Loki FinalLoki SixthLoki FigureFigure FuryScale FigureMarvel LokiAvengers LokiJoker LokiFuture LokiForwardHot Toys and Bloggers are proud to present us with some amazing photos of the Hot Toys Avengers Loki Final Product. This movie accurate scale figurePosted by Sasha on Wednesday, September 11th, 2013 Andy Walmsley is the youngest designer to ever work on Broadway and the set designer for countless well-known competition shows, including Who Wants to be a Millionaire and American Idol. With such an interesting resume of experiences, we were eager to hear how Andy got his start and what the life of a successful production designer is like: What was the moment when you knew you were going to be a set designer? I had always been obsessed with TV as a kid and the behind-the-scenes aspect of it. Once I was in a Woolworths department store with my mum and I saw a Lego set that was basically an outside broadcast truck with a cameraman and a little Lego TV camera. I begged my mum to buy it and little did she know that moment would change my life.
I took home my little plastic TV crew and started building sets out of Lego: sitcom sets, talent show sets, award show sets; as time went on, my Lego sets became more elaborate. One day, a family friend who happens to be the British magician Paul Daniels (the UK’s answer to David Copperfield) came to the house for a visit and saw my Lego brick creations and explained to me that there are people called ‘Set Designers’ who actually do this for a living. I owe a lot to Lego! What have been the most personally meaningful highlights of your career? It’s funny because really the biggest moment of my career was my first ever theater design job when I was 20. I sat there on the opening night in the audience, watching the show in tears. Despite all the huge things I have done since, nothing has compared to the feeling of pride I experienced that evening. Using a past project as an example, can you explain how a set is created from concept to completion (including the big steps, side steps, crazy, unpleasant and unexpected steps)?
I have become so insanely fast at this now (thanks to computer software) that the process is a blur. Taking just the other week as an example: On Thursday evening, I get a call asking if I will design a Cirque Du Soleil Museum in Vegas, which is a pretty big museum on 2 floors, is a huge amount of work, and they want the designs by Tuesday morning. I accept, clear my diary and start four long 20 hours of designing. On Friday afternoon I get a call asking me to do a Mexican TV chat show. I accept and on Saturday I break away from the museum to design the chat show, it takes just 5 hours and I return to the museum. Monday morning I get a call asking me to go to Planet Hollywood in Vegas to meet the rock star Meat Loaf about designing his new Vegas show. I drop the Cirque museum, drive to Planet Hollywood and sit with Meat Loaf for over two hours, returning home and designing his show that evening. Tuesday morning, I email the designs for the Cirque Museum and the Mexican chat show and I take my designs back over to Meat Loaf to show him.
He approves and construction starts 3 days later. I will admit this is not a typical week and it nearly killed me but the point is that I am often working on half a dozen or more projects and the actual design process is a blur because it kind of just happens. I don’t want to compare myself to a composer, but you know when someone like Billy Joel is interviewed and he says that the song just spilled out and it was written in 5 minutes – that’s kind of how I design. I always start with the program SKETCHUP, open a blank page and it really just sort of happens before my eyes usually while I have the TV on in the background and sometimes I wonder how the hell I did it. It’s not a gift and it’s not a talent (I don’t believe in talent) it is simply a skill that has taken over 25 years of experience to learn. How is working in the U.S. different from working in the UK? Working in the U.S. is much much more serious. I do miss the fun aspect of working in entertainment in the UK – we don’t take it seriously at all, it’s about having a laugh, making fun of your colleagues going to the pub for lunch.
When I first moved to the states and worked in TV it shocked me how intense and serious it is with everyone fearful of losing their jobs. The Union system adds to the cold atmosphere also. If you work in entertainment in the UK, it’s because you don’t fit into normal society you don’t want to work in a bank or an office. In the States it’s generally a sterile atmosphere. Of course there are some exceptions, but rarely. What is life really like as a production designer?For me the best is getting a job let’s say in March and starting with a totally blank page, then in May I am walking around something that came out of my head. It’s a complete power trip and a major ego stroke to be in a working environment where everyone is inhabiting a space that you totally dreamt up; it’s a feeling of being god-like (it’s no wonder I am a control freak). What is the production designer’s “tool box”? Which “tools” are your personal favorites? This is an easy question.
#1 hands down is SKETCHUP. That program single-handedly changed my entire life. I used to make a lot of real-scale card models, which took weeks and were very expensive. I often needed 2 or 3 assistants and the glue / paint fumes would constantly make me sick. Now I can design a huge-scale show by myself on a laptop in Starbucks, an airport or a hotel room in a few hours. #2 would be Vectorworks. I am very good with SKETCHUP but with Vectorworks I just get by. #3 of course is Photoshop. Really that’s about everything I use. I should also credit Google Images – I used to spend a fortune on books for reference but now my best friend is Google Images. What appealed to you about TV set design? I actually much prefer theater. My annual workload is probably 60% TV, 30% theater and 10% other stuff. I would prefer it be 20% TV and 80% theater. The ideal projects for me are TV shows that are done in theaters. A couple weeks ago I did an Earth Wind and Fire TV special from the Phantom of the Opera Theater in Vegas and later this month I am doing a big Award show from the Kodak Theater in LA.
I love the combination of theater and TV. My absolute love though is musical theater. I am never happier than when I am designing a musical. What are the differences between designing for theater and television? Artistically, if I am doing TV it is likely a slick, glossy set with lots of shiny surfaces, light boxes, neon, brushed metals and a ridiculous amount of LED screens (which I hate). If I am working on a theater show, its set is generally made up of doors, windows, brick and realism (unless it’s a Vegas show, which usually has an over-the-top glossy feel). I am currently doing Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors (brick and realism) and I’m doing a TV game show re-hash of Truth or Consequences (gloss gloss gloss). I am also doing three cruise ship shows. All of these have totally different artistic approaches, but in terms of technical and logistical differences, it’s really all very similar. One major difference is that in theater, the designer is given enormous respect and almost as much importance as the writer or director.
In TV, you are just another ‘below the line’ crew member. What would your ultimate “dream project” be (or have you already done it)? TV-wise, I would kill to do the Oscars one day. But my real dream is to do a HUGE scale Vegas spectacular, which funnily enough I may be about to land. It’s still early in what will be a three-year project, but it is looking good that I will land the job in the next 2 months. I’d also like to do more Broadway…nothing gets me more excited than watching a good Broadway show. I recently saw Matilda in New York and it’s hands down one of the best shows I have ever seen…wish I had done that one. What do you hope for the future of the entertainment design industry, and for your own career? I hope producers will lose their obsession with video in sets. I have watched the art of set design gradually fade away. In TV, mostly what I do now is design a nice floor then position video screens around it and call it a set. The video obsession has without question destroyed the art of TV set design.
Sadly, video is also creeping into theater. There are several Broadway shows using a lot of video at the expense of having real scenery. And no, it’s not cheaper; it’s actually far more expensive to have weekly LED screen rentals and the engineers to operate and maintain them, not to mention the content creation. It’s a whole ‘keeping up with the Jones’s’ mentality where producers feel they need to be cool and 21st century by cluttering a set with overwhelming performance-distracting video imagery. As for me personally, I like to think I have a few big-scale projects left in me, but essentially I am now slowly making the transformation into producing Vegas shows. I have already done a few and am making headway into that world. I think I have some more years of set design in me yet but if all goes to plan, I will be producing mid-scale Vegas shows as my second career. « Previous Story: 9 Schools Offering Innovative Entertainment Design Programs Next Story: Defunct Wizard of Oz Theme Park Enjoys Annual Fall Renaissance »