Production design is the visual art and craft of cinematic storytelling. It is how an empty room in 2010 becomes Watson's study, or a gamekeeper's home in Kenya, or the cockpit of a jet fighter in the future-and it does it in a way that the audience believes in its authenticity. The visualization of a film is created by the imagination, artistry and collaboration of the director (team), director of photography (team) and the production designer with the production team. Students in this course will become production design teams that research the world in which a film takes place to establish its visual sense of mood and authenticity. The production design team will interpret and transform the story (i.e. script, short story, micro fiction), characters, and narrative into designs that encompass architecture, costume, decor, environment, props, etc. As needed, the production design team uses sketches, illustrations, photographs, models, production storyboards, and constructs sets while considering budgets and scheduling. The final result is the transformation of the physical I psychological environments and characters of a narrative script into the visual reality of a completed theoretical or real film.
Prerequisites
Open to Film majors only.