Sara has been working on the Earth model for the last few weeks. The model is going to appear in several shots in our upcoming film SUPER POWER MAGNET. Its made out of a 24" polystyrene sphere with a carefully drawn and painted surface. Sara drew the map straight from a globe, and will detail all of the continents and oceans once she's finished with the base coat that she's working on in this clip.

I just subscribed to a TON of new listservs through the AECT site.  The only non-AECT listservs I'm part of are the art department's here at VT and the New Media Consortium's, and those have been very valuable for keeping things on my radar.

Will these prove as useful, or just too much?  Time will tell, but I'm happy to experiment meanwhile with the following:

• AECT in Second Life
• Change Division
• Copyright
• Graduate Students
• Design and Development
• Multimedia Production
• Teacher Education, and
• Training and Performance

Then open up that planner and pencil in the opening reception of the University of Missouri Art Department on June 12th, from 4-6pm. It will be held in the George Caleb Bingham Gallery in A 125 Fine Arts Building on campus.

It will feature works by Professor Emeriti, William Berry, Robert Bussabarger and Oliver Schuchard, creating Part One of their Lifetime Achievement Showcase. For more info, call 882-3555.

I asked him about it, and he said it was supposed to look like it was done quickly and unprofessionally. Which it did. So, good job, then.

It must be an odd thing that sometimes you're required to do your job badly. (Most of us do it on our own initiative.)

I once visited the set of the first Spider-Man. They were shooting inserts of Peter Parker designing his costume in one of the most ridiculous glossing over montages in film history. Anyway, on this occasion, I met Phil Jimenez, an accomplished comic book artist, who was doing the actual drawing.  (It's his hands, not Tobey Maguire's, that you see in the film.)

I asked him if it was easier not having to worry about drawing, you know, good. "Actually," he said, "it's really hard. I have to un-learn everything I've done over the last twenty years."

I guess I didn't realize how hard it is to suck, since I'm so naturally talented in that regard.

Set Decorator & Buyer, Shannon Hart talks to REEL Ladies. Shannon has worked on films such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Tears of the Sun, What's the Worst that Could Happen, and more! Shannon talks about the misconception of set decorators, her "ah ha" moment, and her latest role as Producer on the film project, Ladies Who Lunch.

RL: Tell us your story of how you got involved with film?

SH: I had just finished building a dinosaur exhibit at a children's museum in Vermont which included replacing one side of dinosaur "skin" on a large prop Tyrannosaurus head supposedly used in the first Jurassic Park movie. On opening night, a patron of the museum said that the exhibit looked like it should be in the film and mentioned there was a film company in town. I was immediately intrigued by the idea and somehow found the number to the local production company and soon went to work in the art department as an intern.

RL: How did you know that this was what you wanted to do?

SH: It wasn't that I knew this is what I wanted to do…it was more like "oh, so this is what I should be doing". Working on my first film was one of those moments in life where all the work I had been doing up to that point finally made sense. I had a weird combination of skill sets; fashion design and pattern making, graphic design and construction management. I could upholster furniture, hang wallpaper, arrange flowers and always had a knack for getting the best deals at local antique auctions. On my first film every one of those skills came in handy. It was definitely one of those "ah- ha!" moments.

RL: A lot of set decorators have an interior design background, did you go that route?

SH: I always seemed pretty crafty in the interior decorating/design arena, but had no formal design training.

RL: What is it about being a decorator that calls to you?

SH: It's really fun to be able to create a multitude of interiors in a short period of time. I think set decorating and art department projects in general fit my personal need to be a creative multi-tasker. It's also really fun to get involved in projects that require extensive research (such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Tears of the Sun). It's a great creative challenge to get into someone else's territory and work to create realistic sets that fit an entirely different time or place. It never seems to get dull because there is always something new to do or learn.

RL: Your very first project, what was it and how did you book it?

SH: The Spitfire Grill, starring Ellen Burstyn and Marcia Gay Harden, was my first film. Offering to work for free was the way to go for me. I was put on the payroll 2 weeks after the first day of my intern position. From then on I was very strategic about building my resume - getting into the East Coast IATSE Union on my second film (which included a significant pay increase) then joining the LA IATSE Chapter on my 3rd project.

RL: Can you explain to the ladies exactly what a set decorator and buyer does?

SH: This depends on the film and budget as well as the team you are working with. For example, on a larger film the buyer is often the one who is out pulling much of the set dressing items from the prop houses, spending the money at the stores and helping organize merchandise pick-ups and returns. Sometimes, you get specific direction and sometimes you don’t other than being told to buy a lot and to make sure that what you buy will work. Decorating a larger film is less about picking out throw pillows and more about managing the monumental task of organizing a large crew and budget to make sure that everything gets to where it needs to be when it needs to be there and looks the way it's supposed to look. It's also about being prepared for last minute changes and obstacles. In my case, I've had the incredibly good fortune of working with the same few people for most of my career, so we know each other well enough to be able to switch on autopilot and just go for it…and that covers every aspect of set decorating whether it be making drapes, building a refugee camp or buying period-appropriate fire buckets for a pirate ship. We often divvy up the projects being pretty confident that what needs to be done will get done right (and on time) since we tend to know who is best at what task. On smaller films, the buyer and decorator often are one in the same. The decorator does most of the buying.

RL: Is there any specific training or classes that one should take if they are interested in this area of film?

SH: Most of my home construction, decorating and sewing skills really come in handy, so I would say that knowing as much about that sort of thing is a good thing - especially on low budget films where you typically do a lot of the work on your own. I also recently took an intensive visual effects class that taught me how to produce green screen shoots. This has really helped me understand the mechanics of designing scenes where the sets are CG and created in post.

RL: Is there anything that you wish you would have done early on in your career?

SH: No. I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunities I have been given in the industry. I was a single mom for several years and working on union films gave me the opportunity to do one feature a year (late spring to fall) and make enough money to be a stay-at-home-mom for most of the school year. I managed a bi-coastal existence choosing to raise my son in a quiet little town on the coast of Maine and work on films in Los Angeles. So, a huge " thanks" to those who originally hired me (Larry Dias, Peter Borck and Howard Cummings) and continued to hire me over the following 10 year period.
You've worked on some pretty big projects, how do you find your work? Most of my projects were booked through the original group of art department guys from my first film as well as additional work relationships created through them.

RL: Where are some places that you buy from?

SH: I shop everywhere. Depending on the project, that could mean anything from thrift stores, high end furniture houses, antique markets to a local Target. I have also shopped international markets.

RL: What is a misconception about set decorators?

SH: That we are mainly there to fluff the pillows and make things look pretty. In reality, the job is more about budgeting, scheduling, dealing with design input from a multitude of sources and knowing how to pull together anything from an authentic African village to an onscreen celebrity wedding… overnight. Often times, we'll be working like crazy to get something done on time when, at the last minute, the producers will announce a sudden schedule change which requires us to drop everything and move onto something else and rush to get that ready on time. It can get really intense.

RL: You've also worked as a Production Designer, that's a lot more responsibility, how do you handle that?

SH: I really enjoy production design because it gets you closer to the core of the production. In my case, it has meant having close, creative relationships with some very talented people who have taught me a lot about successful filmmaking.

RL: What was your favorite project to work on?

SH: In the Bedroom was my favorite film of all. It was one of those rare, small projects where the core group of people were all brilliant - Todd Field, the director, brilliant!! His wife Serena, brilliant! Sissy Spacek, brilliant! Ross Katz, the producer, was also really great and the rest of the cast were incredibly talented. It was a rocky production for sure, but when I saw the film on screen, it took my breath away - like Andrew Wyeth meets Alfred Hitchcock. To me, Todd's movie was a piece of art. The film wound up being nominated for 5 Academy Awards and I felt so proud to be a part of the project that I decided (then) that if I never did another film again, that would be okay.

RL: Were there any moments in your career that you wanted to throw in the towel?

SH: Yes, there have been several times that I just said "That's it, I've had enough!". It's really hard to have any life outside of filmmaking when you're in the middle of it, but after a break, I always come back. I really love it.

RL: How did you get past that?

SH: I would pass on a few projects, turn off my cell phone and take a few months off to tend to the other things in my life.

RL: You've recently written and produced your own project, tell us about that.
SH: I've been lucky enough to be involved in an intense feature length project that was the vision of a group of Polish women all in their mid-eighties. Ladies Who Lunch, is a film that tells the real life survival stories of these women who were all taken from their homes as children during WW2 and sent to Siberian labor camps. We are animating the historical recreations to better portray their stories through the eyes of a child - so this is where my visual effects training is really coming in handy. Our fund-raising promotional trailer can be seen at www.aparatfilms.com, but keep in mind that the animation in the actual film is much more stylized.

RL: I went to the website, it seems like an intense project, what spurred you to do this one?

SH: They found me actually, and I am thrilled to be involved in helping them tell their incredible stories. Plus, I get to art direct the project as well and art directing animated segments is really fun - the sky is the limit.

RL: Do you like the role of writer and producer?

SH: I really love it and my "type A", multi-tasking personality traits (a direct result of working in feature film art departments) are really coming in handy. I've recently been asked to help produce an independent horror/suspense film project called Shadows in the Dark, and I think I'm going to give it a go.

RL: What is your ultimate goal in the industry?

SH: I seem to be gravitating towards producing, but still hope to do more Production Design and Decorating. Some epic, period piece would be fun.

RL: What would you like to see from women in film?

SH: I would love to see more women directors.

RL: How can the ladies get a hold of you for projects?

SH: The best way to reach me is through my LA voice mail service which is at #323-769-5300.

The recently completed School of Art, Design, and Media at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore won the 2007 Design Share Honor Award for its organic composition, particularly its turfed roofs, which successfully enables the building to blend into the surrounding landscape and further blur the line between the natural and the structural. The building’s skeleton consists almost entirely of concrete, while its skin is composed mainly of sheets of grey-tinted glass that act as mirrors during the day, reflecting the campus’ wooded areas, grassy roofs, and the sky above, seeming to cause the building to disappear into a grassy knoll. At night when all the building’s lights are on, the opposite forces are at work, transforming the building into a beacon of light that illuminates the surrounding area.

The building’s designers, CPG Corporation Consultants, were given the unique challenge to give physicality to the art department's values of uniqueness and creativity. The University wanted a building that was conducive to the free flow of ideas as well as to education, and the new structure accomplishes just that: epitomizing originality, while giving both professors and students unobstructed views of the outdoors, as well as unique spaces for work, study, or research. The structure’s extraordinarily designed interior is a credit to the designers’ genius. They craftily used the 5-story, heavily sloping roof to their advantage, creating classrooms and offices of a variety of shapes and sizes, which are easily adaptable for a variety of artistic pursuits.

Although the entire structure is a wonderful example of extraordinary design, my favorite feature is the way the designers chose not to impose a building on the landscape, but to make it apart of the terrain. From any angle you choose to look at the building, you see a bright verdant slope that invites exploration, and the building's rooftops feature cement steps along its edges for just such purposes. In addition to aiding in its blending, the grassy roof also assists in keeping the building and the immediate area cooler, than if it was just a glass structure sitting in the middle of the campus, which is a very positive side effect to thinking green.

The School in Daylight

The Plans

The School in Twilight

To find out more information on Nanyang Technological University's School of Art, Design, and Media, visit DesignFlute.

Art Department
Originally uploaded by mrpbody33

We dressed up at work. Check out the weird pictures.

This is a document of the features that Ryan wrote up for the game. Gonz; you need to go through it and judge whether it will all be possible to do as a programmer and... stuff. Dan; there is a lot of stuff in here for the user interface, you can split it up between your guys so that one person does background concepts and crap, one person does monsters and enemies, and one person does the UI. The rest of your stuff should be NPC's and Characters.

Cheers,
Richard

Game Design Document

by WEDNESDAY 3rd October at the latest i want to have a concept outline from each of you. this outline should be one page long and should give a written description of what the class will look like. send it to me via email or upload it here.

ROB: I want you to do the concept description for the Knight class (read documentation)

DAVID: i want you to do the concept description for the Sorcerer class (read documentation)and guys, no later than wednesday because we have alot of work to do in the holidays.

I STILL havnt gotten the 2nd stage concept design from you rob for the rogue class, i want that now. it's 3 days overdue. scan it in and send it to me.

and david, you need to find a way to scan your necromancer picture in and send it to me too asap.

catch up guys, keep to the schedule.

Rob & David:

You both need to produce stage two conceptual designs for the Necromancer (David) and Rogue (Rob) classes. You have both done the first stage design and they are going nicely. The second stage concepts need to be improved upon based on what we discussed in class today and they also need more detail in them since it's a stage two design. You're not limited to doing one concept picture for the class(es), but you MUST have at least ONE (new) concept picture for your class by Thursday.

Like I discussed with David concerning the Necromancer class, he might look better with a different head style etc so David (if he has time) will create a second (or more) concept pictures based on these different features. This would be better than having just one, and don't forget to put your own ideas into the design, you don't have to follow just my conceptual outlines!

This gives you seven days to do the design, I want a progress report from you both on Monday as to what you're up to with the designs so bring in any work to class on Monday so I can review it please.

Myself:

I will be further developing the conceptual outlines for the Necromancer and Rogue class as well as starting research on other artwork to do with the game other than classes. But I will also write up some concept outlines for a few other classes by our next meeting.

Art Department, forecast (September 27th and beyond)

Over the holidays I will get getting you both to do more designs and then to start bringing them into the computer environment and create at least one Photoshop design for your classes. This will be discussed in further detail when I figure it all out myself next meeting.

And remember to E-Mail me any questions or ideas you have. I don't want you to go just off my designs, I want to see initiative!

-Dan Churchill, Lead Artist.

I met everyone in just about every necessary department: editorial, art, production and sales. And by copyediting everyone's work, I learned what to do and what NOT to do when writing my own stuff. It was a fabulous learning experience.

The problem was, and still is in many instances, that when you worked on the copy desk, oftentimes you were seen as low man on the totem pole. The reason: I'm not quite sure, especially since the people on the copy desk are extremely important for many reasons.

The copy desk employees make sure the stories are readable and make sense. There are great writers who can't spell, and there are wonderful reporters who can't put a story together to save their lives. The copy editor oftentimes saves them and their stories.

A good copy editor typically is a whiz at English grammar and can "fix" a train wreck of a story and make it look like great prose. Or that person can take a good story and make it better. This person also can help cut a story or lengthen one to fit the space alloted for it on a page. The people on the copy desk will lay out the story, add some relevant, cool or funky art to go with it, and then write a snappy, catchy headline.

Let's not forget research. These overworked and underpaid workers also research facts and check to make sure words, people's names and titles are correct. And they do it all under tight deadline pressure, only to be looked upon as underlings. However, if these people didn't exist, newspapers and magazines and the like would be filled with a lot of gibberish and unprofessional looking pages.

So, let's hear it for copy editors and the copy desk. These folks put in a lot of hard work, stay late, and don't hear enough thank yous for helping all those writers and reporters look good!

When I began my career in publishing as an editorial assistant, I ran around and wore many hats. Since I desperately wanted to truly be in the editorial department, I watched, learned and did anything and everything I could and that the higher-ups would allow.

Much of what I did entailed going to the art department. At that time there were a number of artists doing everything manually. You really got to see a lot of talent at that time. Drawings done by hand and from scratch. Things like that now are rare.

The art department also was in charge of getting the magazine's pages down on boards. Everything written and edited was done on an old computer program with a black or blue screen. Then when everything was edited and ready to go it would be "shipped" via these old computer systems to the typesetting department. What came back to us were the actual "pages" that would be put on the boards in the art department.

When the pages came in the copy desk would do final copy edits and proofreading. Any mistakes were marked up and brought down to the art department where "magic" would occur, the old-fashioned method of "cut and paste."

It really was fascinating to watch. Sometimes full sentences had to be cut out, and letter by letter an artist would correct the sentences or words and paste them onto the board. You had to have patience and a steady hand.  Kind of like a type of surgeon.

As editorial assistant I often ran down to the art department, especially on deadline days. I would have to run and get this or that and make sure everything went out to the printer on time.

It truly was exciting at times, and exhausting. There were tons of late nights during deadline. Everyone on staff would become this close, stressed-out family all working toward the same goal. On days and nights like this, you would get a real adrenaline rush.

>insert Homer Simpson Voice " Oohh pretty colors"