In relation to the Black Mirror Episode ‘Striking Vipers’ you designed; how do you find your way into the world of the film?  

The first read of the script is a very instinctive process and I try to remain open to the material imagining the characters and environments with the emotion and subtext at the forefront. With Black Mirror Striking Vipers I was very excited about finding the connection with gender identity, role playing and sexuality in a virtual reality game called STRIKING VIPERS. This gave me license to play, invent and create. Both our ‘game world’ and our ‘real world’ I felt had to be linked visually and most of all I felt I could play.

STRIKING VIPERS was originally placed in the UK but we subsequently moved the setting to the US as we felt this would highlight suburbia and the routine of Danny & Theo’s marriage. This led to us shooting entirely in Sao Paulo, Brazil for our dystopia futuristic US look. The other option Cape Town I felt wouldn’t provide us with the subtle heightened stylization that I had been finding in the Brazilian locations with my research. The city San Paulo is unique. It has virtually no advertising and many of the buildings present themselves with a delicate soft pastel colour palette. The city has some inspiring architecture with buildings by Oscar Niemeyer, Lina Bo Bardi, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Piratininga Arquiteos Associados and the iconic Alphaville which all won me over for the setting of our BLACK MIRROR episode.

With the design I imagined a play on repetition, grids, the use of minimal textures and materials and after diligent research for our game world I was inspired by the Japanese Anime artist Hiromasa Ogura in combination with the aesthetics of Street Fighter. Charlie Brooker the writer and showrunner had written differing game environments but I pitched a Japanese theme to create a more cohesive design game world and both Owen Harris our director and Charlie ran with it. This kind of collaboration was incredibly rewarding and once we had built this design scaffold we could envision and enrich the film with all our design decisions in collaboration with the cinematographer Gustav Danielsson.  We refined our colour palette, developed the idea of frames within frames, the use of mirrors and textures to shoot through on glass surfaces and crafted a unified visually linked world together.

When you receive the script what is the process you go through to get to the first day of filming?

I start to think about ways of designing and to make something out of what on the surface doesn’t appear to be so interesting. I start with the script then set out researching. I think more about creating settings that create overtones of what is felt more than what is seen in these beginning stages. Then I create a book of visual references. I’m very loose with this process in the beginning. Some images are placeholders to springboard from, others for feel or mood, a few considering design themes and colour palette and others are ideas for the director. Then I write a list of all the requirements for the picture so I can practically see how the project looks overall.

I hire key collaborators. In this case Charlie Ravai the Supervising Art Director who was my right hand and Vera Hamburger a production designer in Brazil who was our set decorator became my left hand. When I feel like I really know the story and characters and the design ideas have become clear in my mind I work on Concept Art. In this case with Liam Beck.

Then I pin up all the sets and locations in script order in the art department and then add more detail underneath of visual reference, fabrics, paint samples, set dressing, concept art and set drawings. Everyone can visually see the story and I find this a very useful tool for the director, DP, actors and art department to see how the whole film will look. From here on in every decision from location choices, set materials and colours are all based on these few ideas formulated in the beginning process. The stage before filming is to solidify these needs for the movie. Technical aspects are part of everything I even look at the smallest detail but it’s important to remain organic, open to change and always curious.

Who made up your team on “Striking Vipers” and how did you work with them?

I was able to bring Charlie Ravai the Supervising Art Director with me to Brazil who is a key creative collaborator. Charlie has worked with me on a few projects and is incredible at his job. He knows my tastes and process and has an incredible eye for detail. Vera Hamburger who is a Production Designer in Brazil worked as our Set Decorator. Vera was able to bring not only her Brazilian team to the project but her creative spark and beautiful personality.

We had a creative, dedicated team made up of an assistant art director, a graphic designer, a casual props 3D designer, two set designers, an art department co-ordinator, two dressers, one props buyer, and our construction team consisting of 4 different departments of wood, sculpting (soft stunt floor), perspex and scenic art. Charlie had to quote from all four departments for each set ! We had a standby and his assistant on set, and a greens team to cherry blossom all the trees for our Japanese Temple Game Set. I also had a great relationship with the costume designer Sarah Blenkinsop who created wonderful game costumes within our colour palette and design themes. In general I was incredibly supported by our art department and everyone contributed to the ideas and process. I am incredibly grateful for all their hard work, energy and humour.

What were the biggest challenges on this project?

The biggest challenge on this project was time. We had 5 weeks of preproduction to design and build our 5 Game World Sets and paint and decorate our 13 locations. The result was exhilarating to realize. We found it incredibly hard to find Danny & Theo’s house and in the end this location was made up from 3 different houses painted, dressed, with shoot off flats built and wood panelled areas to unify the locations as a whole. The Game World sets fell into place quite effortlessly.

How do you communicate your ideas throughout the process, from concept through to as you are filming?

I communicate through images, metaphors, stories and by being available. I tend to make hero set packages for everyone and continually communicate the design ideas so everyone involved is up to date. I research locations to inspire the location scout and talk daily to the director and DP in pre-production so when it comes to filming there are no surprises.

What does your art department office look like during the project?

Our art department has images everywhere on the walls, flowers in vases, sample books, paint sample boards, fabrics, wallpapers, paint charts, pantone books, reference books open to particular pages, set drawings and chocolate.