Production Designer Patti Podesta discusses the significance of details in film and how they contribute to a “reality” as it is portrayed on screen. For Patti, the use of color is never a benign act. Patti recalls that she has often avoided utilizing yellow in her design, but for the series “Hannibal” she introduced it as a means of isolating an object to immediately draw the viewer's attention. Patti’s attention to realism in the film “Recount” meant that every document and piece of paper in the film was pulled from actual historic sources. This greatly influenced how actors behaved and interacted within the scenes.

Ms. Podesta designed an exhibition dedicated to the work of Stanley Kubrick for LACMA in Los Angeles (on view from 2012-2013), overseeing all aspects of the exhibition. With a fine-tooth combing of every Kubrick interview, Patti found herself associating with the director's thought processes. For LACMA's Kubrick retrospective, she created conceptual arrays of the director's films that would also help the viewers enter Kubrick's way of thinking. This included the intentional introduction of minimalist art into the exhibition. Although the institution had reservations, Patti responded that “movie people” would not confuse art with props.  

Patti Podesta's career marks an intersection of art and film. Her spare,
moody design for the original and critically acclaimed film “Memento” directed by Chris Nolan launched her Production Design career. Recent projects include “Defending Jacob”; “American Gods” and the series “Hannibal”. Features include “Bobby”; “Love and Other Drugs”; Gregg Araki's “Nowhere”; and, for television, the pilots for “Homeland”; “Elementary” and the tv movies “Recount” and “Cinema Verite”. Ms. Podesta has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy and the Art Director's Guild Award numerous times for her work. As an artist, she is recognized for early performance videos and experimental-narrative films, that have been exhibited in the U.S. and Europe and acknowledged with numerous awards. She maintains her participation in the art world as a member of the Graduate Art Faculty at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. She has also been a guest mentor for SCI-Arc's Fiction and Entertainment Program 2018-2020.

Crew Credits:

Production:
Creator and Executive Producer - Hernán Díaz Alonso
Producers - Marcelyn Gow/Reza Monahan
Segment Producer/Interviewer - Liam Young
Director - Reza Monahan
Director of Photography - Sean Morris
B Camera - Robert Moreno
C-Camera - Dan Tundis
Sound Engineer - George Wymenga

Post-Production:
Story Producer - Ben Neufeld
Editors - Ben Neufeld/Reza Monahan

Soundtrack:
"Potential 4" by David Edward Holden
"Feel Better" by Paul Ressel and Christopher Baron

Additional Photos and Video Courtesy of Patti Podesta

©2020 SCI-Arc Channel