nterview with Nell Hanson, Production Designer on ‘Clubland’.

Nominated for an AFI Award for her work on ‘Suburban Mayhem’ (2007)

Nell is thirtysomething and lives in Sydney.

(‘Clubland’ is due to go on release tonight)

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Nell has elected to meet at a Deli on the Lower East Side during a break in shooting.

It’s my first time in New York, New York, and I have had an aitch ee double toothpicks of a time finding the place. Above the counter is a bewildering array of salamis. Pastramis and chorizos dangle from hooks. There is baloney in the air.

They know her here and she orders her ‘usual’.

CUT

I hear the click of her stilettos on the tiled floor. Chairs scrape back as people scrabble to get out of reach of the leopard that she has on a leash. Nell is wearing an unexpected wrap. Surely that is faux fur? Gloved hands, a cigarette holder a mile long and anonymous sunglasses, Nell must be breaking several council bylaws at once. Small wonder that the leopard seems pissed off.

CUT

We meet in a plastic coffee bar. Nell’s choice. She orders a double-double decaf skim macchiato. No froth. Just a twist. The waiter seems to know what that means. He brings a towel for her hair. It has been raining for most of June.

It becomes immediately apparent that this is an interview which is badly in need of some Art Direction.

Nell sweeps the tabletop with her forearm. The Nagra, the Telefunken U47, the spare batteries and tapes disappear. The table is transformed. We have a clean slate.

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Metro – Hopefully you are not going to think that this is too dumb a question, but what is a Production Designer?

Hanson – It’s not really dumb at all. Nobody knows what a Production Designer is. Basically, my job is to help the Director with the purely visual aspects of the story.

Metro – Where do you start?

Hanson – My starting point is always the Script, and if ever I get stuck for an idea during production I always go back to the script and reread it.

Metro – I imagine that you must read quite a few scripts without knowing if you are actually going to be working on that particular film

Hanson – Absolutely

Metro – So how did you come to work on ‘Clubland’?

Hanson – I had worked with Cherie (Cherie Nowlan, the director of ‘Clubland’) before on ‘Small Claims‘, but I knew that I wasn’t the only one who was up for the job. We met and talked about the script and I put some of my ideas on the table. Basically we were seeing eye to eye, but I had completely misread the principle character (Jean played by Brenda Blethryn), and so my ideas about where she lived and how messy her place would look were way off the mark.

Metro – But Cherie must have liked some of your ideas.

Hanson – I guess she did. We did talk for quite while and we do get on well together. She is great to work with and I see my job as tuning in to her ideas and then taking responsibility for getting things done so that she will be able to concentrate on what must be her main concern during the production – the Actors and the Performances.

Metro – so she has to put a lot of trust in you?

Hanson – Not just in me. In everyone in the Art Department, the Art Director, the Set decorators, the Construction Crew, the Scenic Artist and we have to decide on a ‘look’ and the Look needs to be coordinated so that there will be a colour palette that will be consistent for each location. Everyone needs to know what everyone else is doing and why we are doing it – like not using Blue in a certain set.

Metro – And you have to put your trust in the Art Department?

Hanson – Of course I do. On ‘Clubland’ I was working with a terrific Art Director in Charlie Revai. I don’t know enough about trucks (although I can learn fast). Jean’s son, Tim (played by Khan Chittenden) has a truck. He makes money being a removalist. Charlie was the one who came up with all the ideas about the truck. It had to be obviously second-, or even third-, hand. Something Jean would have put most of the money up for. It needed to be a sad-looking truck in order give her son an air of vulnerability. In other words, the truck was a major prop and the way it looked had to provide clues about the characters. (In fact, we were going to need three of them in order to get the story told – one to drive around in, one to crash and one to chop up and use to get close-up shots of the characters while they were driving and talking).

Metro – So it’s not just you that comes up with the ideas?

Hanson – God, no. It often happens that I suggest a certain prop and the Props Buyer will say, ‘But how about this?’ and I can see that that would work a lot better and I tell them that and we go with their idea. This happened with a sofa that I wanted to get and Beth Garswood came up with one that was so much better. And there are so many great graphics in ‘Clubland’ that contribute to the Look. Nadia King did a terrific job.

Metro – Can you give me an example?

Hanson – Posalutely. Nadia created all these publicity stills of Jean in her heyday when she was working with the likes of Benny Hill and Tommy Cooper and Morecambe and Wise…….

Metro –  So. How did you become a Production Designer?

Hanson – When I went to Art School, I wanted to be a painter. Before long I had found that I loved to sculpt and so I came out of art school with two skills – welding and model-making. At Film School I channeled these skills into designing models and building sets and my first job in the film business was as a Modelmaker. Since then I have worked in most of the jobs that make up an art department. I have been a Props Buyer, a Set Decorator, an Art Director, a Scenic Artist, a Graphic Artist, and that certainly helps you appreciate the work that all those guys do.

Metro – Are you the one who works out the Budget?

Hanson – No, no. Budgeting is all part of Preproduction. Getting the budget approved is part of getting the go-ahead for the Production and doing the budget is a tough job, but it is an abstract exercise – a guessing game. My job is to work within the given budget. It is kind of a juggling act. Sometimes I need to take a bit of the money that was allocated for this and put it into that. I have to make the decisions as the situations arise. I try not to make a drama out of a crisis. I have to be a problem-solver and it helps if you are good at doing jigsaw puzzles.

Metro – What sort of schedule do you work to?

Hanson – On ‘Clubland’, we had a 6-week shooting schedule. The shooting took place at several locations. At 4 RSL clubs and on a set that was built for Jill’s (Tim’s girlfriend played by Emma Booth) place. To give you an idea of what that meant, there were some days which involved shooting Tim driving his truck at one location Jean doing her shtick at Marrickville RSL and setting up for the final scene at a Function Centre in Campsie

Metro – Criminey. I see what you mean about a juggling act. It sounds hellish.

Hanson – Actually, no. ‘Clubland’ was a Happy Shoot.

Metro – A Happy Shoot?

Hanson – A Happy Shoot is when the Crew has confidence in one another’s abilities. When everyone is being allowed to work to their full potential, and when you are able to stay ahead of the Shooting Crew, and when the Director is getting what they have been looking for.

And ‘Clubland’ was a Happy Shoot

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And that seemed like a nice way to end the interview.

Nell had been generous to a fault. She had not only made up for the interviewer’s deficiencies, she had made him feel knowledgeable about areas of the Film Business that had previously been a blank, leaving the lasting impression of someone who would be great to work with. A team leader who is also a team player. Someone who accepts the ideas of others and gives them credit for coming up with them. Someone that it would be good to have around when the shit hits the fan. And has there ever been a shoot when that hasn’t happened?