Art director’s Sense and Sensibility
Although we seldom use this title “production designer” instead of art director or art designer in Asia film industry, it is essential to build a significant and good-to-use scene, and it requires a team work as well. What Ms. Jeannine Oppewall shared demonstrates the importance of designer’s work and partnership.
At the beginning she didn’t want to define the production designer and art director, instead, she gave many ideas about how the designer work and let us think by ourselves. She talked a lot about sensibility and rationality.
It is really thought-provoking as my major is indeed scene design, and we know that designers are quite different from (fine art) artists; Ms. Oppewall emphasized this again that we were serving the script. From her “philosophy”, I learn more about the extra works she did during the film The Good Shepherd
Above all, some points I have already known are basic and crucial like collecting as many references as possible, thinking about color scheme and texture, and cooperating with other technic departments all the time. Moreover, Ms. Oppewall mentioned that since the character played by Matt Damon originally wanted to be a poet but finally worked in CIA, so she spent a lot of time searching the visual symbol that could represent the person and CIA’s characteristics. (Which she showed the ppt. afterward.)
This gives me a huge impact that when we design anything, we need to keep creating and finding information from other fields especially those symbolize abstract meanings, not just thinking what types and symbols represent what features but understanding some historical legends.
During the presentation, Ms. Oppewall explained every process and experiences.
I saw a lot of draft and models and also elaborate schematic construction drawing, and they reminded me of the work I did in theater that I haven’t met the equal hard tasks in movie works. I believe that they had a good partnership while working in group, and her works also remind me that the basis is so important that can affect the rest of schedule. Well, I believe that I am absolutely going to enhance my ability to make work list completely in the future by learning her “elaborate” attitude, and that will help me to keep this good and necessary habit.
The followings are some main points she talked about and presented.
△ From “H.M.S. Pinafore,” Yale Theater to Deer Island Lodge and cabin, there are hand draft, site plans and some construction budget.
We realize how the art department groups work together and distribute tasks, and everyone should follow the schedule because it may change every day, so they will know how much time to set everything down. This is what we are lack of now.
△ London Underground and Street, Berlin Chapel and street, CIA offices
The most precious thing I’ve gotten is “learning during the research”.
Ms. Oppewall not only said “more research” one time, we have to know what and how people in the pictures were doing and we have to be familiar with our research. She gave an example which was a German sign (meaning Berlin remains German) on the wall after the war in reference, and they would like to build a real post-war scene so she thought the sign would make the scene more realistic and meaningful.
Also, I really admire this whole part for the combination between construction (scene) and models building and animation. From the ruined buildings to the women picking Styrofoam- bricks, it almost depicts the similar atmosphere as the history; that can be attributed to enough (maybe not flawless but well-done) preparation and manipulation. In addition to the details, I also understand that when art designers are scouring locations, we not only focus on the suitable atmosphere but we need to consider working spaces and the background, as well as camera movement.
How do we care about this stuff? “Communication.”
△ Edward’s House, Safe House
Even the rooms in the same house or the same person’s rooms in different places, the furniture and decoration still follow the characters and the environment. Take the wallpapers for the example, in the living room and adults’ room, wallpapers tend to be more classical while in kid’s room, it is a simple pattern with cute symbol.
And it is light at home but it is drak or brown-er at secret house.
By the end, she talked more personal experiences and emotional effects. I obtained many professional ideas to let me know how a (super) large project did and the ways Ms. Oppewall created. She also noticed us that crews should give information to the team every work day and kept discussing with other coworkers to make sure that things wouldn’t be wrong. Like every film maker says, communication is the major important premises. Besides improving the skills, keeping the sensibility always makes we think and create. I was extremely encouraged.
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Brief Summary
-身為美術設計，必須在充滿感知的狀態下去服務劇本；而設計的過程中是一種商業過程而非一門完全的藝術。
-透過Ms. Oppewall的分享，不只要更加強蒐集資料和觀察的能力，和整個美術組及其它技術組，導演的合作關係要更密切，這是我們身為學生時所缺乏的。
-十幾個場景工作過程的簡報，資料的收集，詳盡的平面施工圖，彩繪圖，和工作進度表讓我想起在劇場工作的狀態；從前小製作的電影工作，往往會忽略了基本的要點，這點提醒了自己應用在往後更電影工作，已經有的基礎必須加強和保持，而未曾碰過的必須有更好的準備。
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製作特輯附註(official)
「我朋友的父親曾在中情局服務過，他在某個週日下午帶我去走了一趟，讓我能感覺它當初的模樣。」Oppewall也在堂上說過。
她形容這群中情局官員所住的地方"漂亮、充滿綠意的白人中產階級式的社區－－很有秩序與傳統。"
說到骷髏會內部的真實模樣，對Oppewall而言，就是較大的挑戰。
這個祕密社團禁止攝影也不容許成員與外人討論。
「我們去了耶魯大學。」她回想道，並在耶魯拍下被藤蔓覆蓋、宛如陵墓的建築物外觀照片。
「當時門打開了，有幾個年輕小伙子走了出來。
一位很友善的年輕人走過來對我們說：『我們真心希望你們剛才沒拍照。』」
