Class Digital Elements of Production Design

The curricular unit DIGITAL ELEMENTS OF PRODUCTION DESIGN focuses on the process of developing serialised fiction content in the field of Production Design. It covers the main areas of intervention, including set design, costume design, and makeup and hair design, from a theoretical-practical perspective. The course emphasises the role of digital representation of visual concepts in the pre-production phase.  

The objective is to provide knowledge of more sophisticated and precise techniques in the presentation of graphic proposals, maintaining the definition of the aesthetic approach, the development of the creative process and the methods of execution as fundamental elements, together with an understanding of the economic, cultural and ethical context of the production design department as a practice.

1. The concept and function of production design and the composition of the team. The importance of visual and rhetorical elements, scenographic languages and the specificities of different formats in defining the aesthetic approach.  The working lexicon, materials, techniques and construction methods. 
2. Working methodology. Budgeting. Management of means and resources. Structure of a production design dossier.
3. Graphic presentation of proposals (perspective, composition, colours, lighting, materials): Photoshop / Gimp (digital painting and matte painting), Procreate (digital painting), Blender or Homestyler (3D rendering, technical drawing).
4. Technical Drawings. 
5. Props and costume design: active search, adaptation and construction. Methodology of scenographic execution/construction.

The teaching methodology raises awareness of the issues presented, develops spaces for discussion and problem solving, and encourages the development and sharing of practical exercises (challenges) in a transversal and collaborative process. The challenges, which will be analysed together in class, are intended to respond to the assimilation of theoretical knowledge and the conceptualization and development of the production design project for serialized content (transversal project). During the preparation and assembly phase, the aim is for the students to understand the responsibilities of each position taken, but also to work as a group, promoting teamwork. Software will be used to enable collaborative practice during the work process.

• 3D TOTAL (2009). Digital Painting Techniques – Masters Collection (Volume 1), Focal Press.
• ADLER, D. (1998). Metric Handbook – Planning and Design Data. Architectural Press.
• BARNWELL, J. (2017).  Production Design for Screen: Visual Storytelling in Film and Television. Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
• GURNEY, J. (2010). Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter -Volume 2. Andrews McMeel Publishing. 
• HELLER, Eva (2007). Psicología del color: Cómo actúan los colores sobre los sentimientos y la razón.  Editorial GG. 
• LOBRUTTO, V. (2002). The Filmmaker's Guide to Production Design. Allworth Press. New York. 
• PASTOREAU, Michel (1997). Dicionário das Cores do Nosso Tempo: Simbólica e Sociedade, Lisboa, Estampa.
• TASHIRO, C. S (1998). Pretty Pictures: Production Design and The History Film, University of Texas
  Press, Austin