The Hand That Reaches out
Directed by Casey Carbone
The Hand that Reaches Out was a very personal project to the director, who wrote this story in reference to her own experience with grief. I worked closely with Casey to create a serene space for her characters to drift through, sprinkled with references from her own life.
Flowers were a major visual element in this story. I designed and arranged dozens of sympathy bouquets (bottom left corner) and dried dozens of flowers weeks prior to filming, then strung and hung them from the ceiling (middle left and bottom right). My favorite piece, however, was the haze of Polaroid’s we strung up (middle and bottom middle). Hundreds of photographs hung from the ceiling, a tangible memory that the actors could walk through and interact with.
Domini
Directed by Eilon Ben-Nissan
This dreamy, existential film was filled with subtle, slightly off putting little details. Placing things like specks of paint in the grass (middle left) and colored sand stewn at the beach (top right) allowed us to softly give the film a feeling of being in near-reality. The colors leaking into the scene also gave a stark contrast to the more contained, depressing side of the film portrayed in black and white.
There was a recurring sequence of Domini that saw the protagonist waking up in bed. To achieve this shot in the limited space, I tied and sewed the bedding and the actor onto an upright mattress (bottom left).
Another fun task for Domini was the painting of the canvas on the final beach scene. This painting was meant to match an important previous shot. I’m a bit fixated on the details, so you can see me (bottom right) making some last minute adjustments to the clouds in order for the painting to match.
Oceanside
Directed by Richard Imburgio (coming soon)
Oceanside was a murder mystery set in old fashioned middle America. Curating antique props that matched the era and area were a priority. Additionally, the props had to dispel a certain subtle eariness. Little figurines, and rusty sharp objects carefully placed, set an uncanny mood.
The most exciting part of the process had to be the cult ceremony scenes. After much searching for the perfect carved idol for the cult to worship, I ended up sculpting and painting one myself (see the two center photos in the bottom row), as well as the stone colored masks that the cult members wore (bottom far right) for the most haunting affect.
From boy With love
Directed by Quinn Holmes (coming soon)
From Boy With Love was a wild ride. The director, Quinn, wanted an ultra maximalist space, full of bright colors and excitement at every turn. There was a ton of creative freedom, so my team and I went crazy with the decor. We covered one room completely, entirely, in small doodles and drawings (middle photo). And instead of wallpaper, I decorated the other room with faux neon fur, cut and sewn into a cow print pattern. Huge and tiny childrens toys were set up everywhere throughout the set- creating a bursting and overwhelming space.
this is not A PIPE
Directed by Erica Core
This is Not a Pipe is the story of an artist breaking down as she finds her style. It lives in the uncanny valley, so the production design is ominous, but casually rooted in reality. The protagonist is followed around by images inspired from the paintings of surrealist Rene Magritte (‘The Great War’, left image. ‘The Portrait’, center image). Wanting to stick to his aesthetic, I handpainted many of the props (e.g the umbrella in the left image and eyeball in the right image.
Leon
Directed by Jonathan Mizrahi (coming soon)
Leon takes place in a cramped apartment of a large dystopian city. It’s a tragic story of a grieving young woman, so the set had to remain human and somewhat familiar despite looking deeply futuristic. The thought process was to collect items that might have survived the decay of pure human history and the increasing presence of machines.
The most interesting part of the process was creating a miniature city (left image). We built the world of of painted cartons, retired electronics, any pieces of plastic we could find.
bildungsroman
Directed by Shoshana Erenkranz
Bildungsroman follows a young Jewish girl questioning her family’s weekly tradition- the Sabbath. This home was exciting to decorate; I went to my own hometown and collected Jewish art and Judaica from my own family and friends. I learned through this films process that the most believable set is often one curated by real people in real time.
