Set Design - Dissertation Report by Aman Heer

SET DESIGN

B. ARCH. DISSERTATION

BY AMAN HEER (ROLL NO. 16623)

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY HAMIRPUR (H.P) – 177005, INDIA July 2020

SET DESIGN

A DISSERTATION PROJECT

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of degree Of

BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE By AMAN HEER (Roll no. – 16623) Under the guidance Of DR. VANDNA SHARMA

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY HAMIRPUR (H.P) -177005, INDIA July 2020 DISSERTATION PROJECT (2019-2020)

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY HAMIRPUR (H.P) DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that that this dissertation report entitles “SET DESIGN” has been submitted by Mr. Aman Heer (Roll No. 16623) in the partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Bachelor’s degree in Architecture for the session 2016-2021.

RECOMMENDED BY-

EXTERNAL EXAMINER:

ACCEPTED BY-

Dissertation guide Head of Department

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

DATE:

DISSERTATION REPORT

(2019-2020)

SET DESIGN

Dissertation guide:

Submitted by:

DR. VANDNA SHARMA

AMAN HEER, 16623

Assistant professor - I

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY HAMIRPUR (H.P) CANDIDATE DECLARATION I hereby certify that the work which is being presented in the project titled SET DESIGN, is the partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the DEGREE OF BACHELOR in ARCHITECTURE and submitted in Department of Architecture, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, in an authentic record of my own work carried out during a period from January 2020 to July 2020 under the guidance of DR. VANDNA SHARMA, “Project Guide”, Department of Architecture, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur. The matter presented in this project report has not been submitted by me for the reward of any other degree of this or any other Institute/ university.

AMAN HEER

This is certifying that the above statement made by the candidate is correct to the best of my knowledge. (Dr. Vandna Sharma) Date: ……….……………

Project Guide

The project Viva voce Examination of Aman heer `has been held on………………

Signature of Coordinator

Signature of HOD

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

On the very beginning of this report, I might want to broaden my earnest and sincere commitment towards all personages who have helped me in this undertaking. Without their dynamic direction, help, collaboration and support, I would not have made progress in the dissertation. I am exceedingly obliged to my guide, Dr. Vandna Sharma for her direction and steady supervision and in addition for giving vital data with respect to the undertaking and furthermore for her help in finishing the task. I am amazingly grateful and pay my appreciation to my Head of Department, Dr. I.P. Singh, Dissertation Coordinator Dr. Aniket Sharma and DUGC Dr. Rashmi Kumari for their significant direction and support in finishing of this exploration in its by and by. I stretch out my appreciation to NIT HAMIRPUR (H.P.) for giving me this opportunity. I likewise recognize with a profound feeling of respect, my appreciation towards my folks and individuals from my family, Mr. Desh Raj and Mrs. Raj Kumari who have constantly bolstered me ethically and also financially. Finally, yet not slightest appreciation goes to the greater part of my companions who specifically or in a roundabout way helped me to finish this exploration report.

ABSTRACT

Architecture and films have always been moving ahead with help of technology in a pretty similar manner. Skills which are required to make the look of film are very much the same skills which architects use to create the buildings to live in. And the tools used are also similar. Difference is only that sets are temporary and are only built for short time, and this thing surely does not add to an architect’s disadvantage. So, today in this present scenario where there are not so many job opportunities for architects, instead of sticking into architecture or the construction industry after the completion of degree. My dissertation is aimed for developing a vision for a new field of opportunities for the young budding architects who are interested in cinema and want to pursue a career in it.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................... 12 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................... 14 CHAPTERS 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................ 15 1.1. AIM .......................................................................................................... 16 1.2. OBJECTIVE ................................................................................................. 16 1.2. SCOPE OF STUDY ...................................................................................... 16

2. LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................... 17 2.1.

SETS ....................................................................................................... 17

2.1.1 SOUNDSTAGE .......................................................................................................... 17 2.1.2 LOCATION SETS ........................................................................................................ 17

2.2. DESIGN ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES IN SET DESIGN.................................. 18 2.2.1.DESIGN ELEMENTS IN SET DESIGN .......................................................................... 18 2.2.1.1. Line ............................................................................................................................... 18 2.2.1.2. Colour ........................................................................................................................... 18 2.2.1.3. Shape............................................................................................................................ 18 2.2.1.4. Texture ......................................................................................................................... 18 2.2.1.5. Space ............................................................................................................................ 19

2.2.2.DESIGN PRINCIPLES IN SET DESIGN ......................................................................... 19 2.2.2.1. Harmony....................................................................................................................... 19 2.2.2.2. Balance ......................................................................................................................... 19 2.2.2.3. Emphasis ...................................................................................................................... 19 2.2.2.4. Rhythm ......................................................................................................................... 19 2.2.2.5. Proportion .................................................................................................................... 19

2.3. DESIGN TEAM ............................................................................................. 20 2.3.1. PRODUCTION DESIGNER......................................................................................... 20 2.3.2. ART DIRECTOR ........................................................................................................ 20 2.3.3. SET DESIGNER ......................................................................................................... 21 2.3.4. SET DECORATOR ..................................................................................................... 21 2.3.5. COSTUME DESIGNER .............................................................................................. 21 9

2.3.6. PROPERTY MASTER................................................................................................. 21 2.3.7. CONSTRUCTION COORDINATOR ............................................................................ 21 2.3.8. LOCATION MANAGER ............................................................................................. 21 2.3.9. SCENIC ARTIST ........................................................................................................ 21 2.3.10. DRAFTSMAN ......................................................................................................... 21

2.4. CONSTRUCTION PROCESS OF SETS .............................................................. 21 2.5. PHYSICAL COMPONENNTS OF SET DESIGN .................................................. 23 2.5.1. FLATS....................................................................................................................... 23 2.5.2. CYCLORAMAS.......................................................................................................... 23 2.5.3. SET PIECES............................................................................................................... 23 2.5.4. DRAPES ................................................................................................................... 24 2.5.5. CEILING ................................................................................................................... 24 2.5.6. FLOORS AND GROUND AREAS ................................................................................ 24 2.5.7. BACKING ................................................................................................................. 24 2.5.8. PAINTING ................................................................................................................ 25 2.5.9. BLOCKING ............................................................................................................... 25

2.6. EVOLUTION OF SETS IN MOVIES .................................................................. 26 2.6.1. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920) ................................................................... 26 2.6.2. BLADE RUNNER (1982) .......................................................................................... 27 2.6.3. THE MANDALORIAN (2020) .................................................................................... 28

2.7. ARCHITECTURE IN SET DESIGN .................................................................... 29 2.7.1. USE OF SPACE ......................................................................................................... 31 2.7.2. CONSTRUCTION ...................................................................................................... 31 2.7.3. POST-MODERN FILM DESIGN ................................................................................. 32

2.8. ARCHITECTS IN SET DESIGN ......................................................................... 33 2.8.1. ANSHUMAN PRASAD .............................................................................................. 33 2.8.2. KEN ADAM .............................................................................................................. 34

3. CASE STUDY ............................................................................................. 36 3.1. PARASITE (2019) ...................................................................................... 36 3.1.1................................................................................................................... THE PARK HOUSE .......................................................................................................................................... 37 10

3.1.1.1.

The Basement ....................................................................................................... 39

3.1.2.......................................................................................................................... KIM’S HOUSE .......................................................................................................................................... 40

4. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 43 5. REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 44 5.1 BOOKS ......................................................................................................... 44 5.2 INTERNET .................................................................................................... 44

LIST OF FIGURES 1. Figure 2. 1. Above figure highlighting the hierarchy in the design team. ...................... 20 2. Figure 2. 2. Construction process of the sets. ................................................................... 22 3. Figure 2. 3. A cyclorama was used for making the art-directed train ............................... 23 (Source: www. Imdb.com) 4. Figure 2.4 In the set design of The Freshman (1990) ..................................................... 24 (Source: www. Imdb.com) 5. Figure 2. 5. Image from the cabinet of dr. Caligari (1920). .............................................. 26 (Source: www.intjournal.com) 6. Figure 2. 6. Model Artist precisely giving the details to the miniature models of Blade Runner (1982). ................................................................................................................... 27 (Source: www.vfxvoice.com). 7. Figure 2. 7 Designer adjusting elements for a miniature shot, Blade Runner (1982)....... 28 (Source: www.vfxvoice.com) 8. Figure 2. 8. Virtual LED screen in The Mandalorian (2020). .......................................... 29 (Source: www.slashfilm.com) 9. Figure 2. 9. A post-modernist interior of home in a clockwork orange........................... 33 (Source : www.modernism-in-metroland.co.uk) 10. Figure 2. 10.

Image above is a 3d model render of the castle from the movie

maleficent: mistress of evil (2019).. ............................................................................... 34 (Source: www.anshumanprasad.com)

11. Figure 2.11. Sketch of the shuttles launch complex prepared by ken adam, for the movie moonraker(1979)................................................................................................................ 35 (Source: Deutsche Kinemathek – Ken Adam Archive) 12. Figure 2.12. Ken Adam, the British set designer, created some of the most famous film sets ever made. ................................................................................................................... 35 (Source: Deutsche Kinemathek – Ken Adam Archive)

13. Figure 3. 1. Isometric plan of the park’s house.. ................................................................. 37 (Source: www. Floorplancroissant.com) 14. Figure 3. 2. Large window wall giving view of garden in park’s house.. ......................... 37 (Source: 2019 CJ ENM CORPORATION, BARUNSON E&A) 15. Figure 3. 3 All of the furniture in the park house was custom-made for the film.. .......... 38 (Source: 2019 CJ ENM CORPORATION, BARUNSON E&A) 16. Figure 3. 4. A digital rendering of the basement storeroom of the park house.. ............... 39 (Source: 2019 CJ ENM CORPORATION, BARUNSON E&A) 17. Figure 3. 5. The steps descending into the kim-family apartment. ............................. 40 (Source: neon) 18. Figure 3. 6. An early rendering of the Kim family’s basement home.. .......................... 42 (Source: 2019 CJ ENM CORPORATION, BARUNSON E&A)

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1. TV.

–

Television

2. 3d.

–

Three Dimensional

3. Led.

–

Light Emitting Diodes

4. R.a.f.

–

Royal Air Force

5. L.A.

–

Los Angeles

6. Vfx.

–

Visual effects

7. Cgi

–

Computer generated imagery

CHAPTER 1

1. INTRODUCTION The first film sets in a film were built to resemble the stage, so as not to confuse the actors and audience who were used to the conventions of theatre. When a movie is released and watched all the acclaim and the applaud goes to the actors and directors, and no one realizes how much hard work and effort is done to bring out the verisimilitude in the film. This realism is brought by a team of production design who has worked day and night to build an imaginary world of the director’s vision. I think it is because; a good set design goes unnoticed in film. Inside film world, the terms art direction, production design, and set direction are interrelated, despite the fact that the initial two would appear to have a more extensive domain. All in all, ideas of creation plan or craftsmanship heading can include the accompanying things: set structure, painting, adornment, development, and planning; the consolidation of areas into the by and large "look" of a film; choices about the tone and shade of a work's photography; and embellishments. The specialty's motivation is to deliver a general pictorial "vision" for the film. At the beginning of production design, real architects were called to style and make the sets. Not only did filmmakers receive beautiful results, but architects were additionally ready to reach audiences up to 80 million people. Set design helps to be economical with screen time and it comes particularly in handy when in a film a character is to be introduced in a short time. Instead of writing a bunch of clunk, expositional dialogue to introduce the characters to the audience the respected actors can be shown in there space. All the art passes through a similar manner of creation, the degrees may be interchanged but they're greater or less similar to each other. There are broadly 3 tiers of developing: conceptualizing, designing and manufacturing and these levels have many sub levels which contribute to the final design. Likewise in cinema and architecture there are masses of

similarities, in creation of architectural object and in creating a film. Architecture and film are near in depicting the truth, or developing the spirit of the reality of the actual world and also growing the fable world.

Film space gave a declaration for itself very quickly. However the viewing experience have completely changed and have brought a great amount of realism on the screen with entirely new range of special effects, from forced perspective to miniature models to Chroma screen and now to the virtual sets. Now film design is more a technical craft as complex and similar to architecture now.

1.1.

AIM

To understand and study set design in movies and how architects can perceive it as career option.

1.2. OBJECTIVE 1. To explore and understand the world of set design in movies. 2. To assess set design in relation to architecture.

1.2.

SCOPE OF STUDY

This study only focuses on the movies sets and design team behind it. The study only shows the architectural relationship of an architect with film sets.

CHAPTER 2

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1.

SETS

Sets are ephemeral in nature. They are manufactured, utilized and afterward devastated after the fruition of the film, or a play. Set development varies from ordinary development in a few particular manners. A set is definitely not a lasting structure; it regularly is an a few divider development. Numerous sets are worked with pads, wooden edges secured with extended canvas or board. Not everything in a set is operational. Materials for sets vary in quality and validness. Sets can be an area of a structure that is the main component expected to make the deception of a bigger structure or a detail that suggests a bigger space around it.

Type of sets 

Soundstage(studio sets)



Location sets(interior or exterior)

2.1.1 SOUNDSTAGE -

It is soundproof studio used for shooting the films. It gives the

advantage of recording the sound while shooting. External environment can have no effect in filming. Artificial light can be used along with the natural light. Shooting under studio conditions gives movie producers ideal power over the creation of their activities. Sets can be built and shooting can occur without climate interferences, swarms, and different interruptions. 2.1.2 LOCATION SETS -

sets are built in real location rather than in a studio. Dubbing is

done later in the dubbing studio. Natural light comes into the play. Unpredictable environment plays important role. Working on location grants situations of controlled turmoil, especially when taking pictures in outside sites of populated urban areas. In location 17

the designers encounter the natural climate elements, the wondrous eccentrics of the sun, and a range of obstruction as spectators, clamor contamination, house rules limitations, laws, and science.

2.2.

DESIGN ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES IN SET DESIGN

2.2.1. DESIGN ELEMENTS IN SET DESIGN

2.2.1.1. Line - Lines encase and consolidate the pieces of a structure by utilizing developing outlines. They might be smooth, unpleasant, ceaseless, broken, thick or flimsy. Lines can be utilized to stress, establishing specific precedents off in a furious piece and attracting the eye to a specific zone. They can be moulded into shapes or edges. The eye may even observe strains in better places—expect structures, parts of a tree, a skyline, or an immovable of train tracks—that offer a characteristic part or outskirts. Lines are regularly used to make viewpoint. Predominant directional are accustomed to acquire a feeling of continuation in a scene. 2.2.1.2. Colour - Colour in set design is very important. It is as important as in interior of a house, or any building. If we start to bring in similarities of colour function in architecture and set design, there are infinite. Because, ultimately both the fields use colour to evoke certain emotions, through the careful and precise use to create the desirable look. Colour is used to achieve likelihood in the films. It can be used to establish raw emotions, environment and mood, define characters, can help communicate time and place. Colour can affect us psychologically and even physically, often without us becoming aware.

2.2.1.3. Shape - Shapes are created through enclosing line, or by colour and value changes which define edges. Form and shape can be either organic or geometric. Shapes are created when a line meets itself. Organic shapes are free form while geometric shapes are exact shapes such as circles or squares. Shapes are 2 dimensional, flat and do not have any volume, like graffiti or wallpaper. Other additives of a composition, like blocks of text, are also shapes. 2.2.1.4. Texture - Texture in sets can be defined as smoothness, roughness, graininess, shininess or softness of costume, prop, furniture etc. Texture is significant in making 18

genuineness; inspiring age, wear, use, and section of time; and mirroring the impacts of natural circumstances on a surface. The outside of an item needs to imitate that it has been lived-in or has existed in time. The reason for texture in building materials, textures, and furniture is to give assessment and supplement and to include authenticity and a material sense to the structure. 2.2.1.5.

Space

refers

the

area

that

shape

form

occupies.

The arrangement of things in a film (structures fading into the distance), which shows the 3d intensity of items. There is positive space and negative space. Positive space is any object on a set and negative space can be the emptiness around that object.

2.2.2. DESIGN PRINCIPLES IN SET DESIGN

2.2.2.1. Harmony – Designers harmonize each and every part of the setting to bring in a sense of unity. 2.2.2.2. Balance - Distribution of parts of the setting in such a way that it develops a sense of stability. 2.2.2.3. Emphasis –

There is a focal point in every design or centre of emphasis. Well

composed scenes direct the viewers to main focal point and then to the other subordinate parts. 2.2.2.4. Rhythm - Rhythm in set design leads the viewer’s eye easily and smoothly from one part to another. 2.2.2.5. Proportion - It is a principle which involves the relationship between the individual parts of the setting to the setting as whole that makes the total picture.

2.3. DESIGN TEAM SET DESIGNER

SET DECORATOR

PRODUCTION DESIGNER

COSTUME DESIGNER

PROPERTY MASTER

ART DIRECTOR CONSTRUCTION CORDINATOR

LOCATION MANAGER

SCENIC ARTIST

DRAFTSMAN

Figure 2. 1. Above figure highlighting the hierarchy in the design team.

2.3.1. PRODUCTION DESIGNER -

Production designer is the one who supervise the

team of art director, set designer, and other artists and craftsman who produces and executes the work generated by the production designers plan. He works in proximity with director of photography to create the look of the film. 2.3.2. ART DIRECTOR – Art director is an executive assistant to a production designer. He supervises the art department on the set. In small budget movies where there is no production designer art director is responsible for the look of the film.

2.3.3. SET DESIGNER -

He/she has the responsibility of designing and supervising the

construction of sets based upon the guidance of production designer and art director. A set designer can be brought in for one set or all sets of a film. 2.3.4. SET DECORATOR - Set decorator is responsible for the decoration part of the sets keeping in mind that the décor reflects the time, space and intent of the story. 2.3.5. COSTUME DESIGNER -

Costume designer creates or selects the costume of the

actors according to the look of the film. He/she must have in depth knowledge of the period, place, and fashion of the story that the film is based upon. 2.3.6. PROPERTY MASTER - Property master is responsible for all the tools, props and objects handled and used in the set by the actors. He works in connection with set decorator and set designer. 2.3.7. CONSTRUCTION COORDINATOR - Construction coordinator builds the set following the working drawings of the art department. He supervises the construction crew. 2.3.8.

LOCATION

MANAGER

The person accountable

for the place in

pre-

production and all through shooting until the group is finished is the location manager, who is chargeable for the security of the property and equipment. 2.3.9. SCENIC ARTIST - An art department authority who makes every single painted i

foundation, prop works of art, signage, any illustrative material, magazine covers, book coats,

and wall paintings demonstrated by the story, a decent scenic artist can paint out problem areas,

shadows, or different elements that may meddle or concern the cinematographer during

creation. Scenic work is likewise important to finish up and keep up the set consistently.

2.3.10. DRAFTSMAN - The draftsman makes specialized drawings that detail an arrangement to fabricate a set. They are exact, uniform specialized drawings made to correct scale. Drafting for a film is equivalent to any design plan.

2.4. CONSTRUCTION PROCESS OF SETS



Ideas are discussed by production designer and the director.



Concepts, storyboards are prepared.



These ideas are than put on the paper. They serve the purpose of communication.



Scaled models are built than, so the director and cinematographer can plan the shots.



Plan, elevation, section and all the necessary drawings are prepared.



The construction coordinator studies the plan. Materials are ordered.



The set is than built in a soundstage or live location.

Design ideas for a film set

Concept drawing

Scale models

Materials are orderderd

Construction coordinator studies the plan

Detailed working drawing

Figure 2. 2. Construction process of the sets.

Set is built or is assembled

2.5. PHYSICAL COMPONENNTS OF SET DESIGN 2.5.1. FLATS - These are framed units. They are utilized to frame dividers, rooms, and other plan structures in set. These are confined and cross propped out of wood. Pads whenever associated together, called a run, can be utilized to make independent components of set. 2.5.2. CYCLORAMAS - A cyclorama also called cyc is a background suspended on bended funnelling, a wooden secure, or shade track from the head of the studio. Tenderly bending around the sides of a set, it runs along at least two studio dividers making the allencompassing fantasy of a scene, sky, cityscape, endlessness, or void. The cyclorama can be made out of materials, for example, canvas, cloth, scrim and velour.

Figure 2. 3. A cyclorama was used for creating the art-directed train, in murder on the orient express (1974), which seemed to be in motion rather it stood in a studio. The outside artworks gave the impression the train was fleeting through numerous sceneries. (Source: www. Imdb.com)

2.5.3. SET PIECES - Set pieces generally refers to any free standing structure in a set. Screens, modular units, arches, platforms and stairs can be called set pieces.

2.5.4. DRAPES – Drapes or also drapery is term broadly used for all types of fabric used in staging. Drapes may include decorative clothes, tab curtain, scenic gauzes, black background clothes, cycloramas, and Chroma key back ground. 2.5.5. CEILING - Ceilings include measurement, verisimilitude, and clear definition of space. Lighting and sound recording are undermined, however with appropriate structure and arranging; a partial roof can manage the cost of the look that is required, alongside the opportunity of development for the cast and group. 2.5.6. FLOORS AND GROUND AREAS – Floor and ground areas are the elements which are critical to the production design. By Manipulating the height or angle of a floor the designer may create a dramatic effect.

Figure 2.4 In the set design of The Freshman (1990), Ken Adam(German-British creation designer) needed to give the social club, where the crowd figure played by Marlon Brando in this satire held court, a feeling of intensity and the atmosphere of his character in The Godfather without mimicking, that great film. Adam constrained the viewpoint by bringing down the roof and raising the, floor of the set, to make Brando show up significantly greater than he was. (Source: www. Imdb.com)

2.5.7. BACKING - In an interior studio set if the camera can see through the window, backing must be required to create an illusion that there is something outside. Backings can

be on a flat stretched with canvas or other material. A hard backing is made of wood, board, or other solid materials. 2.5.8. PAINTING - The set is painted once constructed. Set work of art is like painting an apartment or house; the painter covers the surface with paint. The thing that matters is that the designer isn't simply choosing elegant or satisfying shading yet one that suits character and story, just as state of mind and air. 2.5.9. BLOCKING - Stage blocking, or actor blocking, alludes to how at least one on-screen i

characters move around the space during a creation. This can be blocking in a phase play or

blocking in a scene for films or TV. This can even incorporate a blocking rehearsal that will

assist with explaining the expectation behind every development and smooth out the

movements. Blocking isn't just where the on-screen characters travel through a scene, yet in

addition how they communicate with their condition. This can incorporate non-verbal

communication.

2.6. EVOLUTION OF SETS IN MOVIES The first films utilized the painted flats and boxlike sets of the stage, and little was done to create the illusion of reality. The earliest film sets were no different from those of the theatre: two-dimensional painted backgrounds. As the time passed, technology advanced, with advancement in technology, production of movies got more technical, with more reliance on technology. Sets evolved from a painting in background to miniature models to green screen and now to the virtual sets. 2.6.1. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920) – It is a silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene and production design by Walter Riemann, Walter Rohrig. Being a black and white movie a lot of work was done on the contrast of the objects. It was shot in grayscale and therefor designer had to recognize in what way each colour decodes to a value from black to white. It is thought-out as one of the most significant films of German expressionism; since many of the film’s rare features (from the symmetrical nature of the sets to the actors’ costumes) were times forward of their phase. Every detail of every set is dominated to the consistency of Expressionist distortion: chairs with no right angles have seats rested five feet off the ground, and the houses have trapezoidal windows. Streets are three-dimensional abstract compositions of receding angles, projecting parapets, and brightly lit blank spaces. In a 1921 article in the Mentor, Hugo Ballin, a notable painter and designer, described the sets as "futurist" and called the backgrounds "scenery that acts."

Figure 2. 5. Image from the cabinet of dr. Caligari (1920). ( Source : www.intjournal.com)

2.6.2. Blade runner (1982) - Set in a catastrophic los Angeles in 2019 has set the standard of i

greatness for sci-fi films. Its infiltrating class and never-ending newness are characteristics that

make it practically extraordinary in the class, and it has impacted not just other sci-fi movies and

music recordings yet in addition computer games, engineering, set design, , and ads. Production

design for blade runner was practiced by Lawrence Paul (was prepared as a draftsman and city

organizer, giving him a comprehension of urban situations that has served him well artistically

as a production designer) and the art direction was taken care of by David Snyder. Ridley Scott

(director) had faith in "layering" in the design and development of the sets just as the set

dressing. The inside sets were smoky, and recorded with blazes of light that filled no particular

need other than giving the visual motivator that Scott wanted. While the sets were physical, the

vibe of the film was likewise practiced through master model-production, utilized in the Tyrel

building, and in the matte works of art utilized for the flying perspectives.

Everything we see in the film, every flying car and skyscraper, was made by hand. Scale models were built for the film. Each and every detail was developed in the models to bring in the realism that the designers wanted. Intricate models were used to bring the massive Tyrell pyramids to life, as well as views of future Los Angeles and the iconic flying Spinner vehicles.

Figure 2. 6. Model Artist precisely giving the details to the miniature models of Blade Runner (1982). (Source : www.vfxvoice.com).

Figure 2. 7 Designer adjusting elements for a miniature shot, Blade Runner (1982). (Source : www.vfxvoice.com)

2.6.3. THE MANDALORIAN (2020) is one of the primary significant productions to pick LED walls over green screens. Virtual set developed for season 1 of The Mandalorian was 75 feet in distance across, 21 feet high, and furthermore had rooftop made out of LED'S. The show is made by Jon Favreau and production design by Andrew L. jones. An underlying interest in virtual set like in mandalorin is gigantic. Anyway the cash spared from heading out to areas, fabricating new sets, and exorbitant post productions, can make the speculation justified, despite all the trouble.

Virtual sets have extraordinary bit of leeway over green screen. Lighting is one of them, what green screen does is that as opposed to anticipating wonderful lighting of condition that would have behind it, it spills part of green light on the items and on-screen characters. In any case, a major 360 drove divider takes care of that issue. Also, the character and items feel like they are installed in their condition.

Virtual sets assists with reasonable things as well. It confines the measure of stage space that is utilized in shooting and bigly affects time and financial plan.

An ongoing advancement to this innovation applies Unreal Engine, an incredible computer i

game creation device that permits movie producers full oversight over the set and general

condition immediately. Artists can make a photorealistic 3D foundation that moves carefully

with the camera's field of view, known as the frustum. So if the camera swings around and

changes points, the foundation moves in correctly a similar way.

Figure 2. 8. Virtual LED screen in The Mandalorian (2020). (Source : www.slashfilm.com).

2.7. ARCHITECTURE IN SET DESIGN Architecture and motion picture has always been close. Le Corbusier defined architecture: “The masterly, correct and magnificent play of form in light.” It stands out as a pronounced explanation of buildings as well as for cinema.

Set design in film was resulting from coordinated effort between three separate art forms: the i

beautifying arts, theatre, and architecture. The beautifying arts have a long convention

following back to the beginnings of numerous societies. Theatre stageart follows back to the

Ancient Greeks and Romans, proceeding through Shakespeare, to the beginnings of vaudeville,

and Broadway. Both these artistic controls affected movie art direction, however the most huge

impact on production design was architecture. Toward the start of the twentieth century, as film

was being conceived, an artistic upheaval was being manufactured in present day design.

Architecture details are what evoke time and place in set design. Cornice, moulding, i

door/window, hardware, wall paper, along with aging paint treatments can bring audience into

the world set by the set designer based upon the director’s vision. Architecture and set design

are both about aesthetic and functionality. Both are about figuring out how a structure would fit

in a certain space.

The designer uses the principle of architecture, in order to make a coherent, logical space that is accessible to an audience. The construction methods are however considerably different because of the requirements of filming and because of the ephemeral nature of set. Film sets only have to exist for a short amount of time. Most sets are built within soundstage, mostly interiors. Film sets are for people to act in front of and are not permanent, but they need to look like people live in them.

Similarly as architecture utilizes fabricated structure to set up tone and speak to thoughts of personality and spot, set design uses nature in which a story unfurls as a medium with which to pass on state of mind and decipher the significance inside a particular account. Juhani Pallasmaa (Finnish Architect) articulates his musings on the capacity of set design in his content, The Architecture of Image: “Cinematic architecture evokes and sustains specific mental states; the architecture of film is architecture of terror, anguish, suspense, boredom, alienation, melancholy, happiness or ecstasy, depending on the essence of the particular cinematic narrative and the director’s intention. Space and architectural imagery are the amplifiers of specific emotions”.

Cabiria (1914) an Italian production was the first film to introduce architecture in full force. An out-and-out architectural tactic was used in this film, including the creation of stairways, i

platforms, and walls constructed out of wood and then textured with a plaster and fibre

arrangement to bring scale and texture to the set construction in a regeneration of third-century

Rome. The term “film architecture” was used for the foremost time to a film production. Earlier

to Cabiria, to elaborate the setting, designers used tinted backgrounds and handcrafted decor

and had not yet revealed the application of physical three-dimensional design to cinematic

storytelling.

Architecture is designing the external and the internal environment. Be it one of the world’s major cities or the tiniest towns, the architecture of the places we dwell, play and work becomes the contextual setting for our life’s altered experiences. Using creativity and a considerable knowledge base to create different profound and three-dimensional qualities, role of an architect is also to manipulate these settings: creating the character for our private life stories. In film production, the role of the architect becomes the authority of the set designer, and our personal stories are substituted with combined social descriptions.

2.7.1. USE OF SPACE

The characters in a film exist with regards to the space in which they show up. Space can communicate power, abuse, opportunity, dread, euphoria, suspicion, and a horde of feelings, mind-sets, and climates dependent on the connection between the characters and their condition. To reproduce a spot or time, the production designer must examination the architecture in question. Recreation includes examination to comprehend the design, the materials, procedures, and apparatuses utilized in the original development.

2.7.2. CONSTRUCTION

The design ideas for a film set are in the long run built for the production. The methodology from impression to finished set is corresponding to the conventional architecture process except for the way that a film set is a brief structure. The thoughts for a set must talk the concerns of the screenplay. They ought to be true to life, visual, and lead into the picture of the director. The idea drawings put those thoughts in sketch for the first time. They effectively communicate the production designer's perception to the director.

At the point when the producer and director agree, the art department does the procedure which i

brings about the structure of sets. Intensive working drawings that address materials, scale, size,

and engineering design are made. At that point, an artist draws an arrangement of the set

dependent on those working drawings. The arrangement resembles any architecture

arrangement and fills a similar need. The development organizer examines the arrangement.

Materials are requested. The set can be worked in the studio or in part at a shop or stockroom

and sent to the studio where it is gathered. A group of woodworkers and different artisans

varying are put on the task by the construction coordinator, who resembles a development

foreman on a customary structure venture. The construction coordinator should likewise decide

to what extent it will take to fabricate the set so it tends to be facilitated with the shooting plan.

2.7.3. POST-MODERN FILM DESIGN

Futuristic stories challenge the designer. Design thoughts must be anticipated to make an ultrai

present day world that is never been seen. i

Frequently production designers depend on format standards from the past to make the future in i

films. This idea, post-innovation, progressed in design throughout the Seventies as a response

against front line structure of the time. In production design, postmodernism carries a duality of

importance to the account of a film.

Charles Jencks, a professional in post-modern architecture, gives vision into how production i

designers use post-modernism in movie to repeat the history and put the existing and future into

background: “A post-modern building is doubly coded—part modern and part something else:

vernacular, revivalist, local, commercial, metaphorical, or contextual. In several important

instances it is also doubly coded in the sense that it seeks to speak on two levels at once: to a

concerned minority of architects, an elite who recognize the subtle distinctions of a fast-

changing language, and the inhabitants, users, or passers-by, who want only to understand and i

enjoy it.”

A Clockwork Orange (1971) was based in a proximate future world that was both collapsing

and lustrous with modernism. Blade Runner (1982) was set in an Asian-inspired Los Angeles, a

third world nation, set alight with neon illuminations united with Egyptian and Mayan

architectural elements.

Figure 2. 9. A post-modernist interior of home in a clockwork orange. It was designed by group of architects called team 4 in 1966. (Source : www.modernism-in-metroland.co.uk)

2.8. ARCHITECTS IN SET DESIGN Film industry is the most creative and high profile field where architects are offered a wide range of career options. Architects are best suited in the production design and cinematography department of a film. Where they can show their skills and creativity in bringing out the look of the film, by designing the sets, setting the lights, working on camera, and hence, creating the imaginary world of the directors vision. Production designer, art director, and set designer are the positions that an architect can consider. Numerous production designers, set designers had aroused out of schooling as an architect and have brought structural design perceptions to filmmaking.

2.8.1. ANSHUMAN PRASAD is one of the set designers working in a movie that holds an architecture degree in his bag. He is a globally celebrated for his concepts and sets. He studied architecture in India from the Manipal Institute of Technology, and later worked in an architecture firm in New Delhi. His choice to design for film carried him to the i

University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, where he did his graduate thesis entitle

“Beyond Mis-en-scene: narrative through architecture in mainstream cinema”. From

excellently engineered Batwing in Batman Vs Superman (2016) to the terrifying sets of

The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo (2011), Anshuman’s art is stimulated by a strong, real-

world visual joint with an influential, artistic visualization. An additional distinguished i

ventures he has operated on comprises the Hangover (2009), Terminator Salvation

(2009), Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014), Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice

(2016), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019) and the critically much-admired TV shows

Newsroom and Westworld. His movies, Passengers and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

earned the Art Director’s Guild award for Excellence in Production Design.

i i

Figure 2. 10. Image above is a 3d model render of the castle from the movie maleficent: mistress of evil (2019), one of the works from anshuman prasad’s portfolio. (Source : www.anshumanprasad.com).

2.8.2. KEN ADAM (1921-2016) is one of the most famous architects to have worked in production design in the movies. He was also the best exceptional production designer of the 20th century. His family in 1934 fled to London from Germany where he studied architecture from Bartlett School of Architecture. In war he worked as a fighter pilot for the RAF. Later the war, he operated on Around the World in 80 Days (1956), coming to the consideration of producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli who went on to employ him for The Trials of Oscar Wilde and, in 1962, Sir Ken's first Bond film, Dr No .(1962). Adam is chiefly related with the design of the James Bond films, whose sets bore his handwriting from the commencement. He was accountable for the design of an overall of seven Bond films. 34

Ken Adam assisted on closely 100 film ventures, two opera productions, a multimedia venture and varied demonstrations over the sequence of fifty years. He has acknowledged a countless number of respected honours and awards, comprising the British Academy Film Award, six Academy Award nominations and two award-winning Oscars.

Figure 2.11Sketch of the shuttles launch complex prepared by ken adam, for the movie moonraker(1979).( Source : Deutsche Kinemathek – Ken Adam Archive)

Figure 2. 12. Ken Adam, the British set designer, created some of the most famous film sets ever made. Visualized here is his "war room" from Stanley Kubrick’s 1963 film "dr. Strangelove or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb," a dark nuclear satire. (Source : Deutsche Kinemathek – Ken Adam Archive)

Chapter 3

3. CASE STUDY 3.1.

PARASITE (2019)

Parasite (2019) South Korean black witty thriller film directed by Bong Joon-Ho, and production designed by Ha-Jun Lee is a film that won four Oscars at the academy awards 2020 out of six nominees. It won best picture, best foreign language film, best director and best original screenplay. It was also selected for best production design and film editing categories. To prepare for the film, Bong’s team conducted interviews with architects and even toured a Frank Lloyd Wright house in L.A. All of the sets were built on outdoor lots. Parasite follows the Kim family endeavouring to make a decent living until child Ki-woo runs i

over an unforeseen chance. With no experience showing English, he chooses to acknowledge

work mentoring Da-hye, a little girl from the affluent Park family. What's more, hence, a

calculated mission for the whole Kim family to penetrate the rich family. Individually, every

relative makes sure about work under the appearance that they're dubiously associated through

shared contacts. What's more, despite the fact that the two families in the long run sink into a

give-and-take relationship of subjugation and wealth, there is an unpredicted parasite that takes

steps to devastate everything by uncovering reality.

A great part of the stun and rush in Bong Joon-Ho's film Parasite — named for six Oscars including Best Production Design — relies on the fictional house worked by an fictional architect claimed by the well-off Park family. At the point when the servant Mun-Kwang (Lee Jeong-eun) first invites the family's new mentor, Kim Ki-charm (Choi Woo-shik) into the pin-impeccable glass home, she discloses to him it was designed by the popular Korean architect Namgoong Hyunja. What gives off an impression of being a chateau is only an intricate world worked to the director's precise determinations: development traversed four distinct sets, with film from each combined in postproduction to make a consistent structure

onscreen. Much like the film itself, a moderate façade repudiates an evil complexity. To get the overall structure right for the storytelling, smaller details were very important.

Figure 3. 1. Isometric plan of the park’s house. (source: www. Floorplancroissant.com).

3.1.1. THE PARK HOUSE

In the movie park’s house was planned by an imaginary star architect, he was actually the previous owner of the house before the arrival of Park family. It was built in contemporary architecture style. Production designer lee took inspiration from minimalistic, modern houses with great space arrangement.

Figure 3. 2. Large window wall giving view of garden in park’s house. Minimal furniture was used so as not to distract "audiences from being absorbed in the story". (Source: 2019 CJ ENM CORPORATION, BARUNSON E&A).

So to create the set, production designer had to think more like an architect. There were certain factors but the production team also had to create the house so real that the audience would think like the real characters were living in a real house. The outcome is straightforward, exquisite, and current with a lot of wood, glass, and clean lines and outlines. "When Namgoong constructed the Park house, the reason for the principal floor front room was to value the garden," as indicated by director Bong. So the designer gave the space a goliath mass of glass watching out at the yard, and equipped it with negligible furniture put something aside for a remarkable, staggered foot stool and a smart sofa. There was no TV in the front room. So the window divider was made as per 2:35:1 aspect ratio with the goal that the huge living room and nursery look like picture on screen.

The house was meticulously designed by the production designer. It resembles its own universe i

inside this film. Each character and every family has spaces that they assume control over that

they can invade, and furthermore mystery spaces that they don't have a clue. So the dynamic

between these three families and the dynamic of space, they were especially interlaced and I

imagine that mix truly made a fascinating component to this film.

The furniture was uncommonly made by a trend-setter skilled worker named Bahk Jong Sun, picked for his smooth, saucy elegant, from the tables to the seats to the lights. The furniture has a warm similarly as a nippy, metal-like tendency with the straight-cutting edges and clear extents. The front room table that the Kim family stows away underneath, when the Park family appears all of a sudden from their escape was made a gigantic table as steps, made of four sheets of different levels. A structure and a level was needed where Mr. Park couldn't see Kim family using any and all means, whether or not they were lying straight or on their sides.

Figure 3. 3 All of the furniture in the park house was custom-made for the film. (Source: 2019 CJ ENM CORPORATION, BARUNSON E&A).

3.1.1.1.

The Basement

The most actively charged scenes of Parasite occur here and there the steps from the storm cellar i

to the mystery shelter underneath, production designer and his group assembled the whole

structure as a solitary unit, through and through, on a soundstage. The structure started at the

top: the steps driving from the kitchen to the cellar storeroom containing different maturation

extends, which are all sorted out on a cupboard darkening a shrouded flight of stairs framework.

The primary trips of steps lead to a restricted passage followed by another arrangement of steps

and the inevitable mystery shelter, where Kun-sae, the spouse of the servant, has been avoiding

obligation authorities for quite a long time.

3.1.2. KIM’S HOUSE

Kim’s house was a tiny sub-basement, which has very limited light and no views and cluttered space. Passage nearby it was crowded with storefronts and households. Production team hunted resources from neighbourhood’s that were in restoration regions agreed to be destroyed by the government. A significant part of the arrangement of Kim home is included of discovered materials: entryways, windows, tiles, bug screens, outlines, and even electric wires. They utilized resources that conveyed the attire and filth from ten, 20 years of utilization. Since watchers need to feel that from the earliest starting point through pictures, since it can't be passed on through smell. Everything, the rear entryway, neighbouring structures, and customer facing facades that the Kim house is totally based on set. What's more, they were so genuine even the Korean crowd couldn't tell whether these were set. They would put blue screens to make a visual expansion for the remainder of the area. So as to hit the nail on the head, production designer Lee Ha Jun visited and captured void towns that were set to be destroyed, and afterward duplicated them as he assembled the Kim family's packed road and confined, jumbled apartment on a set. They even displayed the old blocks utilized in the vacant houses in silicon to re-make them. 40

Figure 3. 5. The steps descending into the kim-family apartment. (Source: neon)

As opposed to the rich house, Kim semi-storm cellar neighbourhood is progressively vibrant, however shading tones were limited however much as could be expected with the goal that no particular tone stuck out. Rather, the surfaces were harsh and the space was denser contrasted with the rich house. Kim family living in one of a kind structure of semi-storm cellar homes, it wasn't simply to i

simply show a Korean component of story. There's a progressively explicit importance behind

it, in light of the fact that the semi-cellar is fundamentally of the centre of high and low. There's

this dread you can fall significantly promote underneath yet you despite everything feel trust

that you're still half over the ground, so it truly mirrors this thin space they're in, and the spaces

in this film are much progressively compartmentalized and all associated through an entangled

flight of stairs.

. Kim’s house also features a prominent window, looking at street level from below. This window is also slightly unusual in shape, similar to the shape of the film’s own 2.39:1 aspect ratio. In a way, window is screen for the audience to view these houses through — just as the families themselves either view the world from below or above. The Kim’s constantly gaze out through a minuscule window with vertical lines breaking it apart like a prison door.

Figure 3. 6. An early rendering of the Kim family’s basement home. (Source: 2019 CJ ENM CORPORATION, BARUNSON E&A).

The spatial contrasts between the two homes go far in disclosing to us more about the characters i

than any verbally expressed line of discourse. Where the Parks can appreciate a free-spaced

house with high roofs, the Kim’s need to suffer in a considerably more confined space that is

about as far as possible underground. While the Parks have minimal obvious mess at home – a

reality, almost certainly, supported by the nearness of their servant – the Kim's' things are

everywhere, with stuff packed into the same number of little spaces as they can discover.

CHAPTER 4

4. CONCLUSION

All films have architecture. Retro dramas upsurge their pragmatism by signifying the style of the structures the characters truly would live. Science fiction uses architecture to help trust the viewer of the authenticity of an imaginary world. In contemporary drama, the architectural style is made-up to be quiet or self-effacing, and in psychological to be figurative. If the film is to prosper, the designer’s obligation is challenge the role of architecture in designing the backgrounds. The importance of these details is revealed by closely examining several films in which the architectural details are a critical element of the overall production design. Moreover, individual can anticipate a precise pattern to cinema’s approach in the direction of modern architecture, an approach that changes from entirely mischievous to admiration of power, and lastly to illogical fear. Of course, these approaches just echo our own varying mental state about the buildings around us and their consequence upon us. Filmmakers therefore had turned and will turn to architects and designers with architectural training to design sets, trusting that knowledge of the multidimensionality of built space is a essential requirement to designing for film. Even production designer of parasite Ha-Jun Lee had to turn to his friend who is an architect to help him prepare the sets of the film.

Being able to think conceptually and problem solving creatively are huge part of what we can use from our education in this industry. Designers have to come up with creative solutions that are both cost effective and convey the space three dimensionally and deceive wherever possible to generate an illusion of something even greater when it appears on film, whether filming on location or building a set from scratch. Having the knowledge of the software’s like Maya, 3ds Max, V-ray, and unreal engine which are extensively used nowadays for the virtual sets, VFX and CGI can give architects upper hand against any other person. And additionally 3d modelling skills and drafting skills will surely add to the advantage.

CHAPTER 5

5. REFERENCES

5.1 BOOKS 

LoBrutto, V. (2002). The filmmaker's guide to production design. Simon and Schuster.



SMOTHERS, J. (1995). Setting the scene-the great Hollywood art-directors-Sennett, RS.



Millerson, G. (2013). TV scenic design.



Pallasmaa, J. (2001). The architecture of image.



Winslow, C. (2006). The handbook of set design.

5.2 INTERNET 

The look of blade runner – Silver Screen Modes by Christian Esquevin http://silverscreenmodes.com/the-look-of-blade-runner/



The Miniature Models of BLADE RUNNER - VFX Voice Magazine https://www.vfxvoice.com/the-miniature-models-of-blade-runner/



The cabinet of dr. Caligari (1920) - Interiors : An Online Publication about Architecture and Film https://www.intjournal.com/0813/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari



Why 'the mandalorian' uses virtual sets instead of green screens - Insider https://www.insider.com/green-screen-virtual-sets-mandalorian-2020-4



Art of LED Wall Virtual Production, Part One: ‘Lessons from the Mandalorian’ fxguide https://www.fxguide.com/fxfeatured/art-of-led-wall-virtual-production-part-onelessons-from-the-mandalorian/



How Bong Joon Ho Built the Houses in Parasite. 44

https://www.vulture.com/2020/02/how-bong-joon-ho-built-the-houses-inparasite.html 

Inside the House From Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite- Architectural Digest https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/bong-joon-ho-parasite-movie-set-designinterview



'Parasite' tells a story of class through architecture - KCRW https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/design-and-architecture/architecture-in-parasitemovie-villain-homes/parasite-tells-a-story-of-class-through-architecture



How Bong Joon Ho Designed the House in “Parasite” - Indie Wire https://www.indiewire.com/2019/10/parasite-house-set-design-bong-joon-ho1202185829/



How Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” Made Deliberate Use of its Architecture - Tgr https://tgr.com.ph/how-bong-joon-hos-parasite-made-deliberate-use-of-itsarchitecture/

Set Design - Dissertation Report

Articles inside

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

1. INTRODUCTION