| AOH: How did you get your first gig? PM: I got my first gig while
I was teaching at a trade college for film and video. There was a movie
in town and their set decorator approached us looking for interns.
She called one night, looking for two people who could work the next
day. I asked her what time they would start, and she said "7 in the
morning."
I said, "Carrie, you do realize its 9 o'clock at night, right?"
"Yeah, I know its late notice but we are kinda strapped."
"Ok." I said. "I'll see if I can find anyone."
Since most of the people taking the night classes usually work during
the day, the chances were slim, but I asked in all the video classes,
and I even asked the radio folks. I found one guy who was interested and
available, so I called Carrie back and told her I could only find one
person. Since tomorrow was my day off, I told her I'd fill in until we
could find someone else.
When we got to the set the next day, the first thing they had us do
was pull a stop sign out of the ground because "It's in the way of the
camera." I was pretty much awed by the notion of re-ordering the world
to fit the camera and I've been hooked ever since.
AOH: Of all the props you have created, which was your favorite?
PM: There are two, but since the definition of a prop is anything the
actor holds or carries, it would have to be a knife. It was designed to
look like it was being forged in a fire, so it had to glow orange at the
tip. It was made from clear and black plastic and had clear LED's
embedded in it. Since the knife was supposed to look like it was still
unfinished, there wasn't much room to put the batteries. It took a week
to prototype, build, and paint, and it was never actually used because
the actor decided he could hold a red-hot piece of steel after all. The
other was a piece of set dressing that was a kind of freestanding vacuum
driven mail chute, like those things at the banks drive-up window.
AOH: What was the most challenging prop or set you designed?
PM: Oh, that's a tough one. There are so many definitions of the word
"challenge" in this industry. :)
The first one that comes to mind was a
kind of cryogenics/accelerated growth chamber for a sci-fi movie. There
wasn't much of a budget, and we were on location in a really old, really
cold warehouse. Half the time I couldn't feel my fingertips. The hero
shot of this particular set was supposed to be a window "with a kind of
green glow" to see the actor inside. I had this neat idea to layer two
sheets of glass with a slight gap between, fill the gap with the liquid
from a light stick, then when it was ready to shoot inject the activator
into it to make it glow. But the lights were too bright to see anything
but a pale yellow-green liquid which didn't look right, so my crew and I
emptied and refilled it with anti-freeze using syringes while the camera
was getting put into place.
AOH: What was the most interesting deal you made with a sponsor for a
movie?
PM: Hmm... It would have to be a casket. In the funeral scene, it was
supposed to be surrounded with flowers which was fine. But later on we
were supposed to see it being lowered into the ground. Since the casket
was brand new, we had to wrap it in clear vinyl to protect it from
damage when the actors tossed dirt on it. For me, what was so
interesting was taking out all the internal works so the actress could
lay inside. Caskets really aren't designed for comfort, after all.
AOH: What was the most interesting set you designed (movie or
otherwise)?
PM: Ah, there were two, each interesting for different reasons. The
first was an interior living room for a movie. Pretty generic except for
all the squibs (bullet hits) scattered all over the place. The trick was
to arrange things so that when things were shot, the debris would make a
bigger mess as it fell. A vase falling and landing on a glass side
table, bookshelves that crash into the fireplace, and so on.
The other was a stage designed for a "coronation". Rather than the
clichéd, over the top gloss and glitter, I made columns of fabric
accented with small spotlights, and I used the Courts logo; a crystal
ball held in the palms of two hands. I cut a hole in the wall to mount a
large, carved version of the logo, then backed it with a translucent
sheet. That served as the screen for a video projector which ran a loop
of the King and Queens past events.
The end result was striking enough that I still get compliments
to this day.
AOH: Have you ever been asked to create something you thought was a
mistake? If so, did they use it, anyway?
PM: Well, not exactly, and it wasn't a set I designed. My crew and I
dressed a set once on location in someone's home. Both the director, and
the director of photography insisted the camera would never see the
"third" wall, so it was never repainted for the scene. On the day of
shooting, the designer quite literally nagged the director into agreeing
that the wall should be painted after all. The only problem with that
was that the painters were working at another location, and the camera
truck had already arrived. So my crew and I had to paint the wall amidst
lights, set dressing, and a rather nervous homeowner which the camera
crew set up on the other side of the room. And of course we never saw
the third wall anyways.
AOH: What's the most frustrating part of your job?
PM: Dealing with silliness as in the above question. To say more than
that would be an entire book in itself. :)
AOH: Where did you learn your art skills?
PM: I am entirely self taught. I've always had a natural eye for
balance and composition, but I've also learned a great deal from all of
the designers I've worked under all those years.
AOH: What was your favorite production?
PM: Hmm.. It would have to be the Sci-FI Channel's very first "made
for cable" production. I wasn't designing back then, but my crew and I
worked heavily with the construction department. It was full of
computers, lights, mechanical arms, remote control sensors, (all things
I adore anyways) and it was my first on-stage set. I was green enough to
still be thrilled by all the newness, but established enough with the
production crew to be treated as a part of the production. This is a
very clique-ish industry, and sometimes it takes a while to be accepted
into it.
The movie itself wasn't so great unfortunately, but I had a lot of
just pure fun doing it. The movie also contains my very first on-screen
computer animation so it holds a rather special place in my memory.
AOH: Thank you Patric. Interview by Lois Wickstrom.
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