Production Portfolio - Fiction Production Design

Most film viewers don’t pay much attention to set or costume design in films unless it’s grand or exotic. The key is to make it look as realistic as possible so it wouldn’t take over the story but compliment it. Production Designers define, manage and are responsible for the overall visual look of films. They direct teams responsible for sets and costumes. Their design sketches show mood, atmosphere, colour, texture, lighting and composition of sets, locations, props and costumes, also graphics and camera angles. Every detail matters, even the costumes of extras. Every character has a style and palette that goes together with their personality and plays a big part in how they come across to viewers. Production Designers get their inspiration by researching art history, background politics and historical information. They also put a lot of their own taste into their work. From an interview with the production designer of Australian series Home and Away I found out that t...

When the scriptwriter and the director of our group first showed us the script and explained us the idea I wrote down the very first ideas for the production design. Cortana: A big scar on the left side of her face. Dark brown or black loose long hair or two ponytails on each side of the head and round classes, so she would remind Harry Potter. She is wearing white collar shirt and a dark skirt. Damon: He is tall and blond, bad boy image. A little bit scary, but kind eyes. The location in the script was originally a park, but that didn’t make much sense to me because of the dialogue the characters were having. Walking up to someone and asking their name in a park sounded unnatural. Location: Because there is not much dialogue in the script I was thinking of a reason why the characters couldn’t speak much and I came up with an idea to use library as the location, because there are quiet zones in libraries were people are not allowed to make any noise. I...

By the next meeting the script and the idea had been changed a little bit. We decided to make it look like a soap: over dramatised, over played, full of cliches. The film would end with a guy watching the soap at his home on a couch from a TV, then turning it off and going away. That decision ruled out the library as a location, because there are not many soaps where the action is happening in a library. It also added a location – the home. As we agreed to make it look like a soap I quickly started watching bits of soaps I know: The Bold and The Beautiful, Home and Away, Neighbours and EastEnders. I was paying the most attention to locations where young people meet. The director came up with an idea to use a bar and everyone liked the it. In Home and Away the gathering places also include a diner. Home and Away: EastEnders: Neighbours: When it came to planning the looks of the characters I took the character profiles to help me out. Looks ...