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Art Direction & Production Design
Edited by Lucy Fischer
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Book Presentation:
How is the look of a film achieved? In Art Direction and Production Design, six outstanding scholars survey the careers of notable art directors, the influence of specific design styles, the key roles played by particular studios and films in shaping the field, the effect of technological changes on production design, and the shifts in industrial modes of organization.
The craft’s purpose is to produce an overall pictorial “vision” for films, and in 1924 a group of designers formed the Cinemagundi Club—their skills encompassed set design, painting, decoration, construction, and budgeting. A few years later, in recognition of their contributions to filmmaking, the first Academy Awards for art direction were given, a clear indication of just how essential the oversight of production design had become to the so-called majors. The original essays presented in Art Direction and Production Design trace the trajectory from Thomas Edison’s primitive studio, the Black Maria, to the growth of the Hollywood “studio system,” to the influence of sound, to a discussion of the “auteur theory,” and to contemporary Hollywood in which computer-generated imagery has become common. By 2000, the Society of Motion Picture Art Directors became the Art Directors Guild, emphasizing the significance of the contributions of art direction and production design to filmmaking.
Art Direction and Production Design is a volume in the Behind the Silver Screen series—other titles in the series include Acting, Animation, Cinematography, Directing, Editing and Special/Visual Effects, Producers, Screenwriting, and Sound.
About the Author:
LUCY FISCHER is a Distinguished Professor of English and Film Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author or editor of nine books, including Body Double: The Author Incarnate in the Cinema (Rutgers University Press) and Teaching Film.
Press Reviews:
"This terrific book depicts the production design of movies so that it is actually 'seeable.' Always reflecting the enormous changes in technology, the audience and the industry, the continuity of the art form comes to the foreground."
— Rick Carter
"This illuminating study of design in film examines the evolution of an often-overlooked role and the chemistry of knowledge, skill, and collaboration required to create visually compelling cinema."
— Rosemarie Knopka
"This terrific book depicts the production design of movies so that it is actually 'seeable.' Always reflecting the enormous changes in technology, the audience and the industry, the continuity of the art form comes to the foreground."
— Rick Carter
"This illuminating study of design in film examines the evolution of an often-overlooked role and the chemistry of knowledge, skill, and collaboration required to create visually compelling cinema."
— Rosemarie Knopka
See the publisher website: Rutgers University Press
> From the same author:
Cinemagritte (2019)
René Magritte Within the Frame of Film History, Theory, and Practice
by Lucy Fischer
Subject: Technique > Aesthetics
Cinema by Design (2017)
Art Nouveau, Modernism, and Film History
by Lucy Fischer
Subject: Technique > Aesthetics
Designing Women (2003)
Cinema, Art Deco, and the Female Form
by Lucy Fischer
Subject: Technique > Set Design
Imitation of Life (1991)
Douglas Sirk, Director
Dir. Lucy Fischer
Subject: One Film > Imitation of Life
> On a related topic:
Drawing the Line (2023)
Technical Hand Drafting for Film and Television
Subject: Technique > Set Design
Inspiring Walt Disney (2021)
The Animation of French Decorative Arts
The Art of Film (2008)
John Box and Production Design
by Ian Christie
Subject: Others persons > John Box
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