirror, a barber’s chair, a mirrored disco ball—the mere presence of these objects tells you where you are and makes the location believable. Props can be very expensive to rent, but if you can find that one key piece, it might be worth the money. In addition to prop rental houses, you can sometimes rent props from retailers. Usually, this will involve a hefty deposit and the requirement that it be returned in perfect condition.
If your film involves weapons and fight scenes, you’ll need special props such as breakaway furniture and glass, fake knife sets, and realistic-looking guns. Fake knife sets usually include a real version of the knife, a rubber version, a collapsible version, and a broken-off version. Renting a realistic-looking gun usually involves some extra paperwork, and you are required to keep it concealed at all times. If you have a really specialized object that you need—like the Get Smart shoe-phone—you’ll probably need to have a fabricator or modeler make it for you.
DIY Art Direction
Creative art direction can be one of the most effective ways to add production values to your film cheaply. A lot can be done with a couple gallons of paint, some elbow grease, and a trip to the local thrift store.
Here’s a list of some basic ways to upgrade your set without spending a lot of money:
nGet rid of the white walls. Most offices, houses, and apartments have white walls. They might look fine in real life, but not on camera. First of all, if you are shooting in a small room, such as a bedroom, the white walls are going to act as giant bounce cards and blow out your set. It’s very hard to control the lighting in a small room with white walls. Secondly, because they are so common, white walls are meaningless, visually. If you give a female character a bedroom with blood red walls, that says a lot about her personality. If you give her pastel pink walls, it says a lot, too. If you give her white walls, it says nothing. For less than $100 and a few hours of labor, you can have a set that speaks to your audience.
nPaint over the dirt. Keeping your color palette in mind, a fresh coat of paint can really transform ugly furniture and anything else that doesn’t look so hot. Your goal isn’t restoration so don’t bother with sanding or primer or even the right type of paint. Just get the cheapest water-based household enamel in the right color and cover it up. It might not look that great close up, but it will look great in your film.
nThrifty props. A few key props can change a room from ordinary to specific. Take a trip to the local thrift store and see what you can find that would work for your set. Don’t make a shopping list; instead, make a list of problems to solve: “Something to put on Martina’s desk to show that she is a control freak.” “Something to cover the wall in Joel’s bathroom and show that he’s been living here for 40 years.” What’s also great about thrift store finds is that they usually look a bit worn, which is often ideal for dressing a set. If you don’t have any thrift stores nearby, spend some time surfing eBay and Craigslist.
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nNegative space. Sometimes you can achieve as much or more by removing things from the set. Stuff like junk mail on the table, trash cans, cables and wires, and other forms of visual clutter can make an otherwise fine location look cheap or ugly. Also keep an eye out for things that don’t suit your story. You might love books, but if your character is an obsessive hacker, the towering bookshelves filled with classics won’t help your film.
nForeground objects. Objects that can fill part of the foreground of the frame, such as window frames, plants, and curtains, can add depth to shots in otherwise tight locations. As you dress the set, think about what you can add to the set that will serve to create an interesting foreground. At the very least, some gauzy sheer curtains in a couple of colors (white, taupe, dark gray) from Ikea are always good things to have on hand and cost under $20.
nBe wary of mirrors. Not because you might be a vampire but because mirrors and other reflective surfaces tend to reflect your entire crew into your shot.
WHAT TO WATCH
In his last film, Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick used the religious images and iconography of the Middle Ages, particularly the works of Hieronymous Bosch, and their famous depictions of hell to create a frightening but fascinating secret world.
Art Directing Equipment Checklist
nStaple gun
nHammer, screwdriver, and other tools
nNails, tacks, and push-pins
nVarious types of glue (Elmer’s, superglue)
nHouse paint and spray paint, various colors including black
nPaint brushes and rollers
nBucket
nDark brown and amber water-based stains, Streaks and Tips, etc.
nDulling spray (to take the shine off reflective objects)
nContact paper
nWindow cleaner (with ammonia)
nCleaning products
nRags, towels, cheesecloth
nDust mask