Workshops
Explore how production design can amplify story, theme, and character in film and television.
There are no available registration dates at this time.
Guided by legendary production designer Wynn Thomas, examine the critical role of a production designer in shaping the look, mood, and success of a film or TV show. Learn the processes involved in developing and maintaining an overall aesthetic for a production and how design supports the story.
For directors, producers, production designers, art directors, set designers and decorators, cinematographers, and all who want to better understand the process by which film and television projects are designed, styled and created. Differences in the two mediums will be discussed.
You will learn how to break down a script and begin the process of developing a coherent overall look; carrying it through initial visualization, research, sketches, plans, and construction budgeting. We will also cover location scouting, adapting locations, the impact of color on story and character, research, relevant software, sketching and storyboarding, set designing, stage layout, model building, miniatures, and planning for special effects.
Relevant examples from film and television will be examined. We will also discuss the dynamics of collaboration involved in achieving an expressive visual approach.
Leave with a new understanding of how design can help to transport viewers into the core of an emotional experience.
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Instructor: Wynn Thomas
Working with directors like Spike Lee, Tim Burton, Robert De Niro, and Ron Howard, Wynn Thomas is one of the leading production designers of his generation. He is also the first African American production designer in the history of films. His credits include DO THE RIGHT THING, HIDDEN FIGURES, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, A BRONX TALE, GRUDGE MATCH, SHAFT, WAG THE DOG, ANALYZE THIS, INSIDE MAN, SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT, MALCOLM X, KING RICHARD, HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, and many other films and shows.
As a production designer, Wynn has worked with some of the most important film directors active today. For director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer, he designed A BEAUTIFUL MIND, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the critically acclaimed CINDERELLA MAN. Both starring Russell Crowe. Wynn has a long-term relationship with Robert DeNiro's Tribeca Productions. For many years he was their in-house designer having designed A BRONX TALE directed by Robert DeNiro, WAG THE DOG directed by Barry Levinson starring DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman, ANALYZE THIS and ANALYZE THAT directed by Harold Ramis and starring DeNiro and Billy Crystal. For director Tim Burton he designed the cult classic MARS ATTACKS!!! He has a long-term collaborative relationship with Spike Lee, having designed SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT, SCHOOL DAZE, DO THE RIGHT THING, MO BETTER BLUES, JUNGLE FEVER, the epic film MALCOLM X, CROOKLYN, HE GOT GAME, THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY, and the critically and commercially successful INSIDE MAN, and DA 5 BLOODS.
Wynn designed the award-winning film HIDDEN FIGURES (20th Century Fox). The film was nominated for 3 Oscars including Best Picture. Wynn was awarded the Hollywood Film Award for best production design of 2016 as well as the Art Director's Guild Award for Best Production Design (Period film).
Other credits include SHAFT (20th Century Fox, directed by Tim Story) starring Samuel L. Jackson, THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR (Warner Bros., directed by Ry Russo Young), 80 FOR BRADY (Paramount, directed by Kyle Marvin), starring Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, and Rita Moreno, GRUDGE MATCH (Warner Bros., directed by Peter Segal) with Robert DeNiro and Sylvester Stallone, KING RICHARD (Warner Bros., directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green) starring Will Smith, and DEVOTION (Sony, directed by J.D. Dillard) starring Jonathan Majors. He recently completed working on BASS REEVES, a new Paramount Plus series starring David Oyelowo.