Hey Friends! I decided to write this post because I’ve a few people (mainly college students) contact me because they want to know about set decorating and how to go about getting into a career that most people have no idea about. Most of us grow up knowing how to become a teacher, doctor, lawyer, or police man. The steps are laid out for us. You go to college, get a degree, attend an academy, ect. However, there are so many jobs out there that most of us never even realize as possibilities as we are growing up. One of those careers is a Set Decorator or Art Director.
As the title “Set Decorator” suggests, the responsibility of this position is to…. decorate the set. When I use the term “decorate,” this generally brings about the idea of beautifying a space. But really, the goal of a set decorator is to create a set that looks completely authentic according to the scene being shot.
Most people would not believe what my job involves at times. What you see on screen is very rarely a true reflection of what’s happening in real life. For example, below you see a mess of c-stands and trees sitting on top of a table…. but from the camera’s angle, you only see beautiful, green foliage in the background of a shot.
For this scene, I was charged with creating some sidewalk chalk art that the actor later pretended to be drawing herself. Yes, part of my job was doodling on the ground. Trust me, it’s not always that easy.
For this next shot, I was asked to create a vignette that would play as a booth at farmer’s market.
To be clear- there are a number of jobs/people that work in the “Art Department” on a movie, TV show, or commercial. Depending on the scale of the project, the number of positions may change, but there is always a team involved in creating the atmosphere that you see on your TV screen. Would you like a breakdown? Ok, here goes:
Production Designer- The Production Designer is the head of the Art Department and is in charge of communicating with the Director to make sure the correct overall vision is being created for the set. The PD: casts the vision for the set to the rest of the art crew, delegates jobs, and has the final say on the pieces and props that will be brought to set.
Art Director- This is the title given to the head of the Art Department on a commercial. The position has the same responsibilities as a Production Designer on a movie.
Lead Man- To people outside of the film world, this title automatically makes people think of the main male actor in a production. But actually, the lead man is the person on the art crew who will work ahead of the rest of the crew and make sure all the big issues are taken care of before the scene/set gets styled and perfected. The lead man is over the Construction Coordinator and is in charge of making sure anything that needs to be constructed on set is done well before it is to be shot.
Set Decorator- A set decorator is the person in charge of finding and/or creating the pieces of the set that will not be touched by an actor (Once an actor touches/picks up something- that item becomes a prop and is the responsibility of the Prop Master). So, the set decorator will pick items that fit the scene and fill the frame. There are lots of rules for a set decorator to follow- create lots of levels, avoid large blank spaces, unless specifically needed-mirrors are a no-no, and always ALWAYS have lots of options. I mean, tons of options. If you need one lamp in a scene- you better have at least 5 to choose from. That’s why when it’s shooting day, my car looks like this…. (and that’s in addition to a box truck that always loaded down).
Prop Master- The prop master is charged with reading through a script and picking out any specific pieces/items that an actor will touch. Sometimes, the prop can be bought but sometimes it has to be created. The look of a “hero” prop is very important and great care is taken in picking it out.
Set Dresser- The set dresser (along with the prop master) is always on set. This person does not work ahead, but is always with the camera. The set dresser must be extremely detail oriented and able to focus for long periods of time. Once the camera is set and the frame for a scene is established, the set decorator makes sure that every detail is perfect. Pieces may need to be moved, art may need to be added, dirt may need to be swept up (or added, haha), ect. The set dresser is the final line of defense when it comes to making sure the set being shot is on point.
So, there is a simplified description of the main roles in most productions. For large, Hollywood movies there are a quite a few more positions and jobs.
As you can see from the above descriptions (and those are just for the art dept), creating a production of any kind (movie, tv show, commercial) is definitely a team sport! That is actually one of the reasons I love working in production so much. It reminds me of my basketball days. Everyone has a key role that they must preform well in order to bring about the best finished product and to create something that is bigger than each individual role. The atmosphere really is something special. The people you work with on these types of projects become like family. The life of a production crew member is full of long, often times, 12 hour days. When you spend that amount of time with other people, you can imagine the bond that begins to form.
I’ve worked on everything from casino commercials, to cooking shows, to feature films. Sometimes the sets are super fun to create and other times it’s the people that make the production the most fun. Here are some examples of things that I’ve worked on over the past 3 years of being in the business.
Working with KD and Nike has definitely been a highlight in my set decorating career! Read more and see more photos of this set here!
This set (below) where we created Mother Nature’s home was especially fun!
Read more and see more photos of this set here!
Two years ago, Tim and I worked as the set decorator and lead man on a feature film called Home Run.
My favorite part of that movie was making life long friends, but my second favorite part was creating this loft space…
When creating the atmosphere for a TV show or movie, it is critical that the set helps to tell the story. The set is just as much an actor as the actual people playing leading roles. A viewer will unknowingly gather all sorts of info related to the story if a set is decorated correctly. Read more about the space above and why we made the decor choices we did here!
This year I had the pleasure of working with The Pioneer Woman to upgrade her cooking show set. Read more about part of this set redesign here.
Getting into the production scene works a lot like most careers. You start at the bottom of the totem pole and work your way up. PA’s or Production Assistants are the where most people start. This position generally doesn’t require a lot of skill and knowledge (although both are certainly helpful), but it does require a person is willing to do anything and work extremely hard without complaining.
Production work is super hard work and not glamorous, but it is a dream job for the right person.