{"id":6873,"date":"2020-01-23T17:12:58","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T22:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/?p=6873"},"modified":"2021-04-21T10:49:44","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T14:49:44","slug":"2020-oscars-best-production-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/originals\/2020-oscars-best-production-design\/","title":{"rendered":"A Creative&#8217;s Guide to the 2020 Oscars: Best Production Design"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\">4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>\n<p>Sure, you enjoyed the movie. But did you pay attention to that house in the background? Did you notice the artwork on its walls? What about the design of the shops on that street? Did you really see how the movie <em>looked<\/em>?&nbsp;Most people don\u2019t, but a visually creative person will. That type of design takes months, sometimes years, of painstaking work. And those who do it are honored with Oscars for Best Production Design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week, we took a look at the nominees for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/originals\/2020-oscars-academy-awards-cinematography\/\">Best Cinematography<\/a>. Up next: the 2020 Oscar nominees for Best Production Design. Here are this year\u2019s honored art directors and set decorators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Best Production Design<br><\/span>2019 Winner: <em>Black Panther<\/em> (Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart)<\/strong><br><strong>2020 Nominees:<\/strong><br>&#8211; <em>The Irishman<\/em><br><em>&#8211; Jojo Rabbit<\/em><br><em>&#8211; 1917<\/em><br>&#8211; <em>Once Upon a Time in Hollywood<\/em><br><em>&#8211; Parasite<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><em>The Irishman<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"The Irishman | Official Trailer | Netflix\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WHXxVmeGQUc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Bob Shaw (Production Design); Regina Graves (Set Decoration)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Set primarily in Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago across multiple decades in the 20th century, <em>The Irishman <\/em>tells the story of mob hitman Frank Sheeran and his relationships with the Bufalino crime family and Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Production designer Bob Shaw and set decorator Regina Graves were tasked by director Martin Scorsese with recreating a number of real-life locations, because filming didn\u2019t actually occur at most of the locations where the movie is set. In fact, a number of locations for the film are notable historical sites, still in operation, or both, so there was increased pressure on Shaw and Graves to get the sets right. Some of these sites include South Philly Italian joint Villa di Roma, which is still popular, and New York\u2019s Umberto\u2019s Clam House, which closed its original location in the \u201990s but reopened down the street four years later.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This art direction duo has collaborated a number of times before. In fact, they share an upcoming project\u2014<em>The Many Saints of Newark<\/em>, the <em>Sopranos <\/em>spin-off due in theaters later this year. Although both Shaw and Graves have each won Primetime Emmys (independent of each other), this is the first Academy Award nomination for each designer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><em>Jojo Rabbit<\/em>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"JOJO RABBIT | Official Trailer [HD] | FOX Searchlight\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tL4McUzXfFI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Ra Vincent (Production Design); Nora Sopkov\u00e1 (Set Decoration)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Replicating war-torn Nazi Germany is no easy feat, but it was the one charged to Ra Vincent and Nora Sopkov\u00e1 in <em>Jojo Rabbit<\/em>. The satirical story follows a blindly-nationalist Hitler Youth (and his imaginary friend, a cartoonish and buffoonish Adolf Hitler) who discovers that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in the attic of their home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vincent, Sopkov\u00e1, and director Taika Waititi made a point to decorate the world in a brighter, more optimistic fashion than most other war movies. \u201cThe world wasn\u2019t just a black-and-white, dusty, old place,\u201d Vincent <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2019\/12\/jojo-rabbit-production-designer-ra-vincent-taika-waititi-interview-news-1202807207\/\">said in a recent interview<\/a>. \u201cIt was actually a really strong time to be involved in the arts and culture in Germany. The German aesthetic, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/originals\/bauhaus-movement-artists-building\/\">Bauhaus movement<\/a>, was at its sort of zenith, in terms of self-expression and arts and culture, so we really wanted to look after that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jojo Rabbit <\/em>is Vincent\u2019s first nomination as a production designer\u2014he was previously nominated in this category for his work as a set decorator on <em>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey<\/em>. This marks Sopkov\u00e1\u2019s first Academy Award nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><em>1917<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"1917 - Official Trailer [HD]\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gZjQROMAh_s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Dennis Gassner (Production Design); Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>1917 <\/em>transports the viewer back to, well, 1917\u2014three years into the devastating war that ravaged Europe. Filming took place in England and Scotland; in redesigning those open fields, Dennis Gassner and Lee Sandales dropped the audience directly into England\u2019s trenches in World War I. There\u2019s tremendous attention to detail in recreating scenes of battle, but also to the most gory elements of war\u2014for example, the decomposing bodies strewn about No Man\u2019s Land, the unoccupied area between opposing trenches.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ypvd2LJCJHg\">This behind-the-scenes featurette<\/a> is a powerful, in-depth look at the work that went into building the sets\u2014Gassner and Sandales oversaw the digging a mile of trenches and the construction of a replica of a bombed French village. <em>1917<\/em> marks Gassner\u2019s seventh Oscar nomination, but he\u2019s seeking his first win since 1991\u2019s <em>Bugsy<\/em>. Sandales, meanwhile, has been nominated once before, for <em>War Horse <\/em>in 2012.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><em>Once Upon a Time in Hollywood<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD - Official Trailer (HD)\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ELeMaP8EPAA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Barbara Ling (Production Design); Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quentin Tarantino\u2019s passion project, an ode to free-love-era Hollywood, serves as a counterbalance to <em>The Irishman<\/em>\u2019s northeast-centric story. Production designer Barbara Ling created several replicas of iconic L.A. restaurants, like Casa Vega, El Coyote, and Musso &amp; Frank Grill, circa 1969. But she didn\u2019t just have to recreate them\u2014she had to create them <em>perfectly<\/em>, because these restaurants are some of Tarantino\u2019s favorite haunts. Since Ling was a teenager in \u201960s Los Angeles, her memories were key for reconstructing that world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe both knew the city,\u201d Ling <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/video\/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-production-designer-barbara-ling-quentin-tarantino-production-value-news\/\">said<\/a>. \u201cThe visuals of what we could find now, and visuals of what we should be trying to grab memories [of].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While this is Ling\u2019s first Oscar nom, set decorator Nancy Haigh has been nominated for eight.&nbsp; She has one win: 1991\u2019s <em>Bugsy<\/em>, which she shared with <em>1917<\/em>\u2019s Gassner. In fact, Gassner and Haigh have been nominated together in this category three times, most recently for <em>Road to Perdition<\/em> in 2002.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><em>Parasite<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Parasite \uae30\uc0dd\ucda9 - Official Trailer\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SEUXfv87Wpk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Lee Ha Jun (Production Design); Cho Won Woo (Set Decoration)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bong Joon Ho\u2019s <em>Parasite<\/em> finds the lower-class Kim family slowly but systematically infiltrating&nbsp; the employ of the affluent Park family, with unforeseen and dangerous consequences. The film is one of the favorites for Best Picture\u2014if it wins, it would mark the first foreign-language film to earn the Academy\u2019s highest honor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Period production design dominates this category, but <em>Parasite<\/em> stands alone as the sole movie set in modern times. And more than any of the other nominated films, the homes in <em>Parasite<\/em> are the stars of the story. Most of the film centers around action within the Park family\u2019s sleek, modern, minimalistic mansion, or the Kim family\u2019s cramped basement dwelling beneath a busy, noisy street. The Park home, supposedly designed by fictional architect Namgoong Hyeonj, is not actually a real home\u2014it\u2019s a set designed by Lee Ha Jun. The same goes for the Kims\u2019 humble residence. Both \u201chouses\u201d were constructed for the film on outdoor lots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Parasite<\/em> marks Lee\u2019s third collaboration and Cho\u2019s second collaboration with director Bong. The film is the first time any of the three have been nominated for an Academy Award. If it was up to us, they\u2019d earn their first Oscar victories for <em>Parasite<\/em>, too.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"myclass\">Since Ceros is a visual company, we care most about the visual awards. Here&#8217;s our take on the 2020 Oscar nominees for Best Production Design.<\/div>\n<p><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":6892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>2020 Oscar Nominees: Best Production Design - Ceros Inspire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Since Ceros is a visual company, we care most about the visual awards. 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