Art Department hierarchy: the production designer is at the top with the art director close at hand.
The production designer and art director complement each other.
The art director drives the process of design from sketch to actual physical scenery. (3)
The art director, or design manager, heads and runs the art department, interfaces with all other departments, supports the art department arm of the shooting crew, oversees scenery fabrication, and controls all aspects of the department expense and scenery budgets. Although an art director’s creative input is essential to support the initial creative ideas of the designer, the totality of the design in terms of conception and responsibility belongs solely to the designer. (3-5)
Together, …show more content…
Despite the marker traits that make an art director unique, there are other indications that are universal to all. As described briefly in the introduction, the basic personality of an art director is creatively practical; without it, this person is most likely a production designer. …without a highly developed sense of practicality an art director is ineffective. This hybrid marker trait also compels some art directors to question just how creative they should be. When in doubt, leave the realm of full creativity to the production designer and concentrate on the practical aspects of film design work: scheduling, drafting and building of scenery, its placement onstage, or retrofitting it into a …show more content…
(Rizzo)
In the arguments between the production designer and the director the art director takes the side of the designer.
The production designer knows the script very well, remembers every aspect of the revisions, stays close to the important events in the office and on set. The art director is expected to do the same to be able to help when needed.
Second responsibilities in the hierarchy of responsibilities are responsibilities to the art department which are another great concern. The art director is a head of the department and therefore a leader for whom the art department people sometimes become almost like a primary family.
The art director takes part in interviewing and hiring the key members of the art department which are “coordinator, archivist, digital modelers, set designers, model makers, concept illustrators, storyboard artists and a graphic designer” (31). This applies also to the extended personnel including those who work mostly on set and therefore require some supervision there from the art director. Among those there are: prop master, prop makers, set decorator, on-set decorators, set dressers, the on-set dresser, set buyers, the on-set prop person, a mechanical effects coordinator, carpenters, welders, the on-set carpenter, set painters, scenic artists and the on-set scenic artist