How to get good Production Design in your movies: A philosophy and a learning experience.

Written by:

Rebecca Croft

Production Design is an Art Form! 

I can't tell you how many indie films I've seen that are shot in somebody's apartment with wall to wall carpeting, a media rack in the background and bare yellow walls, where the lead is about 18 years old, vanilla plain, without any defining characteristics at all. So many filmmakers have great aspirations to a smart and witty hard hitting indie but lack visual inspiration. Film is primarily a visual medium so there's no reason why it shouldn't be a feast for the eyes, or at least a buffet for the eyes. Jon really wanted to pour as much creativity and character as possible into his directorial debut "Death Do Us Part". He wanted his indie zombie short to stand out from the crowd and have style. Being our first professional film that we created and authored together we had a lot to learn about making good production design work.

Using the funeral scene as an example in our movie- we knew there were certain items that were absolutely necessary to convey "funeral" to the audience. A cemetery, a coffin, a headstone, a priest and mourners in black.  In reality I don't think many people wear black to funerals anymore but in movies they do. It's part of the strange real/unreal language of movies. We were concerned about our crew being kicked out of a cemetery if anyone saw us filming there. We didn't want to ask for permission incase the answer was "No". We though about shooting in a park and creating some headstones out of styrofoam and keeping all the shots very tight. But in the end Jon decided to risk it and film at the actual cemetery being careful to appear very respectful and even dressing the cast as well as the crew like an actual funeral party. We filmed at the very back of a large cemetery, where we wouldn't be visible from the road. The extras and supporting cast were told to wear black, suits for the men. I also wore black and Jon wore a suit, that way we could cast ourselves as extras if not enough people showed up or at least look like a real funeral if anyone got suspicious. As it turned out I was used as an extra and no one stopped us or questioned us.

Since the scene is dominated by the Priest's eulogy, we started looking online for a clerical priests shirt. It was not difficult to find. We resisted buying the costume version and went for a more expensive Catholic supply tab-collar clergy shirt and I'm so glad we did, a touch of authenticity makes all the difference. We cast Jim Webb for his deep voice and benevolent personality. He showed up looking the part in a black suit, sporting the clergy shirt Jon gave him and dark shades. 

Earlier in the production our actress Joy Newman showed us several black dresses. Jon favored one with a puff sleeve bolero jacket. It was kind of 80's and it had lots of style. We asked joy to wear black shoes and a cross necklace and we would provide the black veiled pill box hat left over from my goth days. She looked amazing with her pale blue eyes peering our of the black veil.  

It was completely out of our budget to buy or rent a casket and completely beyond our ability to carve one out of wood. At one point we knew someone who thought they knew a girl with a coffin that she used as a coffee table but that never panned out.  So Jon painstakingly made a casket shaped from styrofoam and cardboard planning to cover it with a satin casket cloth. We went to our local craft store and bought blue satiny fabric to make the cloth and fake flowers which we mixed with real flowers in a hunk of florist foam to create a large funereal looking flower arrangement (we priced these and they are very expensive). Our brilliant cinematographer did the short casket justice and never shot it from unflattering angles. Then it was all placed on several yards of green astroturf, which seems to be the standard way of covering the large hole in the ground and nearby pile of grave dirt. 

There are many things we could have done to make the funeral scene even better and more professional. Grave diggers standing off in the background, the ever popular movie cliche of rain and a crowd of black umbrellas, more flowers, renting a real casket, a framed photo of the deceased. There are always things you look back and wish you could have done. But you do the best you can with the budget you have and try to apply what you learned to the next film. In all I'm very pleased with what we accomplished in this scene and all the cast and crew who contributed their talents. It wouldn't have been possible without them!

The most memorable iconic characters have something unexpected about them. Pulp Fiction, Blade Runner, Napoleon Dynamite, Royal Tenenbaums are just a few movies I can't forget because, among other reasons, their characters and production design are so memorable.  Do you have any favorite films with great character and production design?  Think about how these movies would not be as memorable or unique without these visual flourishes to help accentuate the characters and locations of the story.  It is truly an indispensable feature to good filmmaking!

Written by:

Writer/Producer Rebecca Croft