This Pilot project aims to develop an innovative, internationally significant research centre as a central point for all things production design.

The ICPD is driven by the initiative to create knowledge exchange, public engagement and dissemination of research findings in both the academic and industry communities.

Aims

To illustrate the work of production designers and their role in the creation of screen imagery.  Thus increasing awareness and understanding of this pivotal role in filmmaking.

To engage interest in a field of screen studies that has been sparsely investigated to date.

To facilitate knowledge exchange across theory, practice and a wider audience in the form of the general public, creating a platform for conversation and exploration of the dynamic between these perspectives.

To establish a network for sustaining dialogue through meetings with colleagues, practitioners and collaborators.

To create and nurture a creative community.

About

“There is something about the medium of film that enables it to implant images in the mind that are more real than the real world; to stage manage our perception of the facts of everyday life.  Southern plantation houses look like Tara; airports look like the last scene in Casablanca; motels look like the Bates motel.”

(David Sylvester, 2000)

Where are we? Whether in a shabby warehouse (Reservoir Dogs), a small town (It’s a Wonderful Life), a futuristic city (Metropolis) or orbiting in space (Gravity) – it is the designer’s job to answer that question, visualize the environment and transport us there. The paradox in this is that the setting will often remain unnoticed as it is traditionally harnessed to the aim of conveying story and character. Occasionally a space will draw attention to itself and possibly even the seams of its own construction and when that rupture occurs we are reminded that what we are watching has been conceived and created by a master of image making – the production designer.

The centre will:

• Celebrate and reflect on the production designer’s contribution to the art of cinematic storytelling.
• Be dedicated to the art and craft of production design for film and television. 
• Form a hub for production design organisations, practitioners, educators, curators and researchers and provide a focus for research projects including collaborations between academic and industry partners.
• Spearhead production design scholarship in collaboration with international partners such as the Art Directors Guild, British Film Designers Guild, British Film Institute, ScreenSkills, Production Designers Collective and The David C. Copley Centre for the Study of Costume.
• Promote and raise awareness of the work of the production designer and the art department to a wider audience including the general public.