welcome back guys for another episode today we're gonna be
going through production design on a serious budget
i know we never ever have enough budget right this is like the perpetual problem
so in today's episode we're going to be going through the ways i tackle each and every project
whether it be a music video a short film feature film corporate film and i maximize the production
design to the limit on every production with no matter what budget i have so by the end
of this episode i'm going to show you how you can utilize the items and space around
you to reflect your characters and themes in your next projects first of all it's really good
to understand what production design is it's not just about choosing the colors of the walls or the
texture of the fabric on the pillows it is so much more a production designer needs to understand
the blocking of the scene the characters the tone the themes the story the elements
and all of that is brought together into how they choose each and every element for the films
someone who's incredibly well known for very meticulous production design Wes Anderson in his
films from everything from colors and themes that he draws out from his stories and imparts them on
the world around the characters and the way in which they think feel and live is so incredibly
powerful i'll be out back i'm going to find a tree to chop down well the first thing you really need
to take stock of is what is actually possible and what is not possible based on the script that you
have so breaking down that script and looking at what elements are required for the film super
super important if you have your character laying on a bed well i'm pretty sure you should be able
to source a bed in someone's bedroom somewhere so that's pretty doable whereas if you've got someone
jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge and you live in Barnsley you've raised the difficulty level for
the film quite considerably so maybe you need to look at well what is the meaning of the Golden
Gate Bridge and can it be the bridge down the road that's actually only six feet off the water but in
essence the story still plays out in the same way so you do really need to think about what's
possible what's not possible where you live and what you have access to and that is key write down
what you have easy access to and i mean everything i've got access to two bathrooms in this house
my friend has in a really interesting bathroom well what's different about that bathroom what's
the kind of style and aesthetic that it has what type of lighting is available in each home
and when i say lighting i don't mean just the fixtures i also mean the things that you can
actually pick up and take to other locations like office lamps floor lamps other types of
what we term as practical lights that way you can actually create a list of all the possible items
that you can draw on on your next film also start to think about what your family and friends do
for their occupation do they have access to some interesting places that might not be off limits
to you and your camera team friends and family are your core network these are the people that
you're going to be able to more easily go to and ask them to get permissions to go into places to
film in places this is a great way to enable huge production value in your next film in the case of
one of my earliest short films A Bess Pelau we actually had zero budget for pretty much
the entire movie there was three crew just three and we had budget for food and drink that was it
so during this short film we knew that we didn't have any money so we knew that we had to use our
flat so we designed our film around that and we knew that we had to make it easy for us to source
and manage all of the production design because well we really didn't have that many hands
and we didn't have a huge amount of time to put into the prep for the film so we knew we need to
make it easy for ourselves that way we made sure that we created a film that we were able to draw
out the best production design possible effective production design is actually the conveying of the
story in the environment around the characters as best as possible so as we wrote the script
and we thought about the production design during that phase we realized that we were going to use
our flat because it was the easiest location for us to have access to of course we wake up we're
at location and also we can manipulate that space as much as we like because we have instant
access and permission because can i use it yes you can thank you very much we also realized that
by utilizing our own flat we could start to think about the story we actually were able to add more
gags into our script because we understood the space intimately this is this is so so important
understand the location before you film this is why they have location recces this is why they
have tech recces so then more ideas can come out from the specific location that you have access to
another area of production design is taking into consideration what are the location
requirements so one of the most important locations in the film is the kitchen
and we very quickly realized that well this guy has just moved into the country
and he's only been living off of takeaways so the kitchen had to be completely cleaned top to bottom
and completely emptied as well because it really had to look like he hadn't even looked at the
kitchen let alone touch it since he'd arrived this was relatively easy so going back a step when we
were looking at the locations for the film we did have access to a few other homes however they were
nicely decorated they felt loved lots of things that happened to them dings dents scratches and
this really wasn't what we wanted to convey with the characters so we ended up using our own flat
because we had control to be able to really make it as clean as possible and take our time over it
i wonder what ma would do first another super important part of production design
is the use of color now quite often directors will use bright colors to connotate particular emotions
or sensations Stanley Kubrick famously used green to denote death in quite a few of his movies
other times people have used the color orange to denote character change or strife so feel free
to use strong colours to impact your audience's subconscious what we did for A Bess Pelau is
we utilized the idea that where the character had come from in the caribbean before moving to the uk
we always had him sat on a bright red sofa or around something very very colorful
in our flat at the time we already had relatively beige-ish walls and we took all of our paintings
and pictures off of the walls stripped them back took all the stuff away and made sure
that the flat looked as unlived in as possible this also really highlighted the moments that
we showed color in the film and really made sure that they were almost pillars moments
that the audience would take more notice because there was just such a vibrant color on screen
yes dear mommy
will you send me to this country for
don't forget just because you've used the location once doesn't mean you can't use it again this is
where production design can come in so so handy i actually shot in the same living room and kitchen
a another music video that was very dark and somber and it looks entirely different
and totally unrecognizable because of the way it was lit and also what was in the space the space
we made to feel lived in we utilized a lot of the items that we had and then we also utilized a lot
of props and set deck to be able to convey the character's mood tone and themes in the background
as you can see we used a lot of elements in the background of the scene to show that this is
a lived in space even little elements like the horns behind his head to show that there's just
something not quite right about this character as well as also his intentions towards the end
and ultimately it being quite tragic contrast this to the comedy Bess Pelau where we stripped
everything away and the space which is identical looks completely different recipes recipes so in
review so make sure as you explore your story that the locations that it's calling for are actually
plausible look at how your character lives what does that mean for the space that they live in
what's going to be around them what types of plants what types of pens do they use
what types of cups do they drink from all of these things can help reflect the character
and reflect the story in a more convincing way you must be blinded color in space think
about how you can associate certain colors certain things break the rules here doesn't mean that you
have to keep certain colors red for passion green for good blue for boy you know these things are
just ideas and concepts that you can break thank you so much guys for joining me on today's episode
don't forget to hit subscribe and the bell icon if you want to see more of this content let me know
below how you have used your own production design to enhance your films also check out
my Patreon page where we have a awesome Discord channel for filmmakers and also the possibility
to have one-on-one sessions with me to discuss your project and how to make the most of it