All language subtitles for Dressing the set

in my opinion

one of the big things

that separates amateur productions

from professional productions

is how the set is decorated

we call the process of decorating the set

dressing the set

because we're not always decorating

sometimes we're actually destroying it or cleaning it

professional productions tend to care more about

how everything wardrobe

hair locations

how all these things are utilized to tell the story

nothing is an accident

the way that you dress a set

goes really far in creating a mood and telling a story

although we intentionally went for the look

of a dying and primitive civilization

we still decorated the set

on the first day

we brought a faux fur blanket from home

and hung it up on the back of the wall the hut

it wasn't obvious

but it helped to give the hut

not only a more primitive feel

but also to make the set look more lived

it also didn't end up showing on camera

but we had blankets and pillows too

I yell that's really the key to good set design

you're trying to get into the head of these characters

and tell a story with the set

taiani and cordel live here

and they hide out from everyone

so would have pillows and blankets

and food and supplies and stuff

on the next day

we had the big council room scene

we looked for a location for the scene for a long time

and when we found the spot

it didn't exactly look like a council room scene

but I thought that if we move these

unusually heavy benches

instead of hanging fabric

we could make it feel like a portable tabernacle

similar to something that might be found

in ancient biblical times or something

unfortunately

light showed through our burlap

which made everything feel really cheap and amateurish

so our key grip

Matt Harrison

and Joel Rpa

would set up thick

black cloth or carpets

or whatever we could find

and they would hang those up on C stands

behind whatever section we were shooting in front of

the assurance mural was also a part of the set dressing

I wanted it behind the trio of guys here

almost as if it was like

the thing giving the council their power

or their authority to speak

to make the big mural

my wife had their

sewed together huge pieces of burlap

then we painted the mural with black paint

based on the original drawing by Brad Singley

that the preacher held up

now it's definitely obvious

that Brad's talent for artists far

far spirit of what we could do

but I think that's okay in this world

drawing the assurances

like a religious offering

or practice in this culture

so they should feel kind of crude

I was able to recycle that big mural

when I shot the opening title sequence

I love the way that the black paint

on this burlap looked up close

we'll look more shooting the opening title sequence

of the next training series on cinematography

if that interests you

we also use leftover burlap for the 6 scene

that I hung up on some C stands

and backdrop stands

similar to what I've done here behind me

I painted a rough assurance on burlap with chalk

so that we know this woman was a believer

we also accented the set with candles

not only so that we have motivation for warm light

but also so that it felt like a more sovereign

intimate scene

for that set

we also use some leftover black net type fabric

that we got at a local dollar store for Halloween

which I hung up over a black photography backdrop

kind of like with burlap

I love that drooping

intricate texture it creates

even though burlap is the absolute

worst texture imaginable

we decided early on

that this is just a texture

that typifies this whole world

cause let's face it

you're not gonna be wearing burlap

if there's any other option

it feels really crude

and unpolished

uncomfortable

has a really interesting texture

that looks a lot more rich in detail

than plain fabric

on the final day of production

we didn't have too much in the way of set design

as the environment already kind of

look like we wanted it

but Stephen Haller is great at making fire

and there was that amazing fire pit

so I had to make a big fire

and the smoke from that added a lot to the scene

technically

that was also dressing the set

for a pickup shot

that we ended up deleting

we had to create a pile of unspeakable

rotting things

in order to make this stuff moldy

we actually had loaves of bread

and old flowers

and fruit and stuff

donated from friends and local markets

we stored all this in a corner of our garage for weeks

it was awful

but I didn't want you like

computer generated mold or decay

I wanted the real thing

I don't know that

it's super obvious

just how disgusting this rotting pile actually is

so I probably

change the set a bit more

to get rid of the leaves

and elements that aren't as decayed

if I were to do it again

I also might have gotten more obviously

rotting elements

right up against the camera

but overall

I'm happy with the way this shot turned out

even though we didn't use it

next we'll look at using even more burlap

but for people dressing this time