Ra Vincent and Dan Hennah (source: Stuff.co.nz)
The set decorator of The Hobbit trilogy, Ra Vincent, has been interviewed by Set Decorator Online talking about some of the specifics of making the latest and final film of the series, as well as the entire trilogy.
First of all, Vincent, explained his role in the production of the trilogy: “Through discussions with production designer Dan Hennah and director Peter Jackson, I devised color schemes and designed furnishings for sets to create the worlds of the Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, Wizards, Men and Goblins…”.
Then he talked about his own experience collaborating with Production Designer Dan Hennah: “I was fortunate enough to work with Dan on the LOTR trilogy and King Kong before starting on the Hobbit trilogy. We have an easy way of working in that we have a similar aesthetic and an open dialogue about the way we think things will eventually look.
Dan is a great storyteller and is very visual with his instructions, which I think I respond to well. He allows everyone within the Art Department to contribute their ideas, promoting creativity and working to people’s strengths.”
Ra Vincent explained also his work method and his detailed sketches for the movie sets (that can be admired on Ra Vincent’s website). “A lot of our crews were craftspeople from outside of the film industry. The reason for this is we wanted to create as much hands-on reality in our environments as possible and keep the integrity of the materials with which they are created. […]” […] “Through discussions with the designer we come up with an idea of what our finished product wants to look like and what I will do is take the very early construction plans and do a dressing layout and then a dressing illustration. The illustration serves to describe very broadly the styles of furniture required and the quantities of objects needed to furnish an environment. It also instructs the palette of the set and the relationship of the objects inside it, plus it helps me form a budget.
These illustrations are then given to the scenic artists, to the set dressers involved in gathering the elements and to the props designers who extract each element from the drawing and draft them up for the makers.”
You can read the whole interview on Set Decorator Online.
