It’s time for another Links & Stuff post! I hope October was a great month for you. Unfortunately I have been largely unavailable the last few months as I was production designing a feature up north while simultaneously organising a few events as mentioned in the photos below.
The day after I relaunched this site I went into pre-production and it’s been go-go-go ever since. I can’t tell you how nice it is to get back to it, to sit, write, and research articles to bring you the very best content I can muster while not giving up on my own art department dreams. It’s a very hard balance to strike.
One of the all new features I published on the site this month is an Event Listings page which will lead you to production design, art, architecture, filmmaking, and interior design related events in a city near you. You can filter the events by city using the tags button or you can filter by type of event using the categories button. If you have an event to submit that is not currently on the page, click here. Have fun exploring our brand new Events page.
If you want to stay in the loop before these posts roll around, follow Art Departmental on Instagram, Twitter and like us on Facebook where we post all the latest and greatest film, art, architecture and production design news and views.
Photos of the Month
I was able to help arrange our very first production design panel at Fan Expo this year with the ridiculously talented Star Trek Discovery art department team and it went so well. We’ll be posting more about that in the new year. We also did our first live-tweet during the premiere of Star trek Discovery while I sat and watched it with the crew. We hope to do many more of these types of events in the future so stay tuned!
Links of the Month
- The New York Times did a phenomenal profile on the art and craft of production design in September with a lengthy article also showcasing the work of production designers Dante Ferretti, Judy Becker, Adam Stockhausen, and David Wasco.
- Take a look at these creepy miniature dollhouses created by the ‘Mother of Forensics’, Frances Glessner Lee. Entitled Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, it’s a series of 1/12-scale dioramas based on real-life criminal investigation cases which are still studied today.
- Somebody needs to shoot a film here with these trees.
- Architectural Digest’s new site called Clever details 65 of the worst construction fails they’ve seen online. This is actually pretty funny. Keep who ever is responsible far away from a film set.
- Toronto couple sues alleged house-copying neighbors for $2.5M. This lawsuit seems absolutely ridiculous to me. These people have too much time and money on their hands.
Mr. Robot production designer on using sets to evoke a world in chaos.
- Meet Syd Mead, the artist who illustrates the future. He’s the visionary behind the look of Blade Runner and other sci-fi classics.
- IT was released to great audiences and critical reviews. I saw it this month finally and loved it. That house must have been so much fun to design and build. I feel lucky I heard production designer Claude Pare speak about the film back in the spring.
- I love this: How to Walk Out of the Louvre With a Masterpiece
- How Kodak’s Shirley Cards Set Photography’s Skin-Tone Standard. Here’s a collection of more Shirley Cards. I had no idea what these were until now.
- This is quite an amazing photo resource. I am in love with these sets. They Don’t Make Theatre Sets Like They Used To
- One Man’s Quest to Photograph Every Frank Lloyd Wright Structure Ever Built. I am actually on a similar quest. So far I’ve only made it to the Guggenheim and all of the remaining buildings in Buffalo but it’s a work in progress. Fallingwater is next up on my list.
Check out this short but great article detailing to the destroyed city of Las Vegas in Blade Runner 2049. The entire film is just so beautiful I didn’t want the film to end. Lost City- In Blade Runner 2049, a reimagined Las Vegas.
- This is a fun little romp into the best 25 sci-fi film sets of the last 25 years. I’m not sure I agree with all of them but it’s always nice to revisit some favourite sets.
- Learn how to stylize cinematography like Wes Anderson
Check out these great vintage photos of artists in their bohemian ateliers.
- Last but certainly not least, the Harvey Weinstein saga has broken the entertainment industry wide open. Widespread sexual harrassment all over the world in every industry has been exposed by the #MeToo campaign that followed as a result of the Harvey Wenstein allegations. So how did we get here? First came the New York Times: Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades. Then it was Ronan Farrow’s well written and researched take down in the New Yorker: From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories. Then the New York Times delivered the death blow adding major Hollywood actresses to the list of Harvey’s victims: Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Others Say Weinstein Harassed Them. All of this led to Harvey Weinstein being fired from his own company and let go from all major organizations in the entertainment industry and beyond: Entertainment, Media Figures Applaud Harvey Weinstein Firing: ‘The Enabling Needs to End’. There are more people being outed as predators everyday like Kevin Spacey and Brett Ratner but I’m just too tired to list them all. Aren’t you tired too? What do we do about all of this? The “#MeToo” movement has brought about a lot of soul searching and a lot of tears but I do believe people are finally listening. Like most women I know, I have experienced sexual harassment in the work place many many many times over. So have the majority of other female crew members I know. All I can say is that I’ll do my part to call harassment and abuse out as I see it, when I see it, but it’s still a cold comfort. Let’s keep pushing the conversation forward and forcing our employers to take it and us seriously. #metoo
Video of the Month
Check out this interesting video looking through the different variations that were originally designed as possibilities for the Millennium Falcon for the original Star Wars in 1977.
Well, that’s it for me. Which articles and links did you love this month? I would love to know in the comments below.
Rose Lagacé | @artdepartmental
You can find previous Links & Stuff posts, here.
