Roles in the industry - Set designer

A set designer is, in basic, an architect who draws out and helps to create each structure or space that is required for a project, a set designer is also sometimes know as a production designer.
 Work begins in the basic stages of the planning for the project and a set designer must work with the director to understand what environment the director has envisioned for each scene. They must then communicate their ideas to props, make up and costume design so that everything is in keeping with the whole feeling of the scene.
 A set designer also has the task of working out where lighting structures are able to be placed, they must allow room in their designs to accommodate the amount of equipment that the crew will have to bring into the space. Another obstacle that a designer will face is the budget and although the money given for sets is usually quite high, the materials that may need to be purchased are quite costly and the designer must work out how much money they will spend on each scene. They can then work out if any parts of one set can be used in multiple scenes to cut costs.

Example of a scale model.

 The set designer must then start to plan exactly what the sets will look like by drawing out a storyboard, scene by scene they draw the background in great detail, and then work with props to add in any items that will be included in the design. The designer then shows these carefully drawn pictures to the director for any changes to be made. Once the director and producers have given their input and the drawings are complete, the designer must then start to build and photograph scale models to work out the dimensions of a set.
 The set designers final job is to oversee the building and decoration of every set that is needed, they will also assist in any changes that are required on the day of filming.