ART DEPARTMENT

Job Overview

The production designer is responsible for the visual design of the settings where action will be filmed.

Production designer Ernest Roth spends time researching concepts and discussing them with his illustrator, who puts on paper what Roth visualizes in his head. The illustrator begins by making rough sketches, gradually revising and refining them until they accurately depict what Roth envisions. The finished drawings are presented to the producer and director to ensure they have a clear idea of the designer's vision. Any requested adjustments are made, the design is approved, and production begins. Later, the illustrations are used as reference guides to ensure that the craftsmen accurately understand what they are constructing.

Special Skills

Production designers must be skilled environmental designers and have an understanding of filmmaking. An environmental design major, Roth says, “You really have to love architecture, interior design, and art in general. I think you have to have the ability to control how people see something when they come into a space … The way I arrange things, I can take your eye from right to left or left to right, or up to down, just by the color and texture and the way things are angled.”

Advice for Someone Seeking This Job

Some production designers come up through the ranks of the art department. Others find a working production designer and offer to serve as a production assistant or to work for free to learn the business. Studying interior design, architecture, or scenic design will provide an opportunity to learn design skills and build a portfolio before attempting to find a job.

Professional Profile: Ernest Roth, Production Designer

Ernie Roth knew he wanted to be an architect from the time he was in grade school. Growing up in Olympia, Washington, he was the kid who painted pinstripes on all his friend's bicycles. “I always had a little leaning toward artistic things.” He began taking art classes in junior high school, quickly realizing that he had a talent for it and could earn an “A” with little effort.

After a tour of duty in the military, Roth enrolled at California College of Arts and Crafts in 1969. Although he held down three part-time jobs while attending school, he finished in three and a half years with a 3.75 GPA. He accepted the offer of a high-paying job at a space-planning firm in Los Angeles, but left after five months to work for a smaller firm where he had more control over the projects he designed. While working there he became acquainted with socialite Diana Murphy, who designed interiors for her multimillionaire friends. Roth and Murphy became partners in Diana Murphy Designs, and over the next eight years worked on a variety of projects, from designing the interiors of a Leer jet, to entire homes in Beverly Hills, Palm Springs, and Catalina.

Eventually looking for a career change, Roth was steered toward art direction by two friends who worked in the film business. With design portfolio in hand, he began making the rounds of advertising and production houses. His first job was designing a jockey's room for a Shasta Diet Cola commercial, directed by photographer-turned-director Sid Avery. After confessing to the prop master that he had never designed a set before, the two went to Santa Anita Race Track for research. When shooting began, Roth didn't speak to anyone on set for fear they would discover he knew nothing about the business. What he lacked in actual set experience he more than made up for in design ability. His manner and design sense impressed Avery, who continued to work with Roth over the next few years on commercials for Chrysler, Lincoln, and Sunbeam.

During his initial transition from interior design to art direction, Roth worked nights as an illustrator, making electrical ink drawings of airplanes, to keep his days free to pursue work. Introduced to another ad agency through a first assistant director he had worked with, Roth landed a 7-Up commercial and a commission to redesign the agency's offices. Since that time, he has worked on several hundred commercials.

“I had always avoided features, because I wanted to have more of a home life. At the time, in features you would wind up going away on a location for six or seven months. I didn't want to do that. But one of the directors I worked with doing commercials wanted to switch to features and asked me to work on a job with him.” The director was Farhad Mann and the film was science fiction flick Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace.

Approached to design for television movies, Roth turned the work down after discovering how low the budgets were. “If I can't do something that is really a quality product, I'm not interested.” Although his résumé includes a few pilots, the independent film Anacardium, and the live-action sequences at the beginning of The Tigger Movie, Roth's emphasis remains in commercials. His clients have included: American Airlines, Betty Crocker, Energizer, Head & Shoulders, McDonald's, Nissan, Radio Shack, and Toyota.