The role of the production designer: The creative trinity

I have been researching the role of the Production Designer for both the Carcass project and my on going final project. Both use the skills of the designer in producing the sets, concepts, use of location and props design plus theoretically take on board the relationship between the Director, Director of Photography and Production Design known as the Trinity (LoBrutto,V., 2002,). I’ve broken it down into a simple form, showing the script/story at the centre of the creative process.

One of the main roles of the Production Designer is to assist the Director in their vision of the story and to provide various possibilities for filming i.e. camera angles, revealing the meaning of story, a visual representation of symbolism or metaphors that work on a subconscious level. For Carcass, we have to produce a series of designs without physical interaction with a Director who would probably have a definite idea of how they want to represent the story.  The designer would then discuss, re-design, accommodate the wishes of the Director within the constraints of budget, much like theatre.

On Carcass we have to make a lot of decisions based purely on the script and discussions within our design group. My personal project will probably be similar.

Notes taken from The Filmmakers Guide to Production Design (LoBrutto,V., 2002)

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