A set is a designed area where shooting for a film takes place. All the scenery, furniture and props (properties) the audience sees at a production, make up the set design. It also includes the furnishings and all the other objects that are seen in a film. Set Designers for television shows, movies, and videos are responsible for design and development of the sets for these productions. The sets must be accurate according to the time period and situation the production is representing.
A set designer works in collaboration with the director to create the set for a film or television production. A Production designer is responsible for evaluating the finished designs and considering budget and time limitations. He or she engineers the scenery, has it redrafted for building, budgets time, crew and materials, and liaisons between the designer and the shop. Set designers research, design and supervise the construction of sets and scenery required in film and television productions. Often, set designers work with lighting or costume designers in a collaborative effort. Once a designer develops ideas, he/she must translate them into a real set. This is done by creating floor plans and miniatures of the set which are then evaluated by the production designer.
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A set designer is responsible for collaborating with other members of the production design team to create an environment for the production and then communicating details of this environment to the production designer. They are also responsible for creating scale models of the scenery, scale drawings and paint elevations as part of their communication with the team.
A production design team comprises of: o Set designer: His job is to design the physical surroundings in which the action and shooting take place. o Set Decorator: Is in charge of the decorating of a film set, which includes the furnishings and all the other objects that will be seen in the film. He works closely with the production designer and coordinates with the art director. o Buyer: Locates and then purchases or rents the set dressing. o Set Dresser: The set dressers apply and remove the “dressing,” i.e., furniture, drapery, carpets - everything one would find in a location, even doorknobs and wall sockets. o Props Master: The property master is in charge of finding and managing all the props, that appear in the film. o Props builder: He is responsible for building the props that are used in a film. Props builders are often technicians skilled in construction, plastics casting, machining, and electronics. o Construction Coordinator: The construction coordinator oversees the construction of sets. The coordinator orders materials, schedules the work, and supervises the construction crew of carpenters, painters and labourers. o Key Scenic: is responsible for surface treatments of sets. This includes special paint treatments such as aging and gilding, as well as simulating the appearance of wood, stone, brick, metal and stained glass - anything called for by the production designer. The key scenic artist supervises the crew of painters, and is often a master craftsperson. o Greens Man: deals with the artistic arrangement or landscape design of plant material, sometimes real and sometimes artificial. He is a specialized set dresser.
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A set designer's work involves: o Study of scripts and discussion of ideas with the director. o Communication of ideas to costume, make-up, props and lighting designers. o Overcoming logistical problems (such as lighting or complex scene changes) o Research of the right historical, contemporary or futuristic details. o Creating effective designs within the available budget. o Sketching design ideas to produce a 'storyboard' to illustrate scene by scene, what the sets will look like. o Using computer-aided design (CAD) packages and to build scale models. o Estimating costs and preparing a production schedule. o Overseeing set building and decoration.
To be a set designer a high level of design skill and creative vision is required. One should have an artistic flair and an ability to combine practical and artistic skills. Leadership ability, organizational skills, budget awareness, ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines, knowledge of computer aided design and production process are the basic skills needed to be a set designer. Besides these, a set designer should also have a flexible and adaptable attitude and should have good communication and people skills as he is supposed to work as part of a team. To enter the industry one needs a bachelor's degree in art and design, television or film production or a related field. One would normally enter the industry as an art department trainee in a film or TV and then can work his way up to designer as experience and contacts in the industry develop. Permanent work is rare in this field and most of the designers work on short-term freelance contracts.
