contact with industry- Sue Booth. Production designer

I have been fortunate enough to be introduced to a lovely lady called Sue Booth. Sue is a production designer/ Art director for film and T.V. and is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about her job. Sue has my dream job and has been very kind at giving me advice, insight and direction for my pursuing career. Her work can be accredited for many productions and you can find her profile details on IMBD. I asked Sue a couple of questions that may be helpful when thinking about a career in a media industry.

Q1. When designing for a production how do you source your designs and research needed?

 Sue uses mainly books for referencing and has over the years collected her own that she trusts to be accurately right for information. The information needed could be decor, colour palette, continuity of surroundings, for example buildings and furniture. Sue noted that the internet is not always that resourceful with accuracy, so finding older books is a good tool for taking into account certain periods that are not  as well documented and illustrations need to be deciphered for a visualisation. Museum's and National trust houses are also wealthy in original artefacts, costume and historical design. When Sue was designing for a period drama [ Wuthering Heights], she found visiting the Howarth museum and the surrounding locations most inspirational for her design ideas.

Q2. What are the main difficulties when designing /planning your ideas and designs.

Budgets are always a difficulty in the media industry and you need to be confident and forthcoming in order to get what you want.  You are the one who needs to control the designs being executed, made up or sourced and in time for filming. The logistics for working on set can also be an area of difficulty as you are at the mercy of other people's reliability for turning up on time with the props and equipment needed and in the media industry 'time is money'.

Q3. What are your most reliable tools or skills needed to be a Production designer.

It is imperative for any designer, especially in the media industry to be organised and controlled with your work. Your career is built on your reputation for being self motivated and disciplined as well as talented. You need to be open minded to change [ sometimes at the drop of a hat] and to be willing to take onboard other peoples vision of how a design should look and be produced. Drawing is also a desired skill and technical drawing is also a required when planning sets to scale. Story boarding is also good way of sharing a visualisation with non art directors in order  to explain your vision of design.

Although i have not so far shared my own work with Sue, i will be visiting her during the summer to ask her opinion on my portfolio and i will practicing my technical drawing skills as well as collating resources for inspiration from books, magazines and museum visits.