Kitty_K
5 Years Experience
Los Angeles, CA
Female, 30
I am a Los Angeles based decorator and have worked on a range of projects from an Academy Award winning feature to commercials for brands like Bank of America and Kay's Jewellers. An average day on the job involves me visiting high-end stores and prop houses in Los Angeles to photograph and price furniture, lighting fixtures, drapery, and art. I am responsible for running a crew and collaborating creatively with the director, production designer and cinematographer. Ask me anything!
In my personal opinion, Blade Runner hands-down is the best film I have ever seen in terms of the visuals and the overall marriage between cinematography, costumes and design. I also enjoy the films of Jean Pierre Jeunet because they are expertly designed but still maintain an "organic" feel. Perhaps this is because Jeunet's films rely on real set construction and prop making rather than using CGI for everything. Bladerunner is also unique in that the designs within the film predict technological advances that would emerge later in the future, such as the giant flatscreen monitors used for advertising.
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Wow, interesting question. There are two directors who made my life a living hell. One director was one of the best I have worked with because she challenged me. It really was a living hell with long hours, high expectations, a lot of responsibilities, steep learning curve and at the end of the shoot I got in a car accident. However her project was one of the few out of the many I've done that I'm wholly pleased with aesthetically. It was a short film adaptation of the Cortazar story "Letter to a Young Lady in Paris" and the director who was very specific about the look she wanted. She asked me to create an art noveau inspired apartment space.... Read More +
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I learn by doing. The practical information I picked up to help me do my job came after school, not during it. When you start out you'll have to do a lot of unpaid work but it's the best way to learn. Try looking for postings on Craigslist or Mandy for student/low budget films that need set dressers, decorators, etc. There is a lot of crap on these sites so try to pick and choose carefully if you can. Volunteering on short films as an Art PA was how I got my start four years ago - it also provided me with the contacts I needed to eventually get on board more serious projects. If your living in the Los Angeles area, I can also recommend visiting... Read More +
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I don't have a 'favorite set flub' per say - I did enjoy the comically bad set dressing of Tommy Wiseau's cult B movie "The Room". The film was made over a period of several years during the 90s - the writing, acting, cinematography and art direction is mindblowingly awful. The film's "so bad it's good" quality caught on with a select group of movie goers and now it's become a fixture of midnight movie screenings in Hollywood. The entire movie is sort of a flub. You'll have to watch it to see what I mean. The art direction of B horror/scifi movies (Troll 2, anything by Ed Wood) also fall into this category for me.
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Bartender
How often would you date customers?
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Are mechanics more likely to take advantage of female customers than males?
Stand-Up Comedian
What's your worst bombing story?
I decorated an Academy Award winning feature film. The film was nominated for 5 Oscars and has been the highlight of my career so far. A fellow decorator told me, "Decorators look for mistakes when we watch a film, and I didn't see one mistake in that movie." - that was a big compliment because it was coming from a decorator more esteemed and experienced than I was. The one thing that irritates me is that apparently our crew did *such* a good job that many viewers and critics who watched the film seem to think very little was done in the way of art department. I saw one reviewer referred to the sets as "locations" as if they were not dressed... Read More +
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If you're lucky enough to get onto any set, just being there and interacting with others is going to open doors. You're working long hours and bonding with the members of your crew. I guess it's best to build a rapport with the people at the top - the art director, production designer and set decorator. However, it's good to keep in touch with everyone you work with no matter who they are, because this industry is small and you never know when that one person is going to make a difference for you. A piece of advice I got from the former decorator of "True Blood" - which should really apply to all areas of life not just filmmaking - is to... Read More +
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A production designer (the head of the art department) is more likely to require formal training. The production designer is the architect to the set, many production designers go to school for architecture and generally have a lot experience in drafting. The set decorator does not necessarily need formal training, but it is helpful. The set decorator should have knowledge about different periods in design, furniture and art and some knowledge of construction. I personally learned the process as I went. Most of the important things I have learned came after school, not during it.
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