Art Department Panel Recap

November wrapped up our last panel of the semester, The Art Department Panel. This panel featured 3 well-known, incredibly sweet ladies from the Austin creative community. Check out our recap below and what each panelists had to say.

Top 3 Takeaways
1. BE NICE. BE RESPECTFUL!
2. Even in the creative, artsy department, organization is a requirement.
3. Thrift Town and Thrift Land are two of the best places to find treasures to make your set stand out.

Kari Perkins, a long-time costume designer, began her career by simply knowing how to sew. She jumped into the Austin community theater scene and soon after made her film debut with Dazed and Confused.  To this day, Kari still works with director Richard Linklater on many of his projects.  Her most challenging film experience to date? Working with 20 principle actors and 250 extras; all had 10 costume changes. We know what you're thinking, and yes, our jaw dropped too.  But she championed through with patience and teamwork: five people dressing extras, one person in the trailer, and three people dressing on set. Hats off to you, Kari!

Caroline, an MFA alum of The University of Texas at Austin, got her start in the fine arts world. She graduated from art school with a degree in photography and printmaking.  After attending graduate school at UT, she jumped into the Austin film scene and has since worked on films like Lovers of Hate (nominated for an Independent Spirit Award) and The Bounceback. Oh, and Kari gave a special shout out to Megan Gilbride (featured in our producing panel here) and Bryan Poyser for being such a great team to work with.  Caroline also shared some advice for students looking to gain more film experience: "If you admire someone's work, shoot them an email and ask to intern or work for them so you can see the department."

Yvonne, currently art director for the ABC Family Show The Lying Game, comes from a diverse background of architecture, dance, and set design.  Having worked both on film (Machete, Black Metal) and TV sets, she emphasised the differences between the pre-production process for film and TV.  Working on a TV set, Yvonne usually has 6 days for pre-production (sometimes less - yikes!), as opposed to on a film shoot where she has a longer pre-production period, usually 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the project.  Her advice for someone working in the art department?  “When going over budget, always communicate with the producer.”  We’re pretty sure the ladies from our producing panel would agree with that!

Dazed and Confused

Lovers of Hate

Machete

We want to give a big thanks to everyone who attended the Women In Cinema panels this semester.  We have great things planned for 2013 so keep an eye out. Cheers to the New Year!

Art Department Panel

Are you as excited as we are for the final WIC panel of the fall semester?  The Art Department Panel features three wonderful ladies from the Austin community who have years of experience working in the film industry.

Kari Perkins is an accomplished costume designer who is passionate about high quality design and uses a Zen-like approach for creating believable characters. With a history rich in design for the stage, Kari made her film design debut with Dazed and Confused in 1993 and has continued to work with director Richard Linklater over the years on productions such as Fast Food Nation in 2006, A Scanner Darkly in 2006 and Bernie in 2010.  Kari’s costume design can be seen in the film Mud, directed by Jeff Nichols, which was nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.  She has also been featured on the DIY network, Southern Living, Tribeza, and Rare Magazines as well as a podcast on Spoiler Alert Radio. Visit her website at www.kariperkins.com.

Yvonne Boudreaux is a production designer for film, dance, and theater.  She has served as art director on Machete, The Legend of Hell’s Gate, and Puncture and has production designed Dance with the One and Harmony & Me.  She has also worked as a set designer on Laika’s new stop motion animation Paranorman that premiered in August of this year.  Her dance installation projects in which she preformed as the set designer and producer, Shape of White (2009), Portrait(2007), and Wrapped (2005) were selected for the David Mark Cohen New Works Festival in Austin, Texas.  She has served as a set designer for various theatrical productions in Austin and Fort Worth such as Nocturne, Mart/Sade and The Idiot.

Yvonne received a Masters in Theatrical Design from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelors of Architecture from Louisiana State University.  She has taught design and architecture at University of Louisiana in Lafayette.  She is currently working as art director on ABC Family’s The Lying Game and producing a documentary about her family’s connection with the assassination of Louisiana's Senator Huey P Long.

University of Texas MFA alum Caroline Karlen has worked as a Costume Designer and Production Designer on numerous feature films (GRETCHEN, THE HAPPY POET, LOVERS OF HATE, FOUR PLAY, SATURDAY MORNING MASSACRE, THE BOUNCEBACK) and music videos (Arcade Fire, Herman Dune). She has worked on print and commercial ad campaigns for clients such as General Electric, Comcast, and PGI. In addition, she has served as Associate Producer for THE HAPPY POET and THANK YOU A LOT, and as a Segment Producer for SLACKER (2011 remake).

PANEL DETAILS

Monday, November 5

WIC Meeting 7:30-8 pm

Art Department Panel 8-9:30pm

CMA 3.120, Free Admission

Facebook Event

The Lying Game

Simply put, Yvonne Boudreaux is bad ass lady. Holding an Bachelors in Architecture from Louisiana State University and a Masters in Theatrical Design from The University of Texas, Yvonne was well prepared for her current position as art director for the hit ABC Family show The Lying Game. While she is the first to admit that each day at work presents a new set of challenges, it's very clear that Yvonne has greatly impacted the artistic vision of The Lying Game by providing a strong female voice among the primarily male crew.  Filmed at Austin Studios, Yvonne gave Women In Cinema members an exclusive art department tour and shared some of her best kept secrets. Of course, we won't reveal all of them, you'll have to come to the Women In Cinema Art Department Panel on November 5th to find out all her tips and secrets.

Secret #1 - Always give the DP space and options when creating sets - no one likes using the same camera angles over and over.

Secret #2 - Its expensive and difficult to create your own hospital scene. If you can, try to film at a real hospital. The set decoration and hospital equipment can get expensive very quickly.

Secret #3 - Simple, frosted windows/doors are a big no. It's obvious that you are trying to cover up whatever is behind the door. Yvonne's advice: Be more creative! Use ridged glass for windows or a blurred glass that has a pattern on it, then tie that pattern to the interior of the room.

House Interior, The Lying Game

Yvonne explaining how certain windows can move to avoid seeing a camera reflection.

Can you tell where this hallway ends?  Looks can be deceiving!

Group photo FTW

Thank you so much to Yvonne for giving us a fabulous tour of The Lying Game art department & and for all the words of wisdom.  If you missed out on this field trip, don't worry, Yvonne is one our panelists for November's Art Department Panel!  More details to follow in the next few days.

Mark Your Calendars: Upcoming Meetings

This week (4/7):

This Thursday is screening/workshop night. We will be showing two short films and reading two short scripts. These meetings are about sharing and giving caring feedback to fellow filmmakers in our warm, friendly atmosphere. It’s got good energy, people. (And might I add, it’s free entertainment…) Take a break from your studying and come celebrate the fact that, come Thursday, there are only four weeks and one day of classes left.

Not next week, but NEXT next week (4/21):

It’s our Art Department/Production Design meeting with special guests Jeanette Scott and Amy Maner. We’re lucky to have these gals! If you haven’t been to one of our meetings featuring guest speakers, you’re missing out, kids. They’ve got stories that you won’t find in textbooks and invaluable first-person advice. (We will also be celebrating the fact that there are only TWO weeks and one day of classes left.)

Jeanette Scott is pretty much the go-to Set Decorator on the big films that come to town “and then some,” as Kat Candler says. Her resume includes “Cedar Rapids,” “Grindhouse,” “Sin City” (also served as Art Director), “Man of the House,” “Spy Kids,” “Double Jeopardy,” “Selena” and most recently, “The Tree of Life,” starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Scott, a UT psychology grad, has been decorating sets for about 30 years.

Amy Maner wears many hats: actress, writer, director, producer and costumer. She has served as Costume Supervisor on notable feature films such as “8 Seconds,” “Miss Congeniality,” “Stop Loss,” “Push,” “Spy Kids,” “Shorts,” “The Ringer,” and “Fireflies in the Garden.” “Her Lubbock Lights,” Maner’s documentary on her hometown’s rich music heritage, premiered at SXSW in 2003 and has played festivals all over the world, collecting accolades along the way. Currently, Maner is in pre-production as Associate Producer on “The Broken,” slated for release in 2012.

Also, at this meeting we will be discussing more details concerning our Summer Production Camp. Mark your calendars; it’s going to be a good one!