Often forgotten among the actors, directors, producers and others associated with filmmaking, art directors are responsible for making movies visually appealing to audiences. As such they sometimes make the difference between a hit and a bomb. This biographical dictionary includes not only the world's great and almost-great artists, but the unjustly neglected film designers of the past and present. Among the more than 300 art directors and designers are pioneers from silent films, designers from Hollywood and Europe's Golden Ages, Asian figures, post-Golden Age personalities, leaders of the European and American New Waves, and many contemporary designers. Each entry consists of biographical information, an analysis of the director's career and important films, and an extensive filmography including mentions of Academy Award nominations and winners.

Practical, comprehensive on-the-job manual for art directors from an established Hollywood insider.

In this new and expanded edition of The Art Direction Handbook, author Michael Rizzo now covers art direction for television, in addition to updated coverage of film design. This comprehensive, professional manual details the set-up of the art department and the day-to-day job duties: scouting for locations, research, executing the design concept, supervising scenery construction, and surviving production. Beyond that, there is an emphasis on not just how to do the job, but how to succeed and secure other jobs. Rounding out the text is an extensive collection of useful forms and checklists, as well as interviews with prominent art directors.

Written by an author with over 30 years of working experience, this book takes a practical, thorough look at the duties and skills of art directors and production designers. It teaches readers how to analyze a script, develop concepts that meet the needs of a script, develop sketches and construction drawings, work with directors and producers, and operate within budget limitations. The book has been updated and expanded to include interviews with professionals at all levels in the art department. A chapter on digital effects as they relate to the work of the art director has been added to this new edition. Students, novices in the profession, and persons from other art/design fields who are interested in expanding into film and video will find this is a valuable resource. Written by an author with over 30 years of working experience, this book takes a practical, thorough look at the duties and skills of art directors and production designers. It teaches readers how to analyze a script, develop concepts that meet the needs of a script, develop sketches and construction drawings, work with directors and producers, and operate within budget limitations. The book has been updated and expanded to include interviews with professionals at all levels in the art department. A chapter on digital effects as they relate to the work of the art director has been added to this new edition. Students, novices in the profession, and persons from other art/design fields who are interested in expanding into film and video will find this is a valuable resource.

The book "Film Textures: Subtext and Art Direction" is an important source of information for all film buffs and interested readers, including university film and media students. Although the book has not been able to fully present the issues of subtext and art direction, it has tried its best to present the true form of subtext and art direction through explanation. It discusses film structure, plot construction, character development, art direction, and various techniques of using subtext in detail with film examples. Movies are considered as one of the mediums of entertainment. Although every day there is an increase in innovation in the various disciplines of cinema, still cinema has retained the entertainment of people through its well-organized aesthetic presentation. The use of art direction and subtext can be seen in countless films from the beginning of cinema till now. The discussion text will explore the subtext by analyzing notable films from different periods and countries. Understanding the subtext of the film and the underlying message of the filmmakers, creates the ability to understand the essence of the film, evaluate it and understand the story. These films represent different time periods and different geographical contexts, which lends particular importance to the creators' creativity, cultural influence, and use of subtext. In-depth analysis of film elements and subtext will encourage students to apply subtext to film projects. Art direction directs the film's actors, controls the artistic and dramatic aspects of the film, and fulfills the visionary vision of the screenplay. Art direction encompasses the film's overall visual approach, which determines the appearance of the film's environment, including the location, color, texture, space, and objects used in the scene. Also, it creates the aesthetics of the actor's presentation, costumes and makeup. Art direction creates the overall color palette for the film, which can have a profound effect on the film. The production designer oversees the artistic look of the film and facilitates and executes the creative intent. The art director creates everything from the largest scale locations to the smallest details. At a finer level, art direction involves several other important aspects. For example, tweaking (subtle adjustments to processes or systems) and locations, so that the film's visualization on screen looks inherently realistic, lifelike and accurate, is known as set dressing. Art direction includes props and costumes; When the elements are chosen correctly, it makes the scene more believable. The overall aesthetic is guided by the production designer and implemented by the art director, which influences the final film as much as the lighting, story and dialogue. Art generally refers to qualitative aesthetic beauty. Film is a complete entertainment language, consisting of story, sound, light and other elements. Art direction in a film must be accurate and appropriate—selection of shooting locations, location decoration, selection of props, acting and appropriate use of sound and lighting based on the selected story make realistic visualization of the film possible. Usually movies are realistic depictions of fictional stories. The use of correct, acceptable and appropriate sound, lighting and art direction in film production is essential to present the film realistically to the audience on the screen. In film, subtext is the underlying meaning that enriches the content of scenes, dialogues, or characters, but never directly manifests itself in visual cues, dialogue, or story narration. However, the subtext can be fully inferred through the scenes, dialogues and actions, expressions or context of the characters in the film.

How is the look of a film achieved? In Art Direction and Production Design, six outstanding scholars survey the careers of notable art directors, the influence of specific design styles, the key roles played by particular studios and films in shaping the field, the effect of technological changes on production design, and the shifts in industrial modes of organization. The craft’s purpose is to produce an overall pictorial “vision” for films, and in 1924 a group of designers formed the Cinemagundi Club—their skills encompassed set design, painting, decoration, construction, and budgeting. A few years later, in recognition of their contributions to filmmaking, the first Academy Awards for art direction were given, a clear indication of just how essential the oversight of production design had become to the so-called majors. The original essays presented in Art Direction and Production Design trace the trajectory from Thomas Edison’s primitive studio, the Black Maria, to the growth of the Hollywood “studio system,” to the influence of sound, to a discussion of the “auteur theory,” and to contemporary Hollywood in which computer-generated imagery has become common. By 2000, the Society of Motion Picture Art Directors became the Art Directors Guild, emphasizing the significance of the contributions of art direction and production design to filmmaking. Art Direction and Production Design is a volume in the Behind the Silver Screen series—other titles in the series include Acting, Animation, Cinematography, Directing, Editing and Special/Visual Effects, Producers, Screenwriting, and Sound.

While the viewer's eyes are trained on the actors, the production design sets the mood for the film. The design also subtly comments on the action and the characters, moves the plot forward and adds to its symbolic content. The production design of 23 films of the 1980s and 1990s is analyzed here. The films are divided into five areas: realistic films set in the present day, stylized films (including horror) set in the present day, period films, period films that move through several decades, and science fiction and fantasy films. Among the movies analyzed are The Silence of the Lambs, She's Gotta Have It, The Fisher King, Ragtime, Barton Fink, Goodfellas, and Alien. The quality of the designs is assessed by a careful reading of the mise-en-scene. Often the designers' own words are used to describe the effects and the process involved in achieving them.

Presents opportunities for employment in the field of visual arts listing more than sixty-five job descriptions, salary ranges, education and training requirements, and more.

Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video is the definitive book on the subject for beginning filmmakers and students. The book clearly illustrates all of the steps involved in preproduction, production, postproduction, and distribution. Its unique two-fold approach looks at filmmaking from the perspectives of both producer and director, and explains how their separate energies must combine to create a successful short film or video, from script to final product. This guide offers extensive examples from award-winning shorts and includes insightful quotes from the filmmakers themselves describing the problems they encountered and how they solved them. The companion website contains useful forms and information on grants and financing sources, distributors, film and video festivals, film schools, internet sources for short works, and professional associations.

The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry is a completely revised and updated edition of Anthony Slide's The American Film Industry, originally published in 1986 and recipient of the American Library Association's Outstanding Reference Book award for that year. More than 200 new entries have been added, and all original entries have been updated; each entry is followed by a short bibliography. As its predecessor, the new dictionary is unique in that it is not a who's who of the industry, but rather a what's what: a dictionary of producing and releasing companies, technical innovations, industry terms, studios, genres, color systems, institutions and organizations, etc. More than 800 entries include everything from Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to Zoom Lens, from Astoria Studios to Zoetrope. Outstanding Reference Source - American Library Association