David Gropman - Production Designer

Team Deakins

James Ellis Deakins

Tv & Film, Filmlighting, Deakins, Movies, Filmmaking, Production, Film, Cinematography, Film Interviews

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2021

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

EPISODE 126 - DAVID GROPMAN - Production Designer

Team Deakins speaks with production designer, David Gropman (FENCES, LIFE OF PI, THE SHIPPING NEWS). He tells us why he loves shooting on location vs sets, his reaction to specific colors, his relationship to the producer, and the challenge of working within the budget. He talks about his experiences with directors Lasse Hallström, James Ivory, and Ang Lee. Since he worked with Ang Lee on the movies Taking Woodstock and Life of Pi (two very different movies!), he talks about his approaches to the films and talks about designing for a 3D project. And we learn some specifics about the shooting of Life of Pi, such as the tank work and working as a production designer with the VFX team! We also touch on the differences between working on big budgets vs smaller budgets as well as the differences between working on long-form TV vs feature films.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi and welcome to the Team Deakin's podcast. This podcast is a dialogue between Roger and
0:10.0	James Deakin's often joined in the conversation by a guest. It's very informal and we never
0:16.5	know where it will go. We're connecting through Zoom so bear that in mind when you hear
0:21.6	the audio.
0:23.7	If you'd like to submit a question or topic, please do so by emailing podpod at rogerdeakin's.com.
0:31.9	Today we're speaking with a production designer. His credit list includes waiting to exhale,
0:41.3	the shipping news, August Osage County, doubt and life of pie. We're pleased to welcome David
0:48.6	Grootman with us today. David, thank you for doing this. It's my pleasure. You know.
0:55.4	We'd like to start with a question. How did you get to where you are today? What was your path?
1:00.7	Did you travel a different path first or was this something that interests you from a child?
1:06.4	What's your story? Well, it started from childhood. I think, you know, literally as far back
1:18.5	as I can remember, I always thought I wanted to be an actor. Oh, really? Yes. Literally from
1:26.1	childhood, from like school plays to Sunday school plays and and into middle school where I got
1:36.6	into the stage crew, but also acted into high school where I got seriously into acting. But at the
1:45.0	same time, I always had an interest in art as well. And it mostly sort of classics. And so I was
1:56.3	always taking art classes and taking theater classes and acting in the school plays and designing
2:04.2	the school plays and designing the school plays programs. But when it was time to go to college,
2:11.2	I thought that acting was probably not a career for me to pursue. Although I loved it and enjoyed it
2:20.0	and did really well in it. And I thought that I was going to go for commercial art, which is
2:27.4	something I loved as well. And so I went to San Francisco State College as an art major. And
2:38.2	a friend of mine from high school who had been there a year ahead of me was at San Francisco State
2:45.9	also. And he was an actor and he said, hey, you know, they have this really great theater department.
	...

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