Production Design Foke

“1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse“ is an amazing collection of beautiful and bizarre objects made from reused and recycled materials.  There is nothing new about this movement, but as people have become more aware of mankind’s effect on the environment, this movement has had an unparalleled growth in the producing and following of reused products. As the author Garth Johnson says in his introduction, three types of reuse exist in history, “…dominance, heritage and thrift.”  Today’s reuse has mainly to do with thrift which has morphed into non-waste.

Ian Brown, a lecturer at AFTRS  in digital media, submitted object #0605 shown in “chapter four: geek craft + man craft”.  His iPod speaker system referred to in the Image Directory as “iPod Speaker Madness” is a beautiful character that one wishes one could go up and talk to!  Well at least it can talk to you.  Take a close look to find out what objects were used to put together this finely crafted useful object.  Every element was a found and reused item. 

As production designers we need to face the music and think about designing in a more environmentally responsible direction.  Green is certainly not a natural fit with the art department of a film.  Unless it suits the budget needs of a project, the lack of planning time and low budgets [even on big budget films] make reuse challenging in the film world.  Though back as far as 1993, PELICAN BRIEF[1993] starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington acquired the White House Oval office set from DAVE [1993]which went on to become a set in FOREST GUMP[1994] and who knows how many other Oval Offices [with a revamp and addition along the way].  This is an obvious answer to saving money for the art department budget, but useful only because of the popularity of this particular set.  Production Designers now need to be inventive in ways they can reuse and recycle the mounds of materials from constructed sets.  The movement is building support as seen on the following websites suggesting environmentally friendly materials.  In the U.S. , the U.K.,and Canada, we see mentions of this as well as in this interesting article posted just yesterday entitled ” The Future of Cinema – Green Giant or Environmental Headache?” by Jamie Isbell.  Let’s watch the dialog move forward with more tangible suggestions!

In the meantime, enjoy viewing the 1000!