TY - JOUR

T1 - Production design as a storytelling tool in the writing of Danish TV drama series The Legacy

AU - Redvall, Eva Novrup

AU - Sabroe, Iben Albinus

PY - 2016/9

Y1 - 2016/9

N2 - Production design not only sets the scene for the action of a film or television series, it holds great potential to convey story and character information. However, most literature on production design describe how the work of production designers only begin in pre-production when they are ‘given a script’ in order to execute a text. This article argues that the production designer can play a crucial part in the screenwriting process by contributing to the narrative and character design from an early stage. Focusing on the use of production design in the development, writing and production of the Danish drama series Arvingerne/The Legacy (2014–), the article analyses the implications of creator Maya Ilsøe’s close collaboration with the series’ production designer Mia Stensgaard. This collaboration not only centred on creating a special visual universe for the series, but also involved having the production design perform crucial back story and character information related to the inheritance drama and to the portrayal of the artist matriarch Veronika who was intended to haunt the lives of her children throughout the series even though she dies in the very first episode.

AB - Production design not only sets the scene for the action of a film or television series, it holds great potential to convey story and character information. However, most literature on production design describe how the work of production designers only begin in pre-production when they are ‘given a script’ in order to execute a text. This article argues that the production designer can play a crucial part in the screenwriting process by contributing to the narrative and character design from an early stage. Focusing on the use of production design in the development, writing and production of the Danish drama series Arvingerne/The Legacy (2014–), the article analyses the implications of creator Maya Ilsøe’s close collaboration with the series’ production designer Mia Stensgaard. This collaboration not only centred on creating a special visual universe for the series, but also involved having the production design perform crucial back story and character information related to the inheritance drama and to the portrayal of the artist matriarch Veronika who was intended to haunt the lives of her children throughout the series even though she dies in the very first episode.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Arvingerne

KW - The Legacy

KW - Danish television series

KW - creative collaborations

KW - production design/art direction

KW - screenwriting

KW - text and performance

UR - http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Article,id=22288/

U2 - 10.1386/josc.7.3.299_1

DO - 10.1386/josc.7.3.299_1

M3 - Journal article

VL - 7

SP - 299

EP - 317

JO - Journal of Screenwriting

JF - Journal of Screenwriting

SN - 1759-7137

IS - 3

ER -