It was 11:00pm on a Tuesday night and I had been on that stage for nine straight hours. My hands were raw and my throat dry from the mounting dust and drywall covering the floor. None of it was glamorous but the experience was one of my favorites I have had since I started involving myself in film production. It was the experience of being the production designer on a one-hour TV pilot entitled “Rx” for the course CTPR 479. Through this experience I was able to see the process of using individuals in my life to bring out the individuals in the piece through the production design.
I had taken on the challenge at the beginning of the course not knowing what I was getting myself into. I had never worked as a production designer, let alone in the production design department. The pilot is about a doctor who prescribes marijuana for people with illnesses. However, the clinic he works for is illegally trafficking the drugs under his nose. My job was to design the set we were to build on Carson Stage and also to decorate that set and each location we shot in. The trick to being a successful production designer is to be as least noticeable as possible in your work. In order to play on the audience’s subconscious to re-enforce what the director is saying through the character’s action. There is a fine balance between emphasizing what is said and done by the characters with the set and overshadowing the dialogue and plot with loud and noticeable production design.
My first step to discovering the characters involved in the pilot in order to create their working space involves recalling personal experiences and relationships from the past. Who do I know that smokes marijuana? Who do I know that doesn’t and how do they all feel about the drug? What experiences have I had personally with this drug? Do I know anyone who has had to use pot for a medical purpose? I make comparisons between the characters and the people I know in real life. This helps me create the environment within which these individuals would surround themselves with. In this case I was able to relate the clinic owner to my father. My father is a hippie at heart with his balding head and shoulder length thinning gray hair. However, despite his lax attitude he runs a very successful company, much like the clinic owner named Dr. Cross does in the pilot. Once I established this comparison I was able to draw inspiration from my father’s clothing, and personal belongings in order to create Dr. Cross’ space. I chose to make the office model an old house turned doctor’s office to show the more easy going side of the owner and then created the inside to look like a newly furnished and remodeled office to characterize his business side. For the waiting area I chose warm colors such as browns and tans so that it would be inviting much like my father is and I imagined Dr. Cross to be.
In order to distinguish the opposing opinions that Dr. Cross and the main character Parker Greyson possessed, I compared Parker to someone completely opposite to my father not only in appearance but also in opinions: my brother. He reminded me of my brother who is going to medical school and is an advocate for the use of drugs such as marijuana for medicine. Like Parker my brother is straight laced in other aspects of his life and tries to conduct as normal a life as possible. Because of this straight laced and conservative side to Parker and my brother I decided to make Parker’s office contrast with the rest of the space which belongs to Dr. Cross. I thought that green, being a cool color, would contrast well with the warm colors of the waiting area and show the cleaner, almost harsher side of Parker. In order to connect the two spaces I decided to make the hallway a cream color so that the contrast would not be as noticeable and rather work at the audience’s subconscious. Along with the contrasting colors that showed the differing opinions between Parker and Dr. Cross, I found a way to represent Parker’s torn decision between staying at the clinic and helping those in need or leaving in order to find a more politically correct doctor job. I decided to break up the wall with wood trim that would be about halfway up the wall and show a distinct line between the bottom and top, representing his two choices.
While I was choosing the color palette for the set and some of the designs I was also doing more book heavy research. I found pictures of actual pot clinics and other normal doctor offices and compared the two. Friends of mine had actually been inside a pot clinic and showed me pictures from their experiences. I also learned that on Hollywood Boulevard there are multiple clinics available to view from the road, so I took a trip. Most of these offices used vibrant color palettes and psychedelic decorations. However, because the show was not quite as flamboyant as those clinics, I decided to research regular doctor’s offices as well. These offices used more subdued color palettes and decorated with posters promoting healthy living. In order for me to combine the two I decided to decorate the office with posters promoting healthy living through marijuana use. Plants were distributed evenly throughout the set and I even decided to display a (fake) marijuana plant on the reception desk to make the clinic seem less like a normal doctor’s office.
Along with my research of pot clinics, I searched bungalow style houses and more modern types of houses. The design of the house/clinic is crucial in developing character. It shows how much money and energy that person wants to put into their business and it can reveal personal taste and quirky characteristics of each individual. I wanted an older style house that could be seen on Hollywood Boulevard. After looking through an abundance of books from the architecture building, and images on the web, I decided to model the set after a bungalow style house. I chose this style because it gave me a chance to play with the architecture of the set. For example, I created a large square walkway into the reception area, which is characteristic of a bungalow style house and put some stain glass by the desk to make the set a little more quirky and unique. I also felt that it re-enforced the characteristics of Dr. Cross. He was quirky and old fashioned but also very warm and welcoming, much like that style of house.
Collaboration is a prominent component to any film process and this production was no exception. This was not my show, nor were any of the characters or overall themes and ideas mine. Each person’s perspective and creative ability is present in the piece of work, yet there must be a common denominator and a balance between each idea. My job was to be as creative and inventive as possible with the production design while re-enforcing the director’s ideas and main themes. Once I achieve my personal vision for the show I needed to meet with the other creative minds to get their approval. I presented my ideas for the colors and designs to the director, cinematographer and show runner to see which ones they liked. The cinematographer was concerned with the green color I had decided on for Parker’s office so we collaborated and decided that a deep, almost olive green would work better than a forest green. The director liked the idea of splitting up the wall but made sure that it would not distract from the actor’s performances. And so it went. After everyone had shared their concerns and we were set on the ideas it was time for my next step.
Although emphasizing character and plot through the set it the most prominent and important part of my artistic process, one of the most major steps has less to do with character and more to do with logistics. Floor plans are vital and necessary and once I have a solid idea of the characters and set it is time to create a floor plan that would work for camera movements, lighting arrangements and character blocking. In order for maximum shooting options the set should be designed to look like an “L” from a bird’s eye view. The problem was choosing where each space would fit on the set. My teacher gave me a list of each flat we were able to use for the class and I was supposed to create a space with those flats. I decided to put the office in the back of the house and then connect the reception area to the office with the hallway and put doors in the hallway that lead no where but gave the audience the idea of off-screen space. Then the waiting area was connected to the reception area by an archway. Once the dimensions were set and the floor plan finalized, the set was able to come to life.
In order to actually build the set I created an organized schedule of the next few weeks for myself. Each student from the class had to contribute ten hours of their time to the building of the set and I had to be there to supervise and distribute jobs. Every hour I was not in class I was on the stage working with the other students and my teacher. We sanded, painted, and aged the entire set in roughly two weeks. Then it was time to create its insides. The school had decorations stored from previous productions that I was able to use. I went through the boxed up storage in a day and picked out carpet, dressers, desks, lamps and various props for the following weeks.
After this process I was dirty, exhausted and proud of myself for committing so much to the characters and the process of discovering them and emphasizing their story through the set and in my eyes, succeeding. I had been completely engulfed in the production of “Rx” for the fall semester that once spring semester rolled around and my duties were finished, I was at a loss of to what to do with my time. All I wanted to do was be on set or preparing to be on set. This project was a very unique and challenging experience for me and it made me even more passionate about the art of filmmaking because I can appreciate the long hours, and dirty work that is needed in order to make a great, beautiful and successful film.
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