MFJF map · UK
The art department: the people and the process
Every room a character walks into, every street they cross, every mug on every desk: the art department put it there. Under the production designer it designs, builds, dresses and strikes the physical world of the film. Hundreds of people on a big feature, five to ten on a modest drama, and usually the department with the most ways in.
Three arms, one designerWho is in it
The art department is really three departments that report to one production designer. People introduce themselves by job title and expect you to know what they do.
DesignMonths before prep
The production designer is one of the first people the director appoints.
Pre-productionLonger than the shoot
A feature might prep for twelve weeks and shoot for eight, and the art department office is full for all of both. An assistant hired for prep sees the whole cycle.
The shootA day or more ahead of the camera
Most of the department is dressing the next set while a standby art director and standby props stay with the unit to handle whatever the day throws up.
WrapUnglamorous, physical, useful
Everything hired goes back, and it goes back checked.
Where you start, and where it leadsThe bottom rung
A runner works under the coordinator on logistics and may not get on set at all. An assistant is the first real rung: more responsibility, put to work quickly, expected to arrive with some skills. On a low-budget show, one person is both.
