From the Sketchbook of Black Swan Production Designer, Thérèse DePrez

Exclusive to Art Departmental, here is a very special post from the mind of production designer, Thérèse DePrez for all of you hardcore art department geeks like I am.

As a huge fan of Thérèse DePrez, I knew (as some of you may have seen in the Black Swan production design featurette below) that Thérèse DePrez keeps a sketchbook which basically documents the entire production design process. In fact she does this for all of the films she production designs which can be very useful during production to keep everything straight.

Below are six photos of the inside of her Black Swan sketchbook which beautifully sums up the extraordinary behind-the scenes detailed work of her art department headed by the amazing Thérèse DePrez on Black Swan.

.

Left: Mock up of Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder) poster | Right: Production Meeting notes, notice the colour-coding of the notes for different departments

Reference images for the pink visual palette of the film.

Sun-prints Thérèse DePrez made to turn into wallpaper for Erica Sayers’ (Barbara Hershey’s) bedroom set.

Stage and lighting plan for Swan Lake stage scenes. Notice the fantastic logo on the bottom right. The UK Black Swan posters are very reminiscent of this.

Photoshop image of potential drops/graphics for ballet rehearsal room set.

Initial rough models for Swan Lake set piece. Moving cliff set.

Are you familiar with Thérèse DePrez’ work? How did you feel about Black Swan? After viewing these photos, notes, drawings, models, reference images, don’t you just want to work in the art department (if you aren’t already)? As seen in these photos, it’s pretty fulfilling work if you can get it.

Rose Lagace | @artdepartmental

Posted by Rose Lagacé

Rose Lagacé is a production designer for film & television by day and an emerging filmmaker by night. Rose is also the creator and editor of Art Departmental where she celebrates the art and craft of production design.

All Posts Website