Some older designers still refer to Production Design as Art Direction, although the branch changed its name in 2012. That’s the least of its confusions for the voter, as revealed in a recent conversation with an Academy member who has worked both as a designer and a set decorator.
NOLAN POWERS Can I ask you for your short list for Production Design?
DESIGNER/SET DECORATOR I can give you my short list, but I didn’t actually nominate. I didn’t think it was a very good year for design. Or Best Picture. I couldn’t come up with five for either category. But since you ask…The Shape of Water…Blade Runner…Phantom Thread…and Planet of the Apes. They’re the showiest.
NP They’re all in the running, according to the Oscar pundits.
DS Oh gosh, those pundits…it’s an industry inside an industry.
NP The Shape of Water is the favorite…followed by Blade Runner…then Dunkirk.
DS Dunkirk. That’s so curious. Except for boats, I can’t remember a single interior.
NP Was anything constructed? Or were those all locations?
DS Well, even if a movie is all natural locations, the designer can determine where you shoot. But you’re right, there’s no way for the viewer to tell.
NP Isn’t it the same with visual effects? How’s the voter supposed to know whether an element was constructed or CGIed?
DS You can’t. I can’t tell you who did what on Blade Runner. On some movies, the designer works closely with the D.P. With The Shape of Water, for example, Del Toro is such a visual director, the designer takes a back seat. Bertolucci, another example. But most directors aren’t particularly visual.
NP So it’s harder to tell who was doing what.
DS That’s why I’m loath to vote on certain other categories. Editing, primarily. How do you know what footage the editor had to work with?
NP The movie with the most cuts gets a leg up. Is there something comparable in design?
DS Well, it’s unusual for a contemporary movie to get nominated. La La Land was an exception.
NP And it won. Going back in time…Grand Budapest Hotel…Great Gatsby…Hugo…
DS Those are the winners?! I thought Gatsby was painful, and the design wasn’t all that special. Years ago I worked with Dick Sylbert, one of the great production designers of all time. He used to say about a film like Budapest Hotel, “Oh, that was rent-a-chateau.” Meaning, they found a fantastic location, and they shot it. Was that the case with Budapest Hotel? No way to know. Design is a broad concept, and nobody defines it.
NP But isn’t set decoration easier to judge? It’s right there in front of you, like the performances. Doesn’t it reveal more about character than the other design elements?
DS Yes. The devil is in the details. It’s easier to judge a decorator’s work.
NP But then it gets folded into the award.
DS Yes, more overlap. Just like all departments overlap. And if they aren’t collaborating…if the designer, for example, isn’t talking to the costume person, you get color clashes.
NP And you can never be sure who was making the decisions.
DS That’s right.
NP So if it’s confusing to you…
DS Imagine.
First published in The Ankler.