E128 - Demystifying the art of Production Design with Jacqueline Abrahams

In this episode of The Directors' Take podcast, your hosts Oz Arshad and Marcus Anthony Thomas are joined by Jacqueline Abrahams, a BAFTA and BIFA winning Production Designer who has worked with directors such as Michael Winterbottom, Yann Demange and Yorgos Lanthimos. We used this conversation to tap into their creativity and to dig down into the collaboration that can happen between a Director and Designer to ultimately create the best work. This conversation covers:

 

-What is a Production Designer?

-What was her journey into the industry?

-How do Production Designers inform their process?

-How do Production Designers elevate story and character?

-What is the relationship between the Designer, the DoP and Director?

-What makes a good Director?

-What is the nature of art, creativity and authenticity?

 

Jacqueline Abrahams originally trained in Fine Art, specialising in performance and live art. She worked as a scenic painter for four years before moving into design where she has worked to design feature films, shorts, TV dramas, theatre, performance and live art. She is experienced working with scripts, on improvised pieces and with artists in a less conventional context. 

She has designed productions that have large ambitious studio set builds, completed location-based work and has experience working within very strict budgets too which is always good. She won the BAFTA in 2009 for best production design for TV series Wallander, was nominated for a BAFTA in 2010 and won the RTS Best Production Design award in 2010 also.

Jacqueline’s notable credits include TV series Wallander, Diary of a Call Girl and the original series of Topboy and feature films such as The BIFA winning The Look of Love (2013) from Michael Winterbottom, The Lobster (2015) by Yorgos Lanthimos, as well as Lady Macbeth (2015) by William Oldroyd and His House (2018) by Remi Weekes.

 

Nuggets of the week

 

Oz: Greta Gerwig's Official Barbie Watchlist

Marcus:  BIFA Insider: The Lobster with Jacqueline Abrahams

Kwellin: You can't live life without taking risks.

Capitalist Realism: Is there no alternative? by Mark Fisher (Book)

 

Credits

Music by Oliver Wegmüller

 

Socials

Instagram: @TheDirectorsTakePodcast

Twitter: @DirectorsTake

Kwellin: She doesn't have socials, she just lives life... so should you.

 

If you have any questions relating to the episode or have topics you would like covering in future releases, reach out to us at TheDirectorsTake@Outlook.com.