Production Design: Architects of the Screen
explores the role of the production designer through a historical overview that maps out landmark film and television designs. From the familiar environs of television soap operas to the elaborate and disorientating
Velvet Goldmine
. Jane Barnwell considers how themes. motifs and colours offer clues to unravel plot. character and underlying concepts. In addressing the importance of physical space in film and TV, the book investigates questions of authenticity in detail. props. colours and materials. The design codes of period drama. more playful representations of the past and distinctive contemporary looks are discussed through the use of key examples ranging from musicals of the 1930s to cult films of the 1990s. The book also includes interviews with leading production designers and studies of
Trainspotting
,
The English Patient
and
Caravaggio
.