The National Film and Television School MA in Production Design is one of the most sought after courses at the school and has yet again produced an impressive array of credits. We’ve put together a snapshot of the work some of those grads are doing through the following new releases, Alice Through the Looking Glass; Remainder and Love and Friendship.
There are a number of career paths that the Production Design MA prepares grads for from starting roles such as Draughtsperson and Art Department Assistant and to more experienced roles such as Set Decorator, Art Director, Concept Artist and Production Designer. Those on the course benefit from studying alongside students from other filmmaking disciplines including cinematography, producing and directing animation. Both digital and traditional methods are taught including 3D and 2D computer techniques, set sketching, orthographic draughting, design geometry and model-making.
New release, Alice Through the Looking Glass reprises some of the cast from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and is directed by James Bobin. In this instalment, Alice returns to the whimsical world of Underland and travels back in time to save the Mad Hatter. No fewer than four NFTS grads worked on the production design elements of this film including Gary Jopling, Assistant Art Director; Eva Kuntz, Concept Artist; Patrick Harris, Draughtsman and Sophie Neil, Draughtsman.
Remainder is based on Tom McMarthy’s debut cult novel and directed by video artist, Omer Fast. The film is about a Londoner who loses his memory when he’s struck by a falling object and develops a way to reconstruct his past. Starring Tom Sturridge, Remainder deals with philosophical questions about memory, replication and repetition. NFTS alumna, Patrick Herzberg is the Art Director on the film and Variety describes the film as ‘an art department’s dream […]’
Love & Friendship is based on a lesser-known novella by Jane Austen and has gone down a storm with the critics. For example, the Boston Globe says: “It’s a film true to both the adaptor and the adapted, and it’s wonderful” and the Washington Post: “As adaptations go, this is a match made in heaven.” Directed and written by Whit Stillman, Love & Friendship stars Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny. Louise Mathews, an NFTS grad, is the Art Director on the film and according to Variety, “While “Love & Friendship” hums along so mellifluously that you could easily enjoy it with your eyes closed […], it’s really best not to, given the high level of visual craft on display.”
If you would like to work in Production Design and follow in our NFTS grads’ footsteps and you come from a visual background whether theatre, architecture, illustration, fine art, digital design, interior design or 3D design, then the NFTS MA in Production Design could be for you – more info here: https://nfts.co.uk/our-courses/masters/production-design
