S1 E1 | Anna Rhodes
Anna Rhodes is a Production Designer and Art Director for Film, Commercial, Music Video, Events and Stills. She is based in London, but has worked globally, including Mexico, Chile, Tokyo, Seoul and Europe. Her long list of clients include Steve McQueen, Kanye West, One Direction, Kylie Minogue, Virgin, Absolut, Nike and Net-A-Porter.
Anna and Production Design Digest host, Kelly Sinclair Smith, discuss her career journey, designing shoots abroad, building successful director relationships, developing colour palettes and how her background in graphic design helped shape her into the production designer that she is today.
In this episode with Anna Rhodes we cover:
What lead Anna to pursue a career in Production Design
What her degree in Graphic Design taught her about developing colour palettes and how it influences her approach to designing
Anna’s creative process - how she preps a job from start to finish
How to create stand-out mood boards, and the importance of using carefully considered references to develop initial set designs
Her go-to sources for inspiration
What it is like to design a music video for Kanye West, directed by the iconic film director, Steve McQueen
Her passion for designing music videos and what it is about doing them that she enjoys most
Anna’s research that went into designing and building (not one, but two!) entire New York street sets that take us back to 1985. We go into detail about all the different artists that Absolut have used for their advertising campaigns, and how she had to show the passing of time by re-decorating the streets to represent every decade from 1985 to current day
We examine the importance of developing a mutual level of trust with directors
She discusses her “series of micro-failures”, what she learnt from them, and how ultimately it made her a better designer
And much more!
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Show Links
Toys (1992) IMDB | Production Design by Ferdinando Scarfiotti
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Anna Rhodes is represented by Wizzo & Co
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Kelly Sinclair Smith is represented by Vision Artists
Original Score by Joe Davies
Toys (1992)
Written & Curated by Anna Rhodes
Directed by Barry Levinson
Production Design by Ferdinando Scarfiotti
Toys is an extraordinary feast for the eyes, set in the surreal, imaginary world of a huge Toy corporation ‘Zevo Toys’. This world consists of an endless wheat field, surrounded by a never-ending backdrop of blue sky with clouds. From this wheat field there is magic to be found - a house unfolding from a giant box, a bedroom with a bed in the form of a giant egg basket set within a room painted to look like the sky and wheat field beyond, and indoor rolling hills with a mechanical duck crossing to name but a few of the barmy scenes and sets. “We’re existing in our own time and place,” says Levinson. “We were in an alternate reality. So, therefore, we could do and be as crazy as we wanted.”
Robin Williams and Joan Cusack play Leslie and Alsatia, the son and daughter of the kindly and gentle company founder Kenneth Zevo (Donald O’Connor). They live an innocent, childlike and idyllic existence despite being adults. Leslie spends his days inventing eccentric, novelty toys (fake vomit and big ears) while Alsatia road tests them - essentially they play all day and are encouraged to see the fun in everything. When Kenneth is dying he realises he can not bequeath the company to his own children, who do not have the full capacity to run a corporation according to his advisors. Instead he leaves the company to his stern Army General brother (Michael Gambon) and his son (LL Cool J). As soon as Kenneth Zevo dies the General immediately turns Zevo Toys into an oppressive fascist regime, and stops all production of the innocent and fun toys they are known for in favour of new war toys. The workers are now forced to manufacture violent interactive video games with drone strikes, killing, war and profit at the heart. Leslie and his sister now need to grow up fast and save Zevo Toys.
Throughout the film the production design shows us scene after scene, why the world of Zevo, the world that Scarfiotti created, needs to be preserved and saved. With clear referencing from the surrealists like René Magriitte and the Italian futurists such as Fortunato Depero, Scarfiotti uses geometry, optical illusion and sheer brilliance to create a unique world that is beyond imagination and takes viewers to a totally new place.
Toys was not a box office success, and at the time was universally panned by the critics, but with Scarfiotti’s enchanting design and the unique ideas explored in the script about the loss of innocence and the evils of marketing targeted at children, the film stands up - and 28 years on it seems chillingly poignant. Aside from the themes, any fan of production design can appreciate the feats of imagination and skill it took to make this film. Williams himself described the film as “Fellini meets Fisher Price” and “David Lynch Babes in Toyland” so seeing really is believing.
“A black comedy in primary colours” - Levinson