The Flower Arranger

Steyn Online ^ | 2 June 2018 | Mark Steyn

[Rummyfan]

"Nobody comes out of the theatre whistling the sets," the great Broadway composer Jule Styne said to me many years ago. And that goes treble if it's a movie theater. And yet the visual appearance of a film is vital to its success: If the room doesn't look like the room that that plot or those characters would find themselves in, it's hard to overcome - unless it's your kid's school play and Claudius and Polonius are seated across a coffee table from the discount furniture warehouse out on Route 26 by the grain elevator. Michael D Ford, who died a few days ago at the age of ninety, was not a household name, but on screen he gave your household the appearance of a real household - one whose inhabitants have a lived reality that pre-dates the start of the film.

That's really what a set decorator does: It's like moving in to a brand new home and making it seem as if you've lived there for decades, instantly. If you've been to a movie in the last forty years, chances are you've seen Ford's work. He won Oscars for Titanic and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. He did Star Wars (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi) and James Bond (The Living Daylights, License to Kill, Goldeneye). Peter Lamont, Ford's art director on seven pictures, liked to refer to him, affectionately, as "the Flower Arranger": you're the detail guy who comes in and checks everything is just so - the angle at which the curtain is tied back; the position of the tea strainer relative to the creamer two tables behind the one at which the protagonists are talking...

[Rummyfan]

Harrison Ford on a set dressed by Michael Ford in Raiders of the Lost ArkA pleasant diversion...

[chajin]

If the room doesn't look like the room that that plot or those characters would find themselves in, it's hard to overcome - unless it's your kid's school play and Claudius and Polonius are seated across a coffee table from the discount furniture warehouse out on Route 26 by the grain elevator.

Best line of the day.

P.S. It's why in the day so many high school drama departments performed "Our Town."

[blu]

Because the set for Our Town is just a bunch of chairs? Nothing beats simplicity, not even the chairs from the church basement and funeral home combined (with appropriate stenciling on the back, of course!).

[cymbeline]

“the visual appearance of a film is vital to its success”

More so than ever because with our new technologies the visual part of a movie makes a greater impact than ever on viewers.

Vaguely related: I found a way to tolerate talent shows like the Voice: turn on the sound only during the performances. Mute it when the clown-judges talk.

[cymbeline]

Steyn is Rush-like in his storehouse of knowledge and interestingness. Steyn is more of an intellectual. His coverage is broader than Rush’s. I enjoy Steyn as much as I do Rush.

[Rockingham]

Rarely does simplicity make for effective movie sets. Indeed, with well-crafted, complicated sets, the eye takes in and the mind processes detail that contributes greatly to the visual sense and impact of a movie.

For example, the dystopian, future noir set design of Blade Runner in 1982 redefined science fiction. Although a box office dud, the film's deeply layered sets gave it enduring influence. Oddly, this was due in large part to a troubled production history that kept the set designers and crews working during long months that production was otherwise delayed.

In contrast, movies with simple, theater style set design tend to do poorly at the box and to suffer in critical reception and influence. When Oscars and other awards and recognition are taken into account, it is the large, complicated, detailed sets that win, not the simple ones.