Our task is that I am an independent set designer, and have been asked to research and create a set design for a new horror film. Twisted Pictures is responsible for releasing some of the biggest and most successful horror movies globally including the ‘Saw’ franchise.
Professional Set Designers
Rick Heinrichs
He is an American production designer, effects artist, art director and film producer.
He is well known for his work on the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Ang lee’s Hulk (2003) and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
He started his career on visual effects on the other world sequence in The Watcher in the Woods, Tim Burton’s Hansel and Gretel and Vincent to later work on Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Nutcracker: The Motion Picture. He also worked on Frankenweenie.
J. Michael Riva
He was an American production designer (RIP 1948-2012).
Riva had a long and prestigious career as an art director and production designer on numerous films, including the 1985 film The Colour Purple, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction. Other credits include The Goonies (1985), Lethal Weapon (1987), A Few Good Men (1992), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010).
His final films, The Amazing Spider-Man and Django Unchained, were released posthumously. He was the production designer for the opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, as well as for the 74th and 79th Academy Awards in 2002 and 2007, respectively. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for his work on the latter.
Nathan Crowley
He is an English production designer and a former art director.
He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Production Design for The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), Interstellar (2014), Dunkirk (2017), and First Man (2018). For The Prestige, he was nominated with set decorator Julie Ochipinti, for The Dark Knight, he was nominated with set decorator Peter Lando, and for Interstellar and Dunkirk, he was nominated with set decorator Gary Fettis.
Crowley was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design for Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008).
What do Set Designers Do?
A set designer is in charge of designing and creating the sets that appear in films, on television programmes as well as in the theatre. The role involves working and communicating with directors, producers, costume designers and other members of staff.
The responsibilities include:
- Reading scripts
- Producing plans, drawings and models of sets
- Preparing estimates of set costs
- Managing budgets
- Viewing possible outside broadcast sites
- Planning
- Attending rehearsals/film takes
- Meeting with and commissioning set construction companies.
The Conventions/Iconography of Horror
Conventions
One of the conventions of a horror film is featuring specific common fears. These often include; Nightmares, alienation, venerability, death, fear of the unknown, and loss of identity. Horror is a genre of speculative fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle its readers by inducing feelings of horror and terror.
In terms of the history of Horror, it is an ancient art form. We have tried to terrify each other with tales which trigger the less logical parts of our imaginations for as long as we’ve told stories. From the ballads of the ancient world to modern urban myths, audiences willingly offer themselves up to sadistic storytellers to be scared witless, and they are happy to pay for privilege.
In terms of the settings in Horror, setting does more than simply enhance the story’s mood; it creates the ambience, and the expectation, of terror. Examples include abandoned houses, Barnes and farms, cities, cabins, creepy hotels etc.
Iconography
Iconography of horror movies can be the symbolic symbols that are shown throughout the movie, for example old dolls, a haunted house, a mask or disfigured face and death symbols such as blood, knife, bodies.
Research
Horror Movies I have watched
These are some of the horror movies I have watched over the times that I remember. The most iconic scenes in horror movies in my opinion are the forest scenes where they are either running away from the antagonist or stumble upon the scary location where everything goes wrong for the protagonist. This has made me pick doing a forest as my official set design that I will create.
Forest Inspirations
These are parks I have personally been to that I feel can inspire me in making my set design. Both of these examples through the pictures don’t really connote the genre of horror, but what I will take from the examples is how the trees are structured, the different types of trees and how I can make a forest in the daytime look scary in the night.
Planning
Who are my target audience?
Age rating: PG – Inspiration from a film called ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’, there were scenes with creatures from the forest being violent and ‘bleeding’. This relates to the creatures in my forest potentially being violent towards a wandering person.
Race: Any – The antagonists don’t discriminate.
Gender: Any – The protagonist could be of any gender because the antagonist are unknown creatures therefore genderless.
What I need to create the set
- Cardboard boxes(Set)
- Cardboard(Trees and creatures)
- Sellotape
- Paint
- Brushes
- Dead leaves
- PVA glue/Hot glue gun
- Paper(Moon and Clouds)
Drawings/Illustrations
These are my 2D illustrations with detailed explanations that are connected to the drawings.
My Dark Forest Set Design
The construction of my set design
My process of creating my set design started with picking a suitable cardboard box I can use. To create a background and floor for the set design, I opened up the box so it had a x and y axis. I already had in mind that the production design is going to be set in the night so I painted the background black; being the night sky. I also had it mind to add the moon and clouds but to give that supernatural effect to my set design, I used a blood red moon. I wanted to add stars to the night sky but I felt like it would make the background sky less ominous.
For the floor of my set design I went outside my college and collected leaves so it makes it look realistic. I had different types of leaves but in the end I only used the dead leaves because they symbolise ‘decay’ and ‘sadness’. To make the trees I didn’t know at first how I was going to start making them, so I typed into Google ‘cardboard trees’ and clicked a Pinterest link. I got inspired from how the trees are propped up from the base with other cardboard. The trees were dark oak; symbolising the lack amount of sunlight the trees have taken in.
The ‘antagonists’ of the dark forest set design were added in; exemplifying that even though the forest looks lifeless and hopeless, there were baleful creatures being inhabitants. One of the creatures were a spider type so I made spiderwebs with the hot glue gun and mounted the spider creature on one of the trees. The other 2 creatures were on the ground as they were a mutated mushroom and a abnormal bug.
The final version of my Dark Forest set design
Evaluation
My task was to envision myself has being an independent set designer that has been asked to create a set design for a new horror movie. I have never done set design before, so I decided to start researching about famous set designers and what movies they were involved in; this familiarised myself into understanding how highly rated set designers are in the media industry, even though they are not in the forefront like the directors are. I wanted to understand what being a set designer consists so I also researched on what a set designer is in terms of their job. The set that I was going to create needed to have a horror genre to it, so I researched about the conventions/iconography of the horror genre. All this research aided with completing my task because it helped me understand what I needed to do for my own production design and how to do it too.
As a method of brainstorming my idea for my production design, I began to remember what horror movies I watched during the years and seeing what inspires me from each movie. I came up with the conclusion that the forest is a common location used in horror movies, because of how secluded and ominous they are especially in the night. To gain inspiration in how I’m going to create the dark forest concept, I looked at real life places which have the forest vibe such parks I’ve been to; Handsworth park and Sutton park. From that I also decided that I could use dead leaves as the floor of my set design, so there is that realistic element to it. All this helped me with completing my task because it made me visualise how I wanted the final product to look like; giving me a clear goal to go towards.
The planning and model making process consisted of listing all the equipment I need to create the set. I found cardboard boxes in my home, corner shops, already supplied ones and brought them to college. Equipment such as the paint and brushes were already provided as well as the glue and sellotape. I started drawing how I want the set to look like and what I want my set design to consist of. I made sure that with the 2D sketches I explained each drawing; giving more insight into my vision of my set design. I also made sure that my idea of the set design was realistic enough for it to be created in reality with cardboard. I kept my idea simple but open to creativity. This all ultimately solidified what my set design idea was so I was ready to start making it from 2D to 3D.
In conclusion, the process of creating my dark forest set tested my D.I.Y and creativity skills. It was a new experience making a set so I defiantly learnt new skills during the process. To bring all my work together I made sure to state my target audience for my production.
EKN Productions 