SUPERVISING CONSTRUCTION AND SETUP
When the construction drawings and model are finished and approved, the art director finds a construction shop to build the sets, supervises construction, and oversees the stage setup. Production designer Colin Irwin describes his supervision process:
If there’s an art director working under me, a lot of the supervision is his job. The set designer is only on to do the drawings. The art director deals with the everyday jobs because I am busy doing other things. Once I have approved the drawings and send them to the shop, I just pop in once in a while and look at the finishes on the walls. I want to see what the camera will see. On the first shoot day, I open the set with the set decorator and stay until the first shot is done. There’s an on-set dresser who moves furniture around and works with the prop department. Unless there’s a special reason to have an art director on the set, I don’t usually do that because there’s not the time or the money.
If the studio selected by the producer has a construction shop, the sets may be built on the lot as part of the production agreement. If not, the art director takes the construction drawings to several shops for bids. The lowest bid is not necessarily the best one because a shop may want the job badly enough to cut corners, to the detriment of the job. Besides price, the art director considers the quality of their work and the reliability of each shop.
The entire set may not have to be built new. Shops usually store stock flats and units used in previous productions. Major production centers have independent rental warehouses that rent used pieces such as fireplaces and door and window units. The art director compares the rental fee, transportation costs, and refinishing to the cost of new construction.
CONSTRUCTION AND SETUP SUPERVISION
During set construction, the art director or an assistant should monitor progress with an early morning stop at the construction shop and should be available by beeper, phone, or answering machine. The most carefully done construction drawings cannot include all the information that may be needed.
The production schedule allows a specified amount of stage setup time. The art director has given the head of the stage crew and carpenters sets of plans showing where the set or sets go on the stage, and monitors the setup. Do the walls fit together properly? Are details, such as moldings, chair rails, and ceiling pieces, placed and finished according to the plans? Have the scenic artists and painters followed the painting plan? Is the set decoration and furnishing appropriate to the setting?
Sometimes the production designer’s agreement does not allow supervision during the entire shooting schedule, but usually the production designer is responsible for supervision and design work for the duration of the shoot.
A typical property rental house
The set decorator, working with plans and suggestions provided by the art director, locates and rents or purchases furniture, drapery, and decorative accessories. This person also keeps a running account of costs.
Production designer Larry Miller describes his working relationship with a set decorator:
I always come up with a color concept to guide the decorator. The decorator I have used on the last four or five films is wonderful because she is able to go out on her own and if something is not so great, she has no attachment and says, “OK, let’s find something else.” This is a good quality and not so easy to find.
Major production centers have many prop (property) rental houses that rent furniture and accessories from many periods and in many styles. Most of the rental houses specialize in specific time periods or locales such as western, traditional, colonial, or contemporary.
After studying the script and conferring with the art director, the set decorator roams through property rental houses and selects objects to rent and buys other properties that cannot be rented. The set decorator is also responsible for seeing that the rented and purchased properties arrive at the production stage, and that they are arranged in the set as planned.
Rental charges average about 15 percent per week of the assigned value of each piece. Unless the production company sets up an account with the rental house, the house can require a cashier’s check to cover the assigned value of the rented pieces, and another check equal to the rental charge. When the rented props are returned in good condition, the deposit check is returned to the company. The production company must pay for damage to the house’s properties. If the production has a long run, prop houses will work out a production rental plan at less cost than weekly rentals.
Actors use many hand props such as beverage containers, dinnerware, books, and tools. The prop (property) master obtains and cares for these pieces. If the set contains especially valuable pieces, the prop master photographs or marks their positions and stores them in a secure place. Many prop masters own large closets on wheels that contain thousands of objects which may not be planned for but can save the day in an emergency.
The production designer creates special props, such as a telling element in a Steve Martin film:
In LA. Story, we shot in a lot of restaurants. I love menus and there’s a sequence where the maitre d’ and the chef interview Steve Martin at the bank to be sure he has the financial depth to get a reservation at their restaurant! The menu is featured in the event, so the menu was BIG and we made up the most pretentious dishes you can imagine!
As the set stands from day to day, furniture and other objects must remain in the same place, unless the script requires otherwise, so that shots will match. The set decorator and property master take photographs at the end of each shooting day so that if someone moves objects, the prop master can determine their correct places the next day.
These photographs are extremely valuable if the set has been struck (dismantled) and has to be reset for more photography. Photographs also enhance the set decorator’s sample book. Standard practice is to place a rope or other barrier across the set with a sign “Hot Set” to let everyone know that the set is not to be disturbed. The set decorator also keeps copies of the property rental house’s invoices listing the objects that can be rented again for additional setups.
We can see that the art director’s job is not finished when the sets have been designed. The production designer and art director take a hard look at the sets when they are standing, lit, and dressed, and compares the result with the beginning concept.
Maybe the living room was too large, as the director predicted, or the nightclub wasn’t grand enough. Perhaps the backing behind a window wasn’t convincing because the haze generator didn’t work. Ah well! There’s always the next time.
•
So far, we have seen the technical and the creative demands made on an art director. Now, in Part III, we will see more about what the range of an art director’s work is like when production gets underway on some typical projects.