Art Direction for Film and Video Page 10

  Quick! Draw the Blinds!

  Another magazine picture shows some tall, vertical sunlight-control vanes outside a building window. When viewed from one angle, the group of vanes appears to be a solid wall. Another more straight-on view reveals what is beyond the spaces between the blinds. We could design some four-foot-wide vertical flats similar to those in the picture, which would hide the cameras and, from many angles, allow the camera lenses free rein to the set. A simple white model of this design would help the director see this set’s possibilities.

  BE IMAGINATIVE!

  It’s always a pleasure to work with producers and directors who are not willing to settle for obvious solutions, but we must be willing to accept failure too. Maybe a design doesn’t work today, but improved technology may let you bring it out of storage later. There are no ideal solutions. All designs have drawbacks, but your choices are unlimited. Good ideas come from unexpected places—we once saw a production designer turn a piece of gutter trash into a planet’s surface. Above all, keep your eyes open.

  •

  Imaginative solutions can be applied to other forms of programming as well In the next chapter we will see how the art director works out several solutions for a news set and see how they are received.

  19

  STAGING A NEWS BROADCAST

  An independent television station art director recalls the first time he designed a newsroom presentation:

  Way back then, everyone had just a desk and a background. Then someone came up with the bright idea of making the news seem more authentic by showing the whole staff rushing around and there were many problems with this: noise, confusion, and most of the time, nothing happening in the background because by the time the news was on the air, most of the news staff had finished their work!

  BACKGROUND ON THE NEWS

  News broadcasting is a major source of income for most television stations in the United States and receives a large share of management’s attention. In the infancy of television, commercial station news broadcasting played a minor role because viewers wanted to be entertained by the new medium rather than informed. For some people, this is still the case.

  Ratings rose when news broadcasters increased news entertainment values and introduced attractive news-reading personalities. Appearance and presentation style became important. The amount of money broadcasters could charge for commercial time increased as audience shares increased. Broadcast lengths increased to allow more time for entertainment and production values. Technological advances enhanced these values.

  THE ART DIRECTOR’S ROLE

  The appearance and tone of news broadcasts rests heavily on the setting in which viewers see the reporters. The care the art director puts into set design can increase the broadcast’s excitement and authority.

  Broadcasters place much emphasis on the appearance of the people who talk to the cameras. Many viewers believe that these authoritative-appearing people rush around all day gathering the stories they tell. The reality, however, is that, generally, staffs of reporters, writers, editors, and news-gathering crews prepare the material the on-camera personalities read. An art director contributes one element that helps create an authoritative feeling: the setting.

  MAKE IT LOOK LIKE A NEWSROOM!

  Let’s join a typical production meeting at which a new news presentation will be discussed. The management of WXXX has decided to abandon their traditional broadcast format – three people seated at a curved desk in front of a city photomural. WXXX is going to follow the crowd and do a two-hour newsroom-format program which they hope will win the ratings race in Midland City.

  Present at the meeting are the news director, program director, station manager, production manager, technical director, facilities manager, assorted assistants, many coffee cups, and Harold, the art director. After the obligatory chit-chat with which all meetings begin, the station manager says: “I have called this meeting to get the ball rolling on a new secret news show that you all know about. We’ve been concerned about the success of the newsroom format over at Channel 8 and in other markets around the country. We’re not going to be left behind…(etc., etc.). Now our illustrious news director will tell us about this exciting new project.”

  The news director starts in. Everyone takes notes. He says the new show will be two hours long, have a newsroom format, and that the news staff will appear in the background doing their regular jobs (which they will have already done by the time the broadcast airs). We hear a lot of enthusiastic talk about how exciting this will be, how we will have new mobile state-of-the-art news-gathering equipment, and the new look will make WXXX the highest rated station in the area.

  The words “new look” rouse Harold from doodling strange creatures on his yellow pad. New “looks” always mean a set that looks completely different from the old one, but won’t scare anybody and has to be ready in two weeks. Harold wonders how exciting he can make a set that contains some editors typing behind a row of news readers.

  “When is all this supposed to go on the air?” Harold asks.

  “We’re shooting for September 8th,” says Mr. News Director. A hush falls over the room.

  Taking a white-knuckled grip on his coffee cup, Harold says, “That gives me three whole weeks. I don’t see how I can design and have a whole new newsroom built by then.”

  “Don’t worry,” the news director says. “All we have to do is move the cameras into the old newsroom and put in some lights.”

  HAROLD GETS BUSY

  Harold asks some more questions and returns to his cubicle to begin creating the solution to this new challenge. Setting aside the problems posed by the low ceiling in the existing newsroom, he makes a list of the requirements discussed at the production meeting:

  • Anchor desk with four positions

  • Chromakey effect (blue or green area for inserting electronic graphics)

  • Channel number in every shot

  • Clocks showing worldwide times

  • Map of the world

  • Map of the state

  • Bank of television screens

  It All Has to Fit

  Harold’s first job is to record the general dimensions of the room, including the height of the ceiling, changes in floor level, width and height of doors, and jogs in the walls and ceiling. He also measures and counts the desks at which the news-gathering staff will be seen, and makes notes of the positions of computers, television monitors, and telephones he needs to show on the plan.

  Back to the Drawing Board

  Armed with the numbers, Harold sketches out some ideas. He starts with some obvious solutions and works up to some more innovative plans to present along with the dull ones. He then draws plan views of the room.

  Scale It Up

  To be sure the new pieces will fit into the existing room, Harold makes scale cardboard shapes representing desks and other necessary furnishings. By trying different arrangements of the shapes, he gets a clearer idea of how the spaces can work. When he has a preliminary arrangement, Harold makes a simple white model of the room. Now the set and its proportions are even more clear because he can hold the model up to camera level and peer at it from any angle.

  Don’t Forget the Weather

  Weather reporting holds extreme interest for many viewers, and Harold reserves a portion of the set for the Chromakey process. The weather person stands in front of a blue or green area onto which still and moving graphics are electronically inserted.

  The weather reporter looks into an off-camera monitor to see the computer-created graphics. As we saw in Chapter 5, saturated blue and green are the colors of choice because they are far away from the colors reporters usually wear, and allow the system to cut a clear stencil into which the system can insert graphics.

  More Numbers

  Another item on Harold’s list is the channel number appearance desired in every shot of the newsroom so that viewers will not think they are watching Channel 6. At this point in the des
ign process, he has only a rough idea of the camera angles and can only estimate where to put the logos. Harold plans to leave the exact placement until he sees the set on camera and sees the shots chosen by the director.

  Clutter Everywhere

  Looking at the existing newsroom, Harold sees that it is a visual mess, has no central staff working area, and no color identity. The room serves its purpose as a utilitarian space as determined by the staff’s needs, but it will look messy and confusing on camera. Armed with measurements, he decides to make a central anchorperson area toward the end of the room where the cameras will be. This area will be elevated 18" above floor level to get the seated, on-camera people’s eyes at lens level. Behind this anchor desk area, the cameras will see feverish news-gathering activity, the wall clocks, and banks of television monitors, as well as a channel number or two. Much of the time, the possibly distracting activity will be out of focus or not in selected shots.

  Harold May Scare Them

  Because he has several ideas, ranging from ordinary to innovative, Harold makes sketches and rough plans for each. This approach can be risky, because clients may get confused by many choices, but Harold decides the following three designs will give everyone a chance to show their true colors:

  1. A standard solution—Following the news director’s suggestions, Harold places a four-person anchor desk in the foreground, station logo and weather area to the right, and clocks on the wall above. The color tone is beige.

  2. A different arrangement of the same idea—This version of the set has colored panels, an interview area, and chrome trim around the walls. Everything else is the same as the first plan.

  3. An arrangement that will frighten everyone—This set has no conventional walls, but features a semi-circular 180° Chromakey green area behind the anchor desk, giving free rein for insertion of news graphics. A curved, transparent desktop at which the news readers sit even shows the bottom half of their figures, a broadcasting innovation.

  Ms. Cautious will go for set No. 1 or possibly set No. 2 if she feels daring. Mr. Middle-of-the-Road will not say anything until he hears the station manager’s opinion. Mr. Courageous will go for No. 3, whatever may happen to his career.

  WHAT’S THE DECISION?

  Station management cautiously approaches any changes in news presentation for fear that they may frighten loyal viewers to another channel, so after many hours of soul-searching, they choose to go ahead with Harold’s solution No. 2, Middle-of-the Road. Harold files away No. 3 for another day.

  •

  In the next chapter, we will see how an art director can help present a lot of information in a short period of time by designing a commercial setting.

  20

  DESIGNING A COMMERCIAL

  Besides giving us time to dash to the kitchen for a snack, television commercials support programming that keeps us on the couch in the first place. Jean Carpenter, an art director specializing in commercials, says:

  I like designing commercials because they don’t last forever, pay well, and many times offer creative opportunities that don’t happen in dramatic work. What I don’t like is the need to satisfy so many different elements such as the client’s personal opinion which has nothing to do with the finished product. I worked for a producer once who didn’t allow the client people on the set! She made that whole group stay in a viewing room and watch production on a monitor!

  A commercial’s objective is to sell a product, of course. By interviewing consumers and by analyzing sales and demographic data, advertising agencies create messages they hope will cause consumers to buy their product instead of a competitor’s. Buyers’ choices may not have any bearing on the intrinsic worth of the product, but can simply be a response to the message and its atmosphere. The art director, then, as a participant in the creation of environments, helps sell products.

  STORYBOARDS

  What is the difference between an advertising agency art director and a video or film art director? The answer is: An agency art director works with a creative director to create a storyboard and general visual concept for a commercial.

  A storyboard is a series of drawings in panels with dialogue or description below each drawing. The video or film art director works from the storyboard and script and creates the sets.

  Visual Consultant Bruce Block says:

  Storyboards should be simple. They should remind you of the general composition and who’s in the shot. They should deal with spatial considerations and line and that’s about it. Storyboards should be a work in progress; otherwise, they’re comic book illustrations.

  COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION PERSONNEL AND PROCEDURES

  An advertising agency frequently hires an outside production house to package the production of the commercial. The production house may also hire the set art director.

  The advertising agency personnel usually include the following:

  • Account executive

  • Producer

  • Creative director

  • Copywriter

  • Agency art director

  The production house generally provides the following:

  • Director

  • Art director

  • Set decorator

  • Food stylist

  • Director of photography (DP)

  • Stage facility

  • Stage crew

  • Postproduction services

  Dealing with Choices

  Differences of opinion affect the commercial art director’s job. The client may not like the wallpaper, the set dressing, or the paint color. The producer has the final say and may have to work out compromises; this is another time when the art director needs to be diplomatic.

  Daily Labor

  The set art director is usually hired to work on a daily basis rather than under a contract agreement. The amount of time available to design and assemble the set elements is generally short, frequently just three or four days. The client, of course, wants to know exactly what the sets are going to look like, so an art director’s sketches play a major role and have to be done very quickly.

  Labeling and Food

  Usually the advertising agency prepares camera-ready labels and special packaging that will photograph better than a store’s shelf products. Larger production centers have services that specialize in product labels and packaging, but frequently the prop person or art director handles that part of the job using airbrush, photocopies, and laser prints. If the product is a food item, the agency or production house will hire a food stylist who knows how to attractively prepare and present food for the camera.

  Sketches and Plans

  If sets are to be built, the video or film director prepares plans using the same process as for a dramatic production: sketches, construction drawings, and bids. Very short time frames may preclude the construction drawing process, and the shop may have to put together stock flats from a sketch on a paper towel, not the best way to go.

  Money Matters

  Some set art directors who specialize in commercials contract their services for a flat fee, which may include construction costs, helpers, and props. This is OK for an experienced person to tackle, but if you are just starting out, it’s better to have the production house handle these elements. Never spend your own money because it’s frequently difficult to get it back again.

  HERE’S THE SCRIPT

  Now that the ground rules are entrenched in your mind, read the script.

  THE BASIC SET

  Commercials present a lot of information in a short period of time. Each set element contributes to viewers’ perceptions of the characters, environment, and above all, the product’s virtues. In some cases, the product is the atmosphere created by a setting that communicates elegance, speed, efficiency, or other positive attributes.

  Remember that you need to give the impression of a high-rise condominium building, but do not need to build the entire building; just a kitchen in the building. Select some set eleme
nts that communicate height and apartment building such as a window view showing that the building is high, and a doorway through which Fleur enters which shows a hallway not found in a tract home. Start with two walls set at a right angle to each other. One wall needs a door and the other wall needs a window, sink, and cabinets.

  Set Improvements

  Looks pretty dull, doesn’t it? Let’s improve this set. Add visual interest by putting the sink in a freestanding island with a work surface. This will bring Bruce’s problem scuff toward easy camera access and add three-dimensional interest to the set. Because the sink does not need running water, the island unit’s plumbing does not have to work and the unit can be positioned to satisfy the director’s every whim. The previous sink-below-the-window approach would have worked, but it would not have given the impression that Bruce and Fleur are up-scale people or make the director smile.

  Turning our attention to the former sink wall, it holds the window through which we see the skyscrapers and moon, and the custom-built counter and trendy-color refrigerator, stovetop, expensive cannisters, and kitchen appliances which a couple like Bruce and Fleur would have but are actually rented from a property rental house by the set decorator. Remember that a couple like Bruce and Fleur would hardly have a set of cannisters shaped like teddy bears.

  What about the Hallway?

  Find out what elements exist in high-rise condo hallways. Perhaps the service elevator doors are across from the kitchen door, or a stairway with an EXIT sign. If the city-at-night backing you rent shows the skyscrapers from ground level, roll it up from the bottom to just show the across-the-street building’s upper floors.