Hero Complex continues their series of articles from behind the scenes of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey were they interview more then just the cast but the crew of the movie that are critical part in creating Middle-Earth. The latest is a conversation with Production Designer Dan Hennah who has been designing for the film for the last three years and was the art director for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and won an Academy Award for Return of the King. Segments below, full interview here.

HC: Can you start by explaining what your job entails? Production design must have been so important for a film like this one.
DH: A production designer takes responsibility for the look of everything pretty much on the picture except the actors and what they’re wearing, and obviously lighting is a separate area. It starts with liaising with the director, with the script and working out creatively what the director’s vision is. And while it’s permissible for the production designer to have a vision, it’s always good to try and work out what the director’s vision is and to bring that to the screen. That’s the ultimate aim. And it involves liaising really closely, collaborating with the director of photography, the cinematographer and the costume department, because you don’t want purple costumes in a green room. And it’s one of those things that worked really well on “The Lord of the Rings,” and it’s worked again very well on “The Hobbit” — that sort of interdepartmental collaboration. The production designer has to put together a team of people who can execute the director’s vision and have it ready within the budget. Always, always the budget is a really big consideration, and time. And of course always time and money fight with each other; if you haven’t got enough of one, you need more of the other. Apart from coming up with this great grand vision that works with the director, it’s also about attention to detail. Every nut and bolt, every small thing being in the right place. So it’s a big-picture job, but with attention to the detail as well.

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