About the Book:

Learn to turn a simple screenplay into a visual masterpiece! Top production designers share their real-life experiences to explain the aesthetic, narrative, and technical aspects of the craft. Step by step, aspiring filmmakers will discover sound instruction on the tools of the trade, and established filmmakers will enjoy a new outlook on production design.

They will learn, for example, the craft behind movie magic — such as how to create a design metaphor, choose a color scheme, use space, and work within all genres of film, from well-funded studio projects to guerilla filmmaking. This indispensable resource also contains a history of movie making and guidelines for digital production design. For the experienced filmmaker seeking new design ideas to the struggling newcomer stretching low-budget dollars, this book makes the processes and concepts of production design accessible.

What people say:

"LoBrutto energetically and exhaustively details the collaborative art and craft of production design — from the basics of color theory to location scouting to computer-designed sets — by using contemporary and classic examples of excellence, while also challenging readers to take part in the creative process by imaging a motion picture themselves. The result is a unique resource that deftly reveals a vastly important yet under appreciated aspect of the filmmaking process." — The Hollywood Reporter

"More than a richly detailed guide for students and professionals, Vincent LoBrutto has written a true alternative history of cinema, one that draws us inside the heart of image creation of many of the world's classic films. Stuffed with historical anecdotes as well as trade secrets, LoBrutto lucidly unravels the sometimes elusive skein that connects the magic trinity of director, designer, and cinematographer." — John Bailey, ASC, Cinematographer, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, As Good as It Gets, and The Big Chill

"From William Cameron Menzies, the father of production design and designer of Selznick's 'Gone with the Wind', to Ken Adam, who designed Kubrick's 'Dr. Strangelove', LoBrutto examines the art of the production designer in graphic detail. A fascinating and instructive study." — Gene D. Phillips, senior professor of Film History, Loyola University, and chief writer of The Encyclopedia of Stanley Kubrick

About the Author:

Vincent LoBrutto is an instructor of film editing, film sound, film studies, and production design at the School of the Visual Arts and at Film/Video Arts. He has worked as a film editor for Fox and HBO and as a postproduction coordinator for ABC. He is a contributing writer to Films in Review, Cinemaeditor, American Cinematographer, and Moviemaker and is the author of five other books on film sound, editing, cinematography, and independent filmmaking. He lives in New York City.