Worldbuilding in a Ready-Made World

Worldbuilding in a Ready-Made World is creative production design on a budget. From the original “Star Wars” to “Stalker,” filmmakers have delivered up fantastic imaginary worlds by radically reinterpreting existing spaces. This course will introduce ways a concept for design can magnify your story without breaking the bank. Yes, the latest King Kong is a 400 foot CGI marvel, but the Auroch in “Beasts of the Southern Wild” is actually a baby pot-bellied pig trained in the art of playing dress-up. Budget limitations needn’t limit the inventiveness of setting and can even be a stimulus to creativity.

The class will be in two parts. The first, a discussion of how a central theme or concept can be used as a formal constraint to enhance the look of a story, with examples ranging from “Parasite” to “Fight Club”. The second, a workshop where you’ll take a sequence from a script (we’ll give you one or you can use your own), create a concept, and shoot photographs of locations you’d choose to reflect your concept. A practical boots-on-the-ground application in the spirit of how David Lynch described his childhood; “In those days, my world was no bigger than a couple of blocks. Huge worlds are in those two blocks…”

Date: Tuesdays | April 13-20 | 6-7:30 p.m. PST | 2 Sessions
Instructor: Priscilla Elliott
TUITION: $175

Priscilla Elliott is an experienced production designer, art director, and visual consultant who cut her teeth working with the worldbuilding wizard, designer Alex McDowell. Since then, she has worked with visionary directors including Tim Burton, Rian Johnson, Steven Soderbergh, Richard Kelly, Clint Eastwood, Wes Anderson, Andrew Niccol and Nicholas Winding-Refn.