Get Real (XR Stage)
Savannah College of Art & Design (2022)
Production Designer
The Savannah College of Art and Design became the first institution in higher education to implement an XR (extended reality) stage volume, and I was fortunate enough to be the Production Designer for the college’s debut student project, Get Real. I led a large team of students through the creation of four vibrant and visually contrasting scenes.
This project, from ideation to filming, lasted around 9 weeks, so it was a very quick turnaround! As it was the college’s first large student project with the new technology, it was a learning experience for every department involved.
For weeks 1-3, I was heavily involved in the ideation of the different environments and landscapes. I would lead collaborative brainstorming sessions with students, and then meet with leaders from other teams and departments to hash out how we would combine ideas to create our final product. Our short film would span four unique landscapes: a simple New York office, an alpine mountain retreat, a Route 66 gas station, and an arctic tundra.
I had so many wonderfully talented students working with me in the art department. I had two art directors, Daniel Rivera-Aponte (assigned to the Gas Station and Alpine Retreat locations) and Nhu Nguyen (New York Office and Arctic Tundra). Ava Baughn was our wonderful concept artist and also worked on the costume crew with costume director Mackenzie Saverance.
After I communicated a vision for our department’s work (and the larger vision of the entire film) to my team, I transitioned into more of a manager role and helped everyone accomplish anything I could contribute to. I built props, flocked snow, painted, picked up pizzas, and pretended I could contribute at all towards Mackenzie and Ava’s fantastic costume work.
Gas Station
Although we built multiple platforms and large decks, learned to flock snow, and built LED props, one of our most complicated set pieces was a vintage gas pump. I worked with a manufacturer out of Omaha, NE to make this a reality. Once it arrived (in pristine condition), we designed a look to make it seem worn. As a team, we dismantled, scratched, and vandalized the gas pump to fit our scene. The entire administration was very excited with the result. I also had everyone involved carve their initials somewhere onto the pump as a special little momento.
Arctic Tundra
The most challenging set for us to create was by far the arctic tundra. In order to keep the LED screen safe, we weren’t allowed to utilize many of the materials normally used to create fake snow. Through a lot of experimentation, we decided on a combination of techniques to create a layered bed of snow on a platform. We also created multiple new props, such as a drill and the ice chest that held illuminated ice core samples! We 3D printed a new attachment in order to hook the chest up to an existing fog machine which I then controlled off stage during the shoot.
Alpine Retreat
In order to provide the maximum amount of flexibility to the actors and the directors, our build for the Alpine retreat deck was massive. We had a lot of fun experimenting with how to orient the deck in order to provide the most depth to the camera shots. Our wonderful costume designers also crafted a wingsuit from a motorcycle suit and sewed in flaps, which saved hundreds of dollars.
Executive’s Office
The boardroom office was the first scene we shot and was our first real experience with production on the XR stage. We learned a lot about the need to ignore what our eyes saw and focus on what the camera saw. Since this entire project was a proof of concept for future XR stage productions, it was difficult for us to not take the easy route of finding a board room on campus instead of creating one from scratch in the Unreal Engine. We also were nervous about the size of the table we sourced, but were able to do camera tests to ensure it wouldn’t seem small on camera.
Result & Final Thoughts
Through working on this project, I learned an incredible amount about film. I was fortunate to not only learn traditional film techniques but also be thrown headfirst into brand-new technology that is absolutely shaking the industry. I felt very blessed with the fantastic team of students I worked with, and the students they led, too.
Credits:
Richard - Isaac Liu
Sarah - Darby Farr
Executive - John Prosky
Director(s) - Hunter Melrose, Porter Justus, Ignacio Loizeau, Blake Hunter
Producer - Sean Hussey
Creative Director - Patrick Johnson
Directors of Photography - Henry Fischer, Tyler Warlick, Dexter Jiang
Executive Producers - Andra Reeve-Rabb, D.W. Moffett, Mark Tymchyshyn
Special Thanks to the President of SCAD - Paula Wallace
Written By - Mark Tymchyshyn, Matthew Nickley
1st AD - Negan Fu
2nd AD - Colleen Ryan
1st AC - Henry Fischer, Tyler Warlick, Dexter Jiang
2nd AC Dexter Jiang, Tyler Warlick, Henry Fischer
Gaffers - Blake Hunter, Henry Fischer, Tyler Warlick
Best Boy - Mark Adair
Key Grip - Cory Jerls
Dolly Grip - Luke Weisner, Ryan Setzer
Location Sound Mixers - Phillip Nauman, Rayne Beckman, Beth Latta
Production Designer - Hayden Allred
Art Directors - Nhu Nguyen, Daniel Rivera
Lead Drafter - Aishwarya Subramanian
Costume Manager - Mackenzie Saverance
Assistant Costume Department - Kelsey Kirpich, Michael Parisi
Prop Master - Flavia Yoshitake
Props - Mikayla Salmon, Elena Douglas
Lead Concept Artist - Ava Baughn
Concept Artists - Cierra de Bie, Gretchen Fix, Yesenia Lomeli, Jane Daniel
Storyboard Artist - Leo Mancini
Buyers - Hannah Fulkerson, Cierra de Bie, Gretchen Fix, Yesenia Lomeli, Jane Daniel
Hair and Makeup Artist - Carly Oreck
Assistant Hair and Makeup Artist - Ava Baughn
Visual Effects Producer - Miranda Leighr
Environment Supervisor - Paten Morten
Environment Leads - Maura Hayes, Imogen Davies, Yash Patel, Nico Smoak
Digital Environment Designer - Connor Witte
Visual Effects Consultant - Camilo Gutierrez
Editor - Lillie Tuttle
Assistant Editor - Pamille Miller
Sound Designer - Manni Simon
Visual Effects Supervisor - Miranda Leighr
Compositors - Ty Robillard, Zach Jantz, Mateo Solorzano, Davis Hardy
Colorist - Emily Jahr
Special Thanks To - Gokhan Ozaysin, Jesus Rojas, Joerg Schodl, Andres Galeano, Lisa Ryan, Steven Stanley, Mitch Gettleman, Catori Swann