Bruce Hill: A Set Designer's Point of View

Bruce Hill is a practicing production designer and author of Createascene, a book on everything you need to know about the Art Department. Below he offers his views on dwindling budgets and how they've affected relationships and working methods/processes in production.

If you consider the budgets now spent on filming TV commercials as being one big pie, the proportion actually being spent on the scenery and the art department has been significantly reduced in recent years. In fact had it not been for the general good writing and ideas, the standard of commercials would be a myriad of location shoots together with CGI.

The set designer’s role has changed, along with the director’s, as budgets have inadvertently been making the majority of choices. In fact, cost controllers have become the norm during pre-production. We can’t hold back progress, but sometimes I wonder if we are moving forwards or just sideways in the ever-increasing tide of adversity. Are we saving money or just moving it around in a different direction?

Ready, set, go!

In the past, the director was given the highest podium with which to speak and much of this power was transferred directly to the designer to fulfill his or her vision. When anyone was in doubt, many props choices would be sought and this department alone would often fill a vast run of tables sometimes never to be used. A standby construction truck would contain racks of new timber, canvas and paint in order to fulfill last minute, impulsive decisions, to satisfy even the most erratic of directors (and they often were!).

A really skilled crew was the difference between brilliance and failure and they could turn their hand to instantly marbling some shuttering ply, used to cover last minute road-works blocking the wide shot, aging a new building to look instantly period, or painting a characterful damp patch on a ceiling just to make the shot look more interesting. This may appear wasteful to some, especially me in my younger years. The idea was to have all the tools at ones hand, instantly, and solve the creative problems as they occurred. This led to some truly memorable and impressive films that could never have been as good if all went to plan. Often a producer’s nightmare had to be covered by the now dated term ‘contingency’.

Decisions from a distance

With the agency and client now holding the purse strings very tight, many of these ‘impulsive’ decisions are now taken out of our hands and as a result much of [the designer's] time is spent purely sourcing images of interesting shapes and props for approval by the top.

This, I believe, is regrettable and one has to ask the moneymen at the production meetings; do they have the artistic ability, or experience to decide what will look good in the context of the film, especially as these decisions are now made well before shooting takes place? Do they digest sufficiently the information in front of them? I know I would struggle when not actually on set and seeing it in context. The result often leads to not taking risks, averaging the choices, doing it in post, so as not to cause problems on shoot day. This leads to a milked down, often clinical commercial.

Cause and effect

A designer's ability to influence, as opposed to make these decisions becomes paramount and this should be based on previous experience and training. It is here where the side is often let down, as they can no longer afford the prop choices or use the skills that once were and there’s nothing left in the cookie jar. Agencies and clients are selling a product for a price, whereas we are making a film.

We must remember that whether we like something or not is immaterial; it’s whether it’s suitable for the job that is important.

We are basically creative problem solvers, and this is a lot more difficult when one hasn’t experienced previous problems. When plumbing a kitchen, you should use a plumber and when needing a set designed for a commercial, you should use a set designer, not a builder, or a film student. In the long run it will be more cost effective.