Production Design - Tumblr Posts
Last year, at Copenhagen Bombay, I worked on a game for the danish public service channel, Danmarks Radio, based on their children's series, Sprinter Galore. I did all the early sketches, the colour scripts, designs, buttons and I got to work with a lot of lovely people. These are a few of those sketches. And now the game is finally out - yaaay!
me anytime i work on my production design portfolio
Concept art by Edward Eyth for THE ROCKETEER (1991).
New York City ballet production of Midsummer Nights Dream
THE BANQUET (2006) dir. feng xiaogong; starring zhang ziyi, zhou xun and daniel wu
The On1y One visual analysis (Ep. 11): Burned
The subtle shift of The On1y One's coloring from blue to purple to red in Episode 11 really doesn't bode well for these boys, does it? (At least for Season 1.)
The show has long established how orange is Sheng Wang's color while blue is Jiang Tian's so the sudden introduction of purple was noticeable and interesting.
Especially because the temperature of the purple starts cool as Wang talks about his appreciation of the moon (representing Tian) and turns increasingly warm as he fantasizes about Tian in his dreams.
We can feel the crystallization of Wang's desires as red begins dominating the scene's color palette.
And we know that Tian feels very conflicted about that desire by how the episode concludes with a flashback to his childhood.
The trauma of discovering his father cheating on his mother--and with a man--is shot in an uncomfortably saturated red. The overwhelming use of the color in the lighting and production design feels oppressive and lurid.
In this scene, we finally find out how Tian got his burn and we're given more context for why he might have resisted his early attraction to Wang.
Side Note: The fact that in both Wang's fantasy and Tian's memory there are several distinct back shots of Tian's figure kills me--even the costuming is similar with both child and teen Tian wearing a thin sleeveless shirt that leaves them bare and vulnerable. The visual parallelism connects their first awareness of men being with men in a devastating way.
As noted by @benkaben in their brilliant analysis:
"The fact that the last scene was Jiang Tian and Sheng Wang sharing a bed, surrounded by small blue and purple and pink and big red, as in closeness, as in fear, as in danger, as a warning of the past, the danger of knowing, unequivocally, who you are, and doing nothing about it."
The red lingers on Tian's face in comparison to Wang's. Whew, Episode 12 is going to hurt.
"This is so disappointing! Passengers, this is not a shoe. This is disorder. This is size ten chaos! This, see this? This is death. In this locomotive we call home, there is one thing that goes between our warm hearts and the bitter cold. Clothing? Shields? No! Order. Order is the barrier that holds back the frozen death. We must all of us, on this train of life, remain in our allotted station. We must each of us occupy our preordained particular position. Would you wear a shoe on your head? Of course you wouldn't wear a shoe on your head! A shoe doesn't belong on your head, a shoe belongs on your foot! A hat belongs on your head. I am a hat, you are a shoe! I belong on the head, you belong on the foot, yes?! So it is! In the beginning, order was prescribed by your ticket: First Class, Economy, and Freeloaders like you. Eternal order is prescribed by the Sacred Engine. All things flow from the Sacred Engine: all things in their place, all passengers in their Section, all water flowing, all heat rising—pays homage to the Sacred Engine in its own particular preordained position. So it is! Now, as in the beginning, I belong to the FRONT. You belong to the TAIL. When the foot seeks the place of the head, a sacred line is crossed. Know your place! Keep your place! Be a shoe!" - Minister Mason's separatist speech to the Tail Section passengers, "Snowpiercer" +++ A tour through the compartments of the Snowpiercer's Front Section (gifs by moi) Greenhouse + Garden || Aquarium + Sushi Bar || Zoo + Abattoir || Classroom || Luxury Guestrooms (Library, Dental Office, Custom Clothing Room, among others) || Lounge + Beauty Salon || Swimming Pool + Sauna || Nightclub + Kronol Den
Incredible concept art sketches created by production designer Ondrej Nekvasil for Bong Joon-Ho's visionary science fiction film, "Snowpiercer". +++ 01. Typical view of a cramped, dark, and grimy corridor within the residential areas of the Tail Section. 02. Gilliam's Tent, located at the very end of the Snowpiercer, as seen on the outside. 03. Living spaces inside the Tail Section intended to mimic the claustrophobic feel of slums in third-world countries. 04. A sketch depicting a violent, blood-soaked scene onboard the train, which was eventually realized in the film as the memorable battle between the Tail Section rebels and the Front Section soldiers at the Yekaterina Bridge and Tunnel. 05. A verdant rendering of the Greenhouse Section, where it marks the first time the Tail Section rebels encounter the vivid colors of the train. Notice a key difference: the old lady in the sketch is reading a book, whereas in the film, she is leisurely doing her knitting by the fountain. 06. Beyond the fountain stand boxes of carefully cultivated and strictly controlled plants, fruits, and vegetables all flourishing within the limited spaces of the Greenhouse Section. 07. Perhaps one of the most beautiful parts of the Snowpiercer that made Yona Minsoo stare in joyous wonder: a floor-to-ceiling wraparound Aquarium Section filled with marine life.
More of the stunning concept art sketches created by production designer Ondrej Nekvasil for Bong Joon-Ho's visionary science fiction film, "Snowpiercer". +++ 01. At the end of the mind-blowing Aquarium Section lies an adjacent sushi bar, which as Minister Mason revealed in the film, serves the tasty Japanese dish only during January and July. 02. The Classroom Section and its brightly decorated interiors which was faithfully realized in the film in acid-bright saturated colors that matched the demented cheerfulness of the Teacher and her privileged pupils. 03. The interior of the Lounge + Salon Section took its grand opulence by channeling the spirit of luxury cruise ships from the 1930s. 04. Floor-to-ceiling windows filter in the light of an eternal winter inside the Swimming Pool Section. Fun fact: actress Octavia Spencer (who plays Tanya in the film) stated that this was her favorite part of the train during filming. 05. The set design for the Nightclub Section was intended to reference the decadent interiors of Manhattan discotheques from the 1980s but with a more modern twist. 06. The plush and hazy interiors of the Kronol Den Section also referenced the same '80s nightclubs of Manhattan where the discreet back rooms allowed partygoers to indulge in drugs and other narcotics. 07. The final design of Wilford's domain, the Engine Section, was conceived as a metallic spheroid monstrosity that production designer Ondrej Nekvasil described as "the chapel at the end of the road."
From Sketch to Screen: Ondrej Nekvasil's gorgeous production design concept art for the Front Section compartments fully realized in Bong Joon-Ho's "Snowpiercer".
88th Academy Awards: Winner for Achievement in Production Design · Colin Gibson (Art Direction) + Lisa Thompson (Set Decoration) for Mad Max: Fury Road
THE HUMAN VOICE (2020) • Pedro Almodóvar x Tilda Swinton