The Art of Television Production and Design - part 4
Summary
TLDRThe speaker discusses the intricate design process of reality TV shows like Hell's Kitchen, emphasizing the challenge of creating believable environments. They highlight the importance of dedication and hard work in the industry, valuing team members who go beyond limits to achieve the best results. The speaker also shares insights on assembling a crew, adapting designs for live audiences, and the fast-paced nature of TV production. They recount personal experiences, including career opportunities and the variety within TV design compared to other fields.
Takeaways
- 🎥 The speaker finds reality shows like 'Hell's Kitchen' satisfying because the environment, while not real, must be believable, and it only gets one chance to be set up perfectly.
- 🍴 Success is measured when audiences believe the set is real, as shown by people flying to L.A. to visit 'Hell's Kitchen,' thinking it's an actual restaurant.
- 💪 When building a crew, the most important trait is dedication and the ability to think creatively and work hard to find solutions.
- 🎨 The speaker emphasizes attention to detail in design, noting how they went through many fabric samples for 'Hell's Kitchen' until they found the right one.
- 🏆 'Hell's Kitchen' has received four Emmy nominations, making it the only reality show to achieve nominations for design, a testament to the team's meticulous work.
- 👥 Surround yourself with people who lift their weight and match the project’s needs, and don’t hesitate to replace someone if they aren't the right fit.
- 🔧 Use people according to their strengths—one art director excels at design, while another is great at managing the technical aspects of the set.
- 🎭 Designing sets for live audiences introduces new challenges, such as managing audience shots and avoiding distracting scenes like people sleeping on camera.
- 📅 The TV industry operates at a fast pace, and opportunities must be seized quickly. The speaker got their big break by being available immediately for a project.
- 🌍 Location shooting varies depending on the type of show, with many TV stages located in and around Hollywood. However, reality shows may film in diverse locations, such as Fiji, Hawaii, or Mexico.
Q & A
What distinguishes reality shows from sitcoms in terms of set design?
-Reality shows, unlike sitcoms, create environments that have to be believable and realistic for the participants, even though they are not entirely real. In sitcoms, the audience knows it's a fake environment, but in reality shows, the set must convince people it's real, even to the point that people leave tips at the fictional Hell's Kitchen.
What characteristics does the speaker value when putting together a production crew?
-The speaker values dedication and hard work. He looks for people who are resourceful and don't give up when facing challenges. They should be willing to keep searching for solutions, such as finding the right fabric for a set, and continue working until the project reaches the desired level of quality.
What advice does the speaker give about dealing with crew members who aren’t the right fit for a project?
-The speaker suggests making changes when needed. If a person isn't a good fit for a project, it’s better to have an honest conversation and replace them early, allowing both parties to work in environments where they can thrive. This can be done in a nice way, preserving the relationship for future opportunities.
How does the process of designing a set for a live audience differ from designing for a typical show?
-While the core of the set design remains the same, the presence of a live audience introduces additional challenges. The designer has to consider factors like audience shots, lighting for the audience, and how to avoid showing people who may be disengaged, such as those who fall asleep.
What is the importance of being available when opportunities arise in the TV industry?
-In the TV industry, opportunities come up quickly, and people are often needed immediately. The speaker highlights that when he first got the chance to work in TV, he was only available because his architecture firm gave him time off. He emphasizes that you need to be ready and say yes quickly, as opportunities can pass by fast.
What advantages does the speaker see in working in TV compared to architecture?
-The speaker finds TV more fulfilling because of the variety it offers. He has worked on hundreds of shows and thousands of sets in 17 years, something that isn’t possible in architecture. TV also allows for more creative freedom without having to deal with the limitations of building codes and regulations.
How does the speaker approach the reuse of set designs?
-The speaker prefers not to reuse sets exactly as they were, as each show has different requirements. However, he acknowledges that he uses similar tools and techniques across different projects, like backlighting and layered textures, but he adapts them to fit the unique theme and tone of each show.
What factors influence the location choice for TV shows, according to the speaker?
-The location for a show is often chosen based on convenience for the executive producers. Proximity to their homes or offices is a big factor. The speaker mentioned that a location for 'Master Chef' had to be changed because the head of Fox was uncomfortable with the initial location in South Central Los Angeles.
Why does the speaker emphasize attention to detail in set design?
-Attention to detail is crucial because it contributes to the overall believability of the set. For example, in Hell's Kitchen, the team focuses on every detail, including fabric choices, to make the environment convincing. This attention to detail is one reason the show has received multiple Emmy nominations for design.
What are the challenges of designing sets for reality shows in various locations?
-Designing sets for reality shows like 'Endurance' can be challenging due to the diverse and often remote locations, such as Fiji, Mexico, or the Sierra Nevada mountains. The location must be suitable for the show’s theme, and the design has to adapt to the natural environment, adding complexity to the set design process.
Outlines
🎥 The Delicate Reality of Design in TV Shows
The speaker discusses their experience working on reality shows like 'Hell's Kitchen' and contrasts them with sitcoms. Unlike sitcoms, reality shows require the design to feel real, even if the environment isn't. The speaker takes pride in the authenticity of the designs, sharing an example of visitors mistaking the 'Hell's Kitchen' set for a real restaurant. The importance of dedication, creativity, and teamwork in the design process is emphasized, along with ensuring the right people are placed in the right roles.
😴 Audience Participation in Live Sets
The speaker talks about the challenges of designing sets for live audience shows. Managing audience engagement is crucial, as having inattentive or bored audience members on camera can be detrimental. There are also additional costs and logistics in lighting and accommodating a live audience, which presents unique design challenges. The speaker reflects on the fast-paced nature of the television industry and the importance of being available for work on short notice.
🚀 Grabbing Opportunities in the TV Industry
This paragraph recounts the speaker's journey into the TV industry from architecture. A missed opportunity with Bruce Ryan led to a six-month wait before another chance arose, which the speaker grabbed quickly. The lesson shared is to be ready for unexpected opportunities and not to overthink potential projects, as they may be the break needed. The speaker contrasts the flexibility and variety of TV set design with the more rigid structure of architecture, sharing the excitement of constantly working on new and diverse projects.
🌍 Adapting Set Designs for Different Shows
The speaker explains that while tools and techniques may remain the same, each set design is unique and tailored to the theme of the show. 'Hell's Kitchen,' for example, has a consistent design language that evolves with each season, but the overall tone stays the same. The speaker notes that while some designers are known for repeating a strong visual style, they prefer to adapt each set to fit the specific show’s needs.
📍 Location and Logistics of Set Design
This paragraph delves into the practicalities of where TV shows are shot, largely depending on proximity to the producers or executives. The speaker shares examples of filming in Hollywood, various theaters, and remote locations like Fiji and Mexico. The location often depends on the convenience of those in charge, which can sometimes lead to significantly increased costs, as seen with a 'Master Chef' set moved from South Central LA to Marina Del Rey for the comfort of Fox executives.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Reality shows
💡Hell's Kitchen
💡Dedication
💡Design language
💡Audience interaction
💡Use of strengths
💡Set design
💡Timing and availability
💡Creative problem solving
💡Environment realism
Highlights
The speaker discusses how reality TV shows like Hell's Kitchen create a believable environment, despite being artificial settings.
Reality shows differ from sitcoms because they cannot reshoot scenes, making the design process more challenging.
Success in set design is when the environment is so convincing that people mistake it for reality, such as tourists visiting Hell's Kitchen thinking it's a real restaurant.
Dedication and hard work are key qualities the speaker looks for in a team, especially when faced with challenges like limited resources.
Set design involves a meticulous process, such as searching for the perfect fabric, with an emphasis on persistence and attention to detail.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of using people's strengths when assembling a team, mentioning how different art directors excel in different tasks.
Live audience sets present unique challenges, such as managing audience behavior to avoid distractions on camera.
Set design for live audiences requires strategic placement and lighting to balance between audience interaction and the televised action.
Television production is fast-paced, requiring designers to be ready to start projects immediately when opportunities arise.
The speaker's career shift from architecture to TV design highlights the flexibility and variety in television, compared to the rigid and slow process in architecture.
In TV set design, there is freedom to experiment with new ideas every week, unlike in movies or architecture where projects can last for years.
The speaker points out that some set designs are unique to their shows, such as the distinctive design language of Hell's Kitchen.
While certain techniques and tools are reused across different shows, each set is tailored to the theme and tone of the specific program.
Location plays a crucial role in set design, with proximity to executive producers' homes or offices often influencing decisions.
Sometimes, production decisions, such as choosing a set location, are influenced by factors unrelated to design, such as the executives' comfort with the area.
Transcripts
you know, it did delights me, the delicacy of which the the little features came
out at
you know in the bigger picture I'd have to say things like Unanimous
uh... Hell's Kitchen
The reality shows in a way, have been most satisfying to me because
the shows that I do in reality are not shows
like in a house or with a camera shooting on the street
they're an environment that is clearly not real but it has to be real
so unlike a sitcom where it you know it's fake
these episodic shows which, they try to be fairly realistic too
uh... but these are environments where it's not an actor
uh... that's pretending, it's not a
you know situation where you can yell cut let's take that shot again
you have one shot at really getting the environment right
and that it's it's there for on month while everybody interacts with it
and uh... and that to me I think is really the ultimate in terms of
design
is it good enough to be believable by anybody walking in
we have people who go to Hell's Kitchen and
they leave a tip
you know they get out of their they they fly in to L.A. they ask the cabby to bring'em to Hell's
Kitchen because they want dinner
they don't realize it's not a real place
to me that's success
STUDENT: So if you were putting a crew together to go do
something like Endurance
What would you look for?
What kind of characteristics do want in the people that are around you?
Well I think number one is uh...
dedication none of these shows are easy you know it doesn't matter really whether sitcom
or a reality
They all take a lot of hard work and
you know you want you want the people that
will not stop at oh, you know
there's one roll of fabric left in town
you want people who think beyond
this is the only answer or this is the one solution
I don't have anything else
you know it's it's just the comes back to working hard if that's not genius
99% of the time it's just
working at it, working at it, working at it,
you know and
I can't tell you how many fabric samples we've gone looked at for
like Hell's Kitchen
until we find the right one
and I'd just keeps sending my people out until they find one that we all like
most importantly that I like
and um...
and they go do it with a smile
because they know it matters
you know they know in the end
all the pieces have to come together
to to bring it to that level and that show has four emmy nominations so far
and which is you know there's no reallity show to get any nominations for design that's the
only one and it's because we
deal with it that way, to the littlest detail
and those are the people that you want to surround yourself with
so when your crewing up a little show
you know, hopefully you can hire a friend
but make sure the guy is lifting his weight, otherwise hire somebody else
or if you get in a situation where
you're in a show and
there's a personality that isn't the right fit for it
save yourself a lot of agony, save that person a lot of agony, say look
I'm gonna replace you, you don't need to be unhappy here
we need you at hundred-percent
let's make this split now and work together another day
nothing wrong with that
but save yourself the trouble
make the changes when you need to, you can do it in nice way and and work together with
that person where they're at their strength
and I try to use my people where they're strengths are, I have one Art Director that
I designed with because he is a great design sense
he understands what I'm thinking.
I've got another Art Director that I use to run the show
Kevin
on Hell's Kitchen I think you guys might have met him
uh... because he's really great at at all functioning pieces on stage
Robert on the other hand who with designs me
that's not his forte
use people to their strengths they're gonna be a lot happier,
you're gonna be a lot happier, you have a better product
Student: When you design sets that have a live audience. How much different is the process?
um... you know it
it's not a lot different um... because the primary action
is still whats being televised
but, what you suddenly have to contend with than is
you know, do you have audience shots do you have
you know it also depends on how you incorporate the audience, some shows
you want the audience like uh... uh... you know millionaire where the audience's wrapped
around set
well then it becomes a really big issue
but there's a handful of challenges with that
you know some folks in the audience
fall asleep in the middle of the show
you don't want that behind your host on camera
so uh... you you try to work it in in in a strategy where you can get them when
you want them
but not in a way that that the damages a key shot
and uh... you know right now it's all the rage to put audience all the way around
a set but there's there's a lot of the issues to it, it's expensive because, you gotta buy
that audience most the time
still gotta light that audience
and that you know if they're sleeping
it's um
it's a bad look
so there's techniques for it but
the core of the set, more or less stays the same
you starting on sunday
yeah
the uh... you got there at all you know in advance
uh... you know this business is funny
when somebody wants you, they want you instantly they want you for a project tomorrow, we work
in a very fast pace
uh... and so you have to be ready and available you can't
go, well you know, I'm surfing today
I can do it monday
they want you, they want you now
and when I first got the call from uh... Bruce Ryan
it was a wednesday and I had that I was working in architecture firm and he needed a model
for some T.V. show and I said look I can't
can't do it uh... you know tomorrow I can do it saturday, sunday, over the weekend and he
said promptly said
well there's another guy I've worked with before, I already know what kind of work I'll get from him
he's also available only on the weekend. I'll just go with the guy I know, thank you, good bye
but send me, you know
here's my FAX number, FAX me a resume
six months later
I get a call
and it's Bruce again
fortunately that very day, the firm that I was working with said, look John, take two weeks off
um we've got a bunch of signed contracts you're done with the elementary school
in Van Nuys
take some time off
phone rings and it's Bruce, Are you available? Can you start tomorrow? Well ya, sure I can
and I went in and I did a model and then guy realize that that uh... coming from architecture
to T.V. the model making was really quite easy
uh... and he said you want to do a show and that was it
uh... but again if I hadn't literally
been told they take two weeks off. I'd probably would've said I can do it for you on the weekend
and it would never have happened
when those opportunities come you got take them quickly you can sit around thinking about it
maybe it's the right one, maybe it's not the right one
but you don't know, until you say yes to it
that's the story
would've been that easy not to be in this business
you know, in looking back, it's like
I couldn't stand doing architects for the last seventeen years and I know I wouldn't
have been driving to work laughing out loud
Student: mumbles
that's probably true
but uh...
anyway it's it to you know it's a terrific career. T.V. for all the little stigma it has
has so much more variety than you can do
uh... in just about any other medium and in the last seventeen years
five designed for I don't know
couple of hundred shows
in
within those shows probably several thousand sets
you don't get that movies
can't do that in architecture
and you don't have to deal with uh... you know building department
nobody cares too much about it, as long as they like the look
and you can try a new thing every week, I'm on my fourth and fifth show of the year
and it's the middle of april
and the good news about that too, is that
sometimes you get on a show that you really can't stand, like Dance Your Ass Off, the
producers were just awful
two months and you're done with it
beats working on a movie for two years and
with people you don't like
STUDENT: How often does a Design get repeated?
STUDENT: You're doing so many, somethings have to come up more than once.
uh... well they don't they don't sit on a shelf and and
and I pull them off
I mean, fortunately each show
each show does have different requirements and again the first thing I look for
is what is this show about
I will never use this set for any other show
you know that background was derived out of the shows theme
you know Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen is is a character now it's a place it has a design language that
stays somewhat consistent
and that's more in tone
because the plan changes constantly
the that finishes you know change but the sort of
warm woods and whatnot tone
uh... that stays consistent
uh... I'd like to think that although I use a set of tools
the texture the backlight the built-in lighting the layers
I'd like to think that every one of those sets
is different
there are guys that have a really clear design language and they're hired again and again
and again
because they have a really strong visual
it's a different way of marketing yourself if you've got something that people love and it's hot
I find it much more interesting to try to create each show
for what it should be
INAUDIBLE STUDENT QUESTION
well like I said, what would follow through are tools that I use
you know the the the techniques
and hopefully and you know we can go backwards
you know obviously that's not like the last one
nor this
but let's go to a similar show
another game show
same techniques
not at all like
the previous one
extremely not at all like the previous one
but it employ's the same
uh... you know thought process
you know, again the same tools
doesn't look like the last one either
you know
it's not wrong to repeat, I'm mean I'm not inventing reinventing the wheel with any one of these
sets these are all forms and shapes that people used for you know
hundreds of years
it's just how you put them together
you had a question
STUDENT: I was wondering what location do you normally shoot at?
um, you know most of the studios are
in and around hollywood um... it's somewhat depends on the type of show if you're doing
you know music and award shows you're gonna
more often than not be at one of the
real theaters that
you know, The Shrine, or The Kodak
we've been at the Pasadena Civic, Santa Monica Civic
uh... if you're doing stage shows
most of the stages are in, and around hollywood there are now more stages on the west side than in
downtown L.A.
uh... reality shows they can
be anyplace
I mean I've done Endurance in Fiji,
Mexico, Hawaii
the Sierra Nevada's, you know it all depends on what's right for the show
most of the time what determines it is
how close can you get a stage to the executive producers house
so he's less travel time
I'm not kidding about that
it's actually a really big factor
or close their office
in fact
uh... the
Master Chefs set
was sort of south-central, because that was the only place we could find a warehouse that
worked for it, last year
but the head of Fox did not feel comfortable driving to South Central, Los Angeles
so we were forced to find a new location for it and we found one in Marina Del Rey
that worked suitably
uh... it cost
probably over half a million dollars to use that location instead of
one we had been at
but it was for
the executives peace of mind
as this business is kinda crazy
anything else
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