Backdrop(s): Worlds Made Of Plaster And Polystyrene

Big fangs, green scales, suddenly the animal opens its eyes ... Help! Fortunately, the dinosaur is only made of sheet metal and polystyrene - and is part of the backdrop in the film studio. Set designers create something tangible from script ideas and make artificial things look deceptively real: Good backdrops set the scene for films, musicals and commercials .

What is a backdrop?

Originally, scenery (French: coulisse) meant sliding panels for sliding walls. Historic stage sets worked with wooden frames covered with ornately designed fabrics. After the transition to and rise in popularity of moving pictures (movies) the word came to mean the painted background of a scene - such as a landscape, architecture or interior. For outdoor filming, a real mountain panorama can also become the backdrop. However, filming usually takes place in film studios , undisturbed by curious onlookers, environmental noise, wind and weather. Therefore, backdrops are created to give the impression that the film was made outside, in another country or even on another planet. However, set is not the same as film set . A set is the whole, the entire visual design of a scene, with all the props , backdrops and technology of the film motif being shot. In 90 minutes of TV feature film, there may well be 50 different film motifs.

What does a creative set look like?

Once the set design has been finalised, cinematic reality takes shape out of wood, plaster and polystyrene. Large-scale sculptures are created in set construction: Historical buildings, mysterious fairytale fountains, mountain caves, metre-high rock faces and an entire Monument Valley are built in front of the camera, planned down to the last detail. Only a second glance reveals that behind the massive visuals are feather-light set objects and a series of invisible cables for the technology. Later on the screen, nobody will notice the fake. And to ensure that the design of directors and production designers is also convincing in terms of function, set builders reproduce reality as sturdily as necessary using wood, plaster and paint. The actors should ride the dinosaur? Then the mythical creature is simply covered in synthetic resin: the dinosaur survives the shoot without a scratch.

What roll do extras play? They fill sets with life!

The sets of productions like The Lord of the Rings are often teeming with hundreds of actors at the same time. Nevertheless, you don't have to take a plane to Hollywood for a look behind the scenes . Germany offers actors and extras many opportunities to be part of interesting film productions in production strongholds such as Berlin, Munich, Cologne and Hamburg. Whether it's a crime scene or a Netflix series, fill the scenes with life and make them believable. During the production phase on the film set, extras, actors, directors, cameramen and production managers move from motif to motif, location to location, set to set.

Set builders: Many minds, many hands, lots of attention to detail

Set designers are not painters, but artists - from the art department of the Babelsberg film studios to Los Angeles - without creativity there are no emotions - because conveying these is the real challenge when building a good set. Set designers set to work with a correspondingly pronounced love of detail, classically with chalk, pigment and charcoal, even in times of digitalisation and 3D technology. Many creative hands and trades such as carpenters, welders, plasterers, stage painters and stage sculptors are involved in conjuring up a backdrop. Set builders create illusions for musicals, film and television productions, comedy shows, children's programmes and advertising films. Reaching into the materials box of tricks is part of everyday life: after all, everything has to look real! From Greek columns and rococo furniture to the ornate garden fence for the autumn festival of folk music. It's actually made of plastic, but shines like real copper after a coat of metallic paint. In order to quickly process a wide variety of materials into a backdrop, a whole range of machinery with CNC milling machines, saws and glueing machines is also available.

Bring on the backdrop

The days of lavish multi-million budgets are mostly history. Which is why the demands on the speed of completion are also increasing in set construction: Ideally the set should have been ready yesterday - and cost as little as possible. A major order comes in? Working as a set builder is often a back-breaking job and rarely finished in eight hours. Because a lot of things that are already finished often have to be changed and rebuilt at short notice - in the blink of an eye. According to the script, the lovingly designed backdrop is to be blown up into nirvana? Keeping a cool head is important. The construction of each backdrop is planned in advance with the utmost precision. A Christmas set in the town villa is needed? Set construction starts in the summer. As the remodelling of the film location draws closer, the residents are moved out. Once the film has been shot, the set builders return each house to its original state - and dispose of everything professionally. Or the team ensures that the set is packed up in a well protected in a CNC-customised case after production - until the next use.

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