Production Designer, and wearer of many hats. Here you will see some of my inspirations and some of my work. Enjoy
So I have been newly inspired
I just saw the finished project of the first film I have ever worked on and I began to think about my job as props person. I am beginning to see just how many things a prop master should be fluent in to make them marketable. Things like, graphic design (photoshop/illustrator), sewing, airbrushing, upholstering, welding, woodworking, metal working, building, history of decoration, organizing, engraving, sculpting, molding, etc.. the list can go on and on. Even though I know some of most of these areas, but I want to be great in 90% of them, so I am going to make a list of things I want to learn and I am going to spend all my free time (if I can find some lol) learning these trades. It will be a lot of work, but honestly I am soooooo excited!
“Hogwarts Castle”, designed by Stuart Craig and Stephenie McMillan.
For over a decade, this duo brought to life Harry Potter’s magic through the intricate sets they designed.
Some fantastic portraits of the rarely seen people behind the scenes of the Harry Potter movies. All work by Levon Biss
I love what I do..
Ok so the past few days have been hell, the exhaustion the stress, the people coming up changing my props last minute, hearing one person tell me one thing while someone else tells me another. Its enough to make me wanna scream. Through all this craziness I sometimes forget why I am here and why I go through this… But every show without fail there is always a small reminder of why that keeps me going. I just had that moment… I am sitting in the last rehearsal looking for last minute prop notes. We start the sound tests with the songs before starting the actual run through. We do the first song we need to do, “My Junk” all the actors come out in costume, on a lit stage with full sound and I literally can’t help but smile at the beauty. Its moments like that, that remind me what all these weeks or tears and hard work are for…. I love my job
Soooo It’s Tech week…
…. for the show I am prop master for. It’s a small show, maybe you have heard of it, its a musical called Spring Awakening haha. Actually my job is not very big in this show, while props are important its not a very prop heavy show. Even though this is true, I still need to be at tech rehearsals which means this weekend i have to be here at the theater from 11 am - midnight. It’s not too bad. I love watching the process, all the production design students trying to be serious and professional while the actors look like they are having the time of their lives… sometimes I envy them. But today I would rather not be here… I got caught in a huge rain storm on the way here so i am soaked to the bone and now freezing in this freezing theater because my jacket got soaked too. I am not even technically needed because they are just doing lighting cues. So I am here, doing nothing, in the freezing darkness after a week of no sleep (preparing for the show) and all i want to do is go to bed.
Just 4 more hours before I can walk all the way back to my car and pass out in my comfy bed
![untitledfilmblog:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. II (Dir. David Yates)
“Craig says that the sets often required a more “theatrical, operatic” scale than the book described, although they were as faithful as possible to Rowling’s intricate descriptions. The only serious departure, Craig says, was the location of Professor Snape’s (Alan Rickman) death. In the book, he dies in the Shrieking Shack; in the film, he dies in a boathouse that resembles a Gothic sanctuary. “We did ask Jo Rowling if we might [change] that. She absolutely agreed that we could,” he says. Craig made the boathouse of “90 percent glass, and the reason for that was that it seemed magical that Hogwarts was on fire above it—or big sections of it—and there was a sense of the flame from the fire above being reflected in the glass, also reflected in the water, which in turn reflected in the glass.” The team wanted to give Rickman “a suitable place to die. Alan appreciated it, actually, and said so very kindly afterwards,” Craig says.”
- Vanity Fair interview with Harry Potter production designer Stuart Craig](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzf682K2qp1qixaono1_500.jpg)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. II (Dir. David Yates)
“Craig says that the sets often required a more “theatrical, operatic” scale than the book described, although they were as faithful as possible to Rowling’s intricate descriptions. The only serious departure, Craig says, was the location of Professor Snape’s (Alan Rickman) death. In the book, he dies in the Shrieking Shack; in the film, he dies in a boathouse that resembles a Gothic sanctuary. “We did ask Jo Rowling if we might [change] that. She absolutely agreed that we could,” he says. Craig made the boathouse of “90 percent glass, and the reason for that was that it seemed magical that Hogwarts was on fire above it—or big sections of it—and there was a sense of the flame from the fire above being reflected in the glass, also reflected in the water, which in turn reflected in the glass.” The team wanted to give Rickman “a suitable place to die. Alan appreciated it, actually, and said so very kindly afterwards,” Craig says.”
- Vanity Fair interview with Harry Potter production designer Stuart Craig
