Media & Studio Arts Symposium
Time-Based Arts & Technology
Working as a Set Designer on Feature Films
February 14, 2019 | 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Vince Mountain
Description: An overview of the production structure and job hierarchy used in the film industry, with a specific look at the drafting and model-making skills used by a set designer in the Art Department as applied to the design of sets built for locations and sound stages.
Presenter Bio:
Vince Mountain (Scenic Designer) has worked professionally as a designer for a range of theatres, including small experimental companies, regional theatres, opera companies, commercial theatres and television/film. Notable American companies include the Alley Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Florentine Opera, and Central City Opera. Film and TV work includes credits as a set designer on ABC-TV’s Detroit 1-8-7, Paramount Pictures feature films Transformers 4 and Looking For Alaska, the recent Sony Pictures remake of Jumanji, and X-Men: The New Mutants produced by 20th Century Fox for release in 2019.
After receiving his MFA in Scene Design from UC-San Diego he was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group Design Fellowship, and has served as an adjudicator for the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers. He is an active member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829. He is also the Chair of the International Activities Committee for the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and the Associate Curator for the Prague Quadrennial 2019 USA Exhibit. Currently he is a Professor of Scene Design in the Dept. of Theatre & Drama at the University of Michigan.