I have been in the world of Production Design in various guises for 20 years. It has been 15 years since I began to design projects outright. It has been an enormous learning curve and happily, it continues to be every job I do.
It has been in the last few years though that I’ve explored and embraced what makes me the kind of Production Designer I am. This is the ‘why’ I design and more interesting than simply a credit list (although you can see that below).
Between jobs I protect my time to spend on my own artwork. I sculpt. I draw. I take photographs. I am constantly looking and exploring places. This has led me to figure out a few things. Set design is for me, sculpture. I sculpt a space with light and shadow – apertures and openings. I realise that I photograph shadows all the time. I am fascinated with how we tell stories about spaces using this positive and negative approach. In a way, sets are a way to design shadows.
I am also constantly exploring the subject of ‘colour’. I have created my own product Chroma Cues and I read and read and read about the stories behind colour, its cultures, and its humanity. For colour isn’t something I style with – it’s inextricably linked to storytelling all over the world. As Kandinsky declared:
“Colour directly influences the soul. Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another purposively, to cause vibrations in the soul.”
All the work that I do when I’m not designing a film or TV show, pushes me forwards to be a better designer, to find new inspirations that are outside the industry of moving image, test new ideas of making and communicate in more inspiring ways with my art department and directors alike. So you’ll always see me with a pencil and sketchbook as well as the scale rule and stage plan.
Photography at ChromaCues
Call My Agent: Sara Putt Associates – Tel: +44 (0)1932 571 044 – Email: sara@saraputt.co.uk
Hi Lisa!
I find your blog very inspiring especially for people that are starting like me, so thank you for taking the time to write and especially for the quality of your article it’s very helpful!
I wish you the best for 2013!
Camille