by Rob Kohr

School of Visual Arts After seeing a film like “Moulin Rouge” you cannot help but feel for the bohemian lifestyle and what they believed in: truth, beauty, freedom and love. At SVA’s interview of Baz Lehrmann, the director and his wife, Catherine Martin (the production designer), you could not but feel that these two Australians are a stellar combination. Catherine Martin, who arrived first, began by talking about the experience of working with her husband and the relationships that he has with his fellow artists. Her strongest feeling is that Baz will actually take into account everyone’s opinion, especially the actors, in the production of his films.

When Baz arrived he further confirmed the importance of understanding the actors. Reeves Lehmann, the head of the Film, Video, and Animation department at the School of Visual Arts, commented that SVA is one of the only schools that believes in the relationship that the director and writer need to have with actors. SVA makes it mandatory that all of its film, video, and animation students attend one semester of acting class with teachers from the Actors Studio. Baz was very impressed and began stressed the importance of listening to the actors. He continues to say that they understand the “human condition” and they will help develop the work with true emotion. Baz also spoke about the “human condition” in the synthesis of an actual story. His inspiration is not based on what he wants to do, but his need to present the importance of the human condition. Baz invited us to consider if we spend 2 to 4 years of our life on a film, we must express the human condition or ourselves.

Baz also commented on the use of storyboards. He found them not to be helpful on a large scale, for key moments, he would have scenes illustrated. He primarily uses a handy cam to pre-shoot his ideas with close team members. Such shots would also help with Catherine Martin’s job of figuring out problems. One was laying out a room to determine the kind of props that would be needed. Another problem was calculating the width of the Moulin Rouge�s main hall. Baz, Catherine and his cinematographer used a football field and a handheld camera to determine how many extras would be needed to fill the shots in the Ballroom scenes.

Baz’s final comments were about the technology used in “Moulin Rouge”. Surprisingly enough, most of the Parisian backdrops were models. The reason for this is that it is easier to work out the lighting and the camera movements with a physical model, rather than a virtual one. True to this ideal, John Leguizamo, who portrayed the short Toulouse-Lautrec, kneeled for a good part of the movie. In no way did Baz want to force John to act alone against a blue screen. The computer effects that were used were created in a way to not only further the story but also to be imperfect within them. The whole film was given a grain to prevent one from thinking that there were any digital effects.

In the Q&A, a student expressed her satisfaction with the production design by saying that Catherine Martin should receive an Oscar for her work; this was unanimously agreed upon by the overflowing auditorium.

** OSCAR UPDATE Catherine Martin: won the Academy Award for her costume design and production design for “Moulin Rouge”.