When you think of your favorite films, you likely remember powerful performances, gorgeous cinematography, and an engrossing story that transported you into another world. However, there’s an oft-overlooked artistic role that is vital in shaping that immersive big-screen experience – the film art director.
While the director helms the storytelling and vision, and the cinematographer captures the visuals, it’s the art director who paints the entire canvas those elements exist upon. They are masters of the background details, obsessing over every prop, color, and texture to create a cohesive and believable physical space that aligns with the narrative.
So while often overshadowed, art directors are essential in bringing a director’s vision to its full realization. Let’s take a closer look at what this multifaceted role entails on a film production.
Definition and Key Responsibilities
In simple terms, a film’s art director heads up the art department, overseeing the artistic and visual design elements like sets, scenery, locations, props, graphics and more. Their main responsibility is to develop the movie’s overall look and feel in close collaboration with the production designer.
Some of their key duties include:
- Managing the art department team of set decorators, prop masters, painters, sculptors, etc.
- Researching inspiration and references to develop the initial visual concept and aesthetic
- Scouting and securing filming locations that fit the desired look
- Overseeing the design and construction of all physical sets and scenery
- Ensuring all artistic elements are faithful to the narrative, historically accurate (if applicable), and balanced across scenes
- Coordinating with other departments like cinematography and costumes on color palettes, textures, etc.
- Making adjustments throughout production as scripts, schedules, or concepts change
While their role is heavily prep-oriented, art directors are also embedded on set throughout filming to maintain creative continuity and work through any logistical challenges.
Pre-Production: Laying the Visual Groundwork
In the pre-production phase before filming starts, art directors do a tremendous amount of foundational work to establish the film’s overall aesthetic. After breaking down the script scene-by-scene, they collect visual references, research historical periods or sci-fi/fantasy influences, and start creating initial design concepts.
This involves developing detailed artistic directions like:
- Overall color palettes and textures that evoke the desired tone/mood
- Architectural styles, interior designs, and furniture choices for settings
- Concepts for major set pieces, scenery, and significant prop designs
- Deciding on graphics, signage, drawings or artwork that will be included
- Thinking through smaller decorative elements like books, kitchenware, technology, etc.
The art director and their team will pour over photographs, artwork, literature, and other sources to ensure authenticity while also considering creative adaptations that suit the film. They collaborate closely with the director and cinematographer to create technical drawings, illustrations, and potentially storyboard sequences.
On-Set Responsibilities During Production
Once that intensive prep work is done, the art director’s role transitions to overseeing and maintaining that established aesthetic direction throughout the filming process. This includes:
- Managing and coordinating all art department crews responsible for set construction, dressing, props, backdrops and more
- Ensuring all sets, scenery, and on-camera props are built and dressed per the approved designs with meticulous attention to detail
- Consulting with the director and cinematographer to make sure the artistic elements are lighting and photographing properly
- Working closely with script supervisors and the continuity department to maintain consistency across scenes/angles
- Making creative adjustments or hasty problem-solving when set pieces need to be reconfigured, new props procured, etc.
Essentially, the art director is the curator and keeper of the film’s overall visual identity when the cameras roll. They walk a delicate balance of being respectful executors of the established vision while also being ready to improvise artistic solutions to any unexpected production hurdles.
Bringing Other Worlds and Time Periods to Life
Some of the most complex and rewarding creative challenges for art directors come with films set in different time periods or depicting fantastical worlds.
With historical films, intense research becomes paramount to accurately recreate the authentic textiles, furniture, construction materials, and decorative details of a particular era or cultural setting.
Art directors go deep into books, museums, documentaries, old photography and more to understand architectural styles, cultural art forms, and domestic patterns.
Even then, artistic license is often required to put a more cinematic spin on those references rather than replicating a static museum diorama. For example, art directors may exaggerate certain colors or perspectives or combine influences from multiple sources into a compelling stylized vision.
On the other end of the spectrum are art directors tasked with crafting original sci-fi or fantasy realms from scratch, relying almost entirely on their imagination and ingenuity.
Acclaimed films like Avatar, Blade Runner 2049, and the Lord of the Rings series showcased stunningly intricate and unprecedented design work across vehicles, technology, creatures, and entire civilizations.
Blending functionality, creativity, and a sense of cultural authenticity, these art direction teams created tangible worlds with rich histories, logical construction materials, and regional architectural variations.
While challenging, these types of projects let art directors push creative boundaries and design something entirely new. Renowned examples include the biomechanical hallways of the Nostromo from Alien, the breathtaking Wakandan cityscape of Black Panther, and the brutal industrial dystopia of Blade Runner’s Los Angeles.
Collaborating with the Director as Visual Partner
Throughout both prep and production, the art director must form a tight creative partnership with the director to translate the intended storytelling visions into a cohesive and impactful aesthetic. While the director is the chief storyteller, the art director acts as their visual co-pilot.
During pre-production, the art director works closely with the filmmaker to deeply understand their narrative aims, visual directions, and any specific reference materials that inspired the story’s overall look and tone.
For example, the director may emphasize the art direction aims to create a repressed, monotone environment that externalizes a character’s depression, like in a film such as Revolutionary Road.
Or for a rousing historical epic like Last Samurai, they’d stress capturing the vibrant cultural tapestries, intricate architecture, and period-specific textiles that immerse audiences in that bygone era.
The art director takes these broad narrative anchors and translates them into technical specs like material studies, lighting strategies, color theories, and reference vision boards. They work symbiotically to stay on the same page, referencing storyboards, examples, script notes, and having many discussions to ensure alignment.
Then during production, the director can focus on their performance and storytelling priorities while relying on the art director’s mastery over the aesthetic elements.
Successful long-term director/art director partnerships include Steven Spielberg and Rick Carter (Lincoln, War Horse), Tim Burton and Rick Heinrichs (Alice in Wonderland, Sleepy Hollow), and James Cameron and Rick Laczniak (Titanic, Avatar).
Conclusion
While audiences seldom dwell on the nuances of a film’s background artistry, the art director’s influence over the overall visual imprint is undeniable. Like a meticulously crafted theatre set, every prop, texture, furniture choice, and architectural detail creates intentional feelings and deeper meanings that enhance the emotional themes and character perspectives.
The finest art directors instill subtle mood-setting touches most may not consciously register, but which shape our psychological connection on a subliminal level. They wield a rich, vibrant toolkit of design theories, architectural influences, and cultural references to elevate the work into an artform.
So the next time you find yourself transported into the intricately realized world of a powerhouse film like There Will Be Blood, Inception, or Blade Runner 2049, take a moment to appreciate the background wizardry that made those immersive environments possible. Chances are, an incredibly talented art director and team were the unsung heroes responsible for that extraordinarily rich aesthetic canvas.
