**The Art of Creating an Immersive Set**

One of the most significant aspects of creating a believable film set is the attention to detail. The art department, led by Production Designer Kim Sinclair, takes great care to ensure that every element on set feels authentic and realistic. This is evident in the set design of the upcoming film, where Sinclair notes that she rarely sees brick used in sets that feel completely genuine. To achieve this, Sinclair and her team conduct extensive research, visiting real-life brick walls and taking photographs of textures they like. They also create full-scale casts of these textures to incorporate into their designs.

Sinclair emphasizes the importance of authenticity, stating that making it up as she goes along is not an option. Instead, she relies on reference material and a thorough understanding of the subject matter to inform her design decisions. This approach is particularly evident in the set's use of realistic brick patterns, which were achieved through a combination of traditional drawing techniques and modern technology.

**The Role of Reference Materials**

One of the key tools used by Sinclair and her team is reference materials, which provide a wealth of information about various subjects. In the case of the film set, these materials have included photographs of textures, sketches, and other visual aids. These resources are carefully selected to ensure that they accurately represent the desired aesthetic, and they serve as an important tool in helping the design team to create a cohesive and immersive environment.

Sinclair highlights the importance of having access to a wide range of reference materials, which allows her team to draw inspiration from various sources and incorporate different ideas into their designs. This approach is particularly evident in the set's use of proton pack sketches, which have been carefully adapted to fit within the film's overall aesthetic.

**The Importance of Collaboration**

At the heart of Sinclair's design process is a commitment to collaboration with her team. She believes that giving her staff the freedom to pursue their passions and interests leads to more innovative and effective designs. This approach has resulted in a range of talented individuals working together on each project, bringing their unique perspectives and skills to the table.

Sinclair notes that one of the most rewarding aspects of this collaborative process is seeing her former assistants go on to succeed as art directors and production designers in their own right. She is proud to have played a role in helping these individuals develop their skills and advance in their careers.

**The Power of Observation**

One of the key tools used by Sinclair and her team is observation, which allows them to gain a deeper understanding of the world around them. In the case of the film set, this has involved carefully measuring every brick and window to ensure that the design is accurate and realistic. This attention to detail is not limited to the physical environment, however, as Sinclair also places great emphasis on capturing the emotional and psychological nuances of her characters.

This is evident in the character of Phoebe, who is portrayed as a young woman both scientifically and emotionally. Sinclair notes that she wanted to reflect this duality in Phoebe's development, ensuring that the character feels fully realized and authentic. This approach has resulted in a complex and nuanced portrayal of Phoebe, which adds depth and richness to the film.

**The Role of Experience**

Sinclair's own experience as a production designer has been invaluable in shaping her approach to set design. She notes that she has always been drawn to the idea of creating an immersive environment, where viewers can become fully immersed in the world of the film.

Over the course of her career, Sinclair has had the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects, each with its own unique challenges and opportunities. This experience has allowed her to develop a deep understanding of what works and what doesn't, and she is always looking for new ways to push the boundaries of set design.

**The Importance of Humor**

Despite the intensity and complexity of the design process, Sinclair emphasizes the importance of humor and lightheartedness. She notes that this helps to keep her team focused and motivated, even in the face of challenging deadlines and tight budgets.

Sinclair also highlights the value of having a good sense of irony and self-awareness, which allows her to approach set design with a healthy dose of skepticism. This is particularly evident in her comments about the importance of not getting too caught up in the details, but rather taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture.

**The Power of Obsession**

Finally, Sinclair notes that she has always been driven by a strong sense of obsession, which drives her to create sets that are meticulously detailed and thoroughly researched. This approach is evident in her extensive use of binders and reference materials, which serve as a constant reminder of the importance of attention to detail.

Sinclair's commitment to this obsessive approach has resulted in some truly remarkable set designs, each one a testament to her skill and dedication as a production designer. As she continues to work on future projects, it is clear that this drive will remain at the heart of everything she does.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe Ghostbusters are back and the tested team was back on set to embed in the production of Ghostbusters Frozen Empire in theaters now Eve I just witnessed something I thought was really really cool which is I I stepped onto the set about half an hour ago and it felt like I was in somebody's house and you came on the set and you looked around and you were like it's been neatened up a little too much and then I watched you walk around and just move a few things so I'm curious if you can articulate that process when you walk in are you like putting yourself back into the Spangler paretic lifestyle in order to kind of set the mood yeah I absolutely I just I get so involved in how these people live not only everything they touch they eat they kind of move about but the whole vibe of their existence and the this family are not only eating pizzas at the at the kitchen counter they're they're melting copper and in new like ghost proton ones so everything has to be hair and the textures well and so tell me where we are in physical space in the Ghostbusters Universe we're in the firehouse so we are in the Ghostbusters Universe we are in the firehouse in New York right we are not on the ground you call it the first floor this is this has led to so many issues you you're American to call it the first floor we we call the very bottom the ground floor but now we're on the first floor what you call the second flooor so we've had to like kind of TI you sent people to do stuff and they've done it on the wrong floor and vice versa we have to write big chalk numbers so so everyone gets it so we're on the next floor up from the street level in the spangas kitchen now in the design of the interior of this building I know the exterior is very famous in New York but did you have a sort of freehand about designing the interior layout of how the building should work inside so uh in the New York uh in the film yeah the actual Firehouse the exterior was filmed the original the 8489 the exteriors were filmed in uh in New York but the original interior film in Los Angeles which is twice as big the exter so we've kind of messed about but um honestly we've looked at every single frame I've had it on a like a loop so I watched the film over and over again and this is very iconic in terms of the relationship between the fire Poes and everything but I did put a new kitchen in oh you did so I'm really curious about the way in which you created the spaces for living around here and I'm I'm curious about how long that process takes you you start with some architectural drawings of the space but then you you put yourself into the spanglers and you put yourself into that space yeah I spose I'm really lucky I grew up uh designing theater from a very young age so I I'm very Adept at telling a story with an object and to me that's the most important thing to have a short hand to kind of you look at one bit a cooker an air conditioning un you suddenly get a spirit of what this family about I mean they're not clean they kind of clean up a bit but they're too busy fighting ghosts and they need all this stuff about to kind of constantly regenerate their equipment so it's re reassuring it's not just mess and Chaos it's actually part of how they get done what they get done they actually just live in a workshop and and kind of squeeze their living areas within that Workshop okay there's this one other thing before we start walking around I'm I'm looking at this space and it it really feels like I'm within the weight of a building and I'm curious it it's putting up a set like this can't be just as simple as putting up Flats no h how do you eventually Infuse those flats and the the cheap plywood with the weight of a building into it oh well I'm really lucky I have such an amazing construction Department who I've worked with for 20 years now um but we'll put up the plywood and then we definitely go over with plaster and then we call it fat paint in the okay cuz the paint's full of texture and it corn starch or sort of stuff and uh it was really important in this set completely to make it feel very kind of weighty like American architecture I think is really Hefty but um if you notice in the middle of the ceiling which I love we we've kind of paid homage to the fact that the whole place blew up well I want to talk about this can we go look at the hole yeah this is the mended hole the mended hole I noticed it was here on the ceiling and then also here the tile on the floor has been replaced we had such fun nobody noticed rages really only the art Department were like really got it yeah we put it in it's a perfect Easter egg also the the the the lenium you found feels so authentic yes uh well we looked everywhere for this and we managed to find somewhere who have these really old tiles and again because it's such reality and uh I I also found all these tin tiles which I only ever see in New York they're one of my favorite things one of my favorite things now when you're doing stuff like the the bistr there are you balancing between what is relatively easy to replicate and trying to be super perfect to the earlier films super perfect super perfect and I this one art director who's been the a fan of Ghostbusters I think since he was eight he's on everyone's Facebook he follows everything he goes everywhere and he's just been like my Guru I'm going can't we cheat here Luke and he's like no really we've got to do this properly um the first room I walked in on this floor was I I'm assuming that's a a ker Coon's and yeah grou min's bedroom correct that can we go in there yeah you leave okay there's so much about this that feels like we grabbed it at a thrift store it's good enough to live in let's go yeah then uh we really liked it and we saw some paneling like this in uh I think it was the 84 version and so we just put that in here some texture and you're literally right we just thought it CIA they they wouldn't spend ages going around A really lovely Furniture to looking for a nice bed they just get the first thing that was interesting I think she's got a quite good artistic temperament yeah are there key are there key elements in each room that you are looking towards that help set the scene or is it is it always the Gestalt of of all the objects in I think it's the schmorgers board completely in here cuz we're not really in here that much and what I love was just the view of that kind of pop of color and the personality of that that they actually do have to sleep somewhere so I really like that and uh she kie seems to be doing a lot of laundry so I was she laundry I like that you have the store display case full of clothes yeah there's nowhere to put them and we had to cheat so that was a there was a corridor and a wardrobe that we slide in and out nice um can we walk upstairs this is one of my favorite things is that we can actually walk upstairs okay wa so this is the top floor these are the kids' bedrooms these are the kids' bedrooms I'm curious do you have kids I have kids I have four so you have you you have four so you have dealt with all the different kinds of bedrooms there are I have and I'm incredibly obsessively tidy as well so this is kind of a real good this is like a cathartic moment for me to experience mess oh sure so this is this is Trevor's room this is Trevor's room which I hope you can sort of smell by you really can you're right and yeah there's been quite a lot of damage in some special effects happened here but yeah you can smell boy s but we really yeah good you can smell boy swe and we really reveled in the fact that he was kind of a musician and was come to New York and is's getting into gigs and concerts and this is I love this kind of patterner and the dark wet this is where the Slime from the attic and there's a really good scene where he puts his finger through the ceiling and the Slime dribbles down amazing I also love how I mean it really does feel like we're in some private little corner of the city here yeah it's really like try Backa and because I've only been to New York at four times briefly really and this gives me my the spirit I get from no it's nailing it so this is Phoebe's room are there are there rooms that you allow yourself to take more time with because they're really important to you well Phoebe's story is so important in this and uh her room particularly I wanted to express her kind of transition from geeky school kid to someone who's like a real proper scientist yeah so we we kind of had these tables arranged and incredible detail and we had this lovely little prop guy who's probably only about 19 but he was really scientific he sat there for probably two days like sticking little bits of tape and that sort of thing really really helps um talk to me about this brick I I I I rarely see Brick in a set that feels this completely genuine yeah we are I love my PL the plasterers on this are just amazing so what we do is is we go rather than just make it up we go to real old brick walls and pull rubber on you really do you did full full casting and then you take pictures of some textures you like and you lay in but this this uh Us in Len is our bread and butter we've already good up break there's lots of reference material here um that's right Phoebe has two sort of coming of age tracks both as a scientist and a young woman at same that's right thing I just wanted to reflect both of them it's not just about her kind of becoming a kind of a romantic being it's also becoming the real Brilliance like her grandfather when when so they're done filming on this set they're going to take it away soon do you do you always feel a little bit a little bit before me think oh my child my baby but then there's an awful lot of fun to just think put your eyes forward and ears back and move on to the next story it's a amazing set and like I said when I first walked in I felt like I was violating someone's personal face good because that's so important to me to make it feel like people actually live here that is really really important I think that's what I try to do on every film I'm always astounded at the level of detail tell me what these are these are proton pack sketches well the original proton pack sketches that have obviously come up from uh from where they were before and uh we just thought was really really important to have them all here but kind of I like the way we've played it down because it's there but we're they're moving on yeah I mean it's like I there is no bottom to the reality of the objects on the set no and I'm really lucky I'm very careful with my department to pick people up who don't just work on computers so we're very much uh kind of uh able to still draft and draw and use a pencil so we do these ourselves it is um it sounds like you give your team a lot of latitude to do what they do well yeah I I hope so well they do they keep coming back and also I'm really determined to bring people up through the system who just don't get stuck in one little department on a screen for 10 years they can do a bit of drawing come and do some dressing run around they become well become understand that it's a holistic approach if you're a production designer or an art department or a set de Department it's very holistic you have to be able to think of everything from kind of where the wires are the drawings are what they're eating what they're driving trying to make we're trying to make the whole feel whole thing feel hot like it's a real big summer in um New York so we have fans with ribbons to show things up yeah it's a constant kind of trying to create a huge world you you've been doing this long enough I'm curious if you've had some of your former assistants go on and be art directors and production designers of their own films yeah I've had a couple but the biggest one is yeah um did cure for wellness with G vinsky and Grant my brilliant brilliant supervising director I was very sad to lose but very pleased for him that he is now a very good designer it's like watching your children go off into the world really it's so thrilling to be like I was on the afterlife set and they had the same thing all egon's original drawings were sitting there in parchment well they were so helpful I mean we've obviously had loads of information and ghost CS as an operation is very thorough so we've managed to especially with the firehouse get original drawings and we haven't F I mean we've obviously followed a lot of them but they kind of change per production and so um we were lucky enough to get out to New York and measure every brick and every bit of window and just make sure we got it really right that's but we'll pass it on there that level of of obsessiveness makes me very happy oh good yes that's me even like grout color everything really yeah yeah obsessive you have like you end up with binders full of notes on every last so much we have so many books of stuff and even just Graphics probably has boxes and boxes yeah and that will also be part of the history for the next f for the next people to take up the batom amazingthe Ghostbusters are back and the tested team was back on set to embed in the production of Ghostbusters Frozen Empire in theaters now Eve I just witnessed something I thought was really really cool which is I I stepped onto the set about half an hour ago and it felt like I was in somebody's house and you came on the set and you looked around and you were like it's been neatened up a little too much and then I watched you walk around and just move a few things so I'm curious if you can articulate that process when you walk in are you like putting yourself back into the Spangler paretic lifestyle in order to kind of set the mood yeah I absolutely I just I get so involved in how these people live not only everything they touch they eat they kind of move about but the whole vibe of their existence and the this family are not only eating pizzas at the at the kitchen counter they're they're melting copper and in new like ghost proton ones so everything has to be hair and the textures well and so tell me where we are in physical space in the Ghostbusters Universe we're in the firehouse so we are in the Ghostbusters Universe we are in the firehouse in New York right we are not on the ground you call it the first floor this is this has led to so many issues you you're American to call it the first floor we we call the very bottom the ground floor but now we're on the first floor what you call the second flooor so we've had to like kind of TI you sent people to do stuff and they've done it on the wrong floor and vice versa we have to write big chalk numbers so so everyone gets it so we're on the next floor up from the street level in the spangas kitchen now in the design of the interior of this building I know the exterior is very famous in New York but did you have a sort of freehand about designing the interior layout of how the building should work inside so uh in the New York uh in the film yeah the actual Firehouse the exterior was filmed the original the 8489 the exteriors were filmed in uh in New York but the original interior film in Los Angeles which is twice as big the exter so we've kind of messed about but um honestly we've looked at every single frame I've had it on a like a loop so I watched the film over and over again and this is very iconic in terms of the relationship between the fire Poes and everything but I did put a new kitchen in oh you did so I'm really curious about the way in which you created the spaces for living around here and I'm I'm curious about how long that process takes you you start with some architectural drawings of the space but then you you put yourself into the spanglers and you put yourself into that space yeah I spose I'm really lucky I grew up uh designing theater from a very young age so I I'm very Adept at telling a story with an object and to me that's the most important thing to have a short hand to kind of you look at one bit a cooker an air conditioning un you suddenly get a spirit of what this family about I mean they're not clean they kind of clean up a bit but they're too busy fighting ghosts and they need all this stuff about to kind of constantly regenerate their equipment so it's re reassuring it's not just mess and Chaos it's actually part of how they get done what they get done they actually just live in a workshop and and kind of squeeze their living areas within that Workshop okay there's this one other thing before we start walking around I'm I'm looking at this space and it it really feels like I'm within the weight of a building and I'm curious it it's putting up a set like this can't be just as simple as putting up Flats no h how do you eventually Infuse those flats and the the cheap plywood with the weight of a building into it oh well I'm really lucky I have such an amazing construction Department who I've worked with for 20 years now um but we'll put up the plywood and then we definitely go over with plaster and then we call it fat paint in the okay cuz the paint's full of texture and it corn starch or sort of stuff and uh it was really important in this set completely to make it feel very kind of weighty like American architecture I think is really Hefty but um if you notice in the middle of the ceiling which I love we we've kind of paid homage to the fact that the whole place blew up well I want to talk about this can we go look at the hole yeah this is the mended hole the mended hole I noticed it was here on the ceiling and then also here the tile on the floor has been replaced we had such fun nobody noticed rages really only the art Department were like really got it yeah we put it in it's a perfect Easter egg also the the the the lenium you found feels so authentic yes uh well we looked everywhere for this and we managed to find somewhere who have these really old tiles and again because it's such reality and uh I I also found all these tin tiles which I only ever see in New York they're one of my favorite things one of my favorite things now when you're doing stuff like the the bistr there are you balancing between what is relatively easy to replicate and trying to be super perfect to the earlier films super perfect super perfect and I this one art director who's been the a fan of Ghostbusters I think since he was eight he's on everyone's Facebook he follows everything he goes everywhere and he's just been like my Guru I'm going can't we cheat here Luke and he's like no really we've got to do this properly um the first room I walked in on this floor was I I'm assuming that's a a ker Coon's and yeah grou min's bedroom correct that can we go in there yeah you leave okay there's so much about this that feels like we grabbed it at a thrift store it's good enough to live in let's go yeah then uh we really liked it and we saw some paneling like this in uh I think it was the 84 version and so we just put that in here some texture and you're literally right we just thought it CIA they they wouldn't spend ages going around A really lovely Furniture to looking for a nice bed they just get the first thing that was interesting I think she's got a quite good artistic temperament yeah are there key are there key elements in each room that you are looking towards that help set the scene or is it is it always the Gestalt of of all the objects in I think it's the schmorgers board completely in here cuz we're not really in here that much and what I love was just the view of that kind of pop of color and the personality of that that they actually do have to sleep somewhere so I really like that and uh she kie seems to be doing a lot of laundry so I was she laundry I like that you have the store display case full of clothes yeah there's nowhere to put them and we had to cheat so that was a there was a corridor and a wardrobe that we slide in and out nice um can we walk upstairs this is one of my favorite things is that we can actually walk upstairs okay wa so this is the top floor these are the kids' bedrooms these are the kids' bedrooms I'm curious do you have kids I have kids I have four so you have you you have four so you have dealt with all the different kinds of bedrooms there are I have and I'm incredibly obsessively tidy as well so this is kind of a real good this is like a cathartic moment for me to experience mess oh sure so this is this is Trevor's room this is Trevor's room which I hope you can sort of smell by you really can you're right and yeah there's been quite a lot of damage in some special effects happened here but yeah you can smell boy s but we really yeah good you can smell boy swe and we really reveled in the fact that he was kind of a musician and was come to New York and is's getting into gigs and concerts and this is I love this kind of patterner and the dark wet this is where the Slime from the attic and there's a really good scene where he puts his finger through the ceiling and the Slime dribbles down amazing I also love how I mean it really does feel like we're in some private little corner of the city here yeah it's really like try Backa and because I've only been to New York at four times briefly really and this gives me my the spirit I get from no it's nailing it so this is Phoebe's room are there are there rooms that you allow yourself to take more time with because they're really important to you well Phoebe's story is so important in this and uh her room particularly I wanted to express her kind of transition from geeky school kid to someone who's like a real proper scientist yeah so we we kind of had these tables arranged and incredible detail and we had this lovely little prop guy who's probably only about 19 but he was really scientific he sat there for probably two days like sticking little bits of tape and that sort of thing really really helps um talk to me about this brick I I I I rarely see Brick in a set that feels this completely genuine yeah we are I love my PL the plasterers on this are just amazing so what we do is is we go rather than just make it up we go to real old brick walls and pull rubber on you really do you did full full casting and then you take pictures of some textures you like and you lay in but this this uh Us in Len is our bread and butter we've already good up break there's lots of reference material here um that's right Phoebe has two sort of coming of age tracks both as a scientist and a young woman at same that's right thing I just wanted to reflect both of them it's not just about her kind of becoming a kind of a romantic being it's also becoming the real Brilliance like her grandfather when when so they're done filming on this set they're going to take it away soon do you do you always feel a little bit a little bit before me think oh my child my baby but then there's an awful lot of fun to just think put your eyes forward and ears back and move on to the next story it's a amazing set and like I said when I first walked in I felt like I was violating someone's personal face good because that's so important to me to make it feel like people actually live here that is really really important I think that's what I try to do on every film I'm always astounded at the level of detail tell me what these are these are proton pack sketches well the original proton pack sketches that have obviously come up from uh from where they were before and uh we just thought was really really important to have them all here but kind of I like the way we've played it down because it's there but we're they're moving on yeah I mean it's like I there is no bottom to the reality of the objects on the set no and I'm really lucky I'm very careful with my department to pick people up who don't just work on computers so we're very much uh kind of uh able to still draft and draw and use a pencil so we do these ourselves it is um it sounds like you give your team a lot of latitude to do what they do well yeah I I hope so well they do they keep coming back and also I'm really determined to bring people up through the system who just don't get stuck in one little department on a screen for 10 years they can do a bit of drawing come and do some dressing run around they become well become understand that it's a holistic approach if you're a production designer or an art department or a set de Department it's very holistic you have to be able to think of everything from kind of where the wires are the drawings are what they're eating what they're driving trying to make we're trying to make the whole feel whole thing feel hot like it's a real big summer in um New York so we have fans with ribbons to show things up yeah it's a constant kind of trying to create a huge world you you've been doing this long enough I'm curious if you've had some of your former assistants go on and be art directors and production designers of their own films yeah I've had a couple but the biggest one is yeah um did cure for wellness with G vinsky and Grant my brilliant brilliant supervising director I was very sad to lose but very pleased for him that he is now a very good designer it's like watching your children go off into the world really it's so thrilling to be like I was on the afterlife set and they had the same thing all egon's original drawings were sitting there in parchment well they were so helpful I mean we've obviously had loads of information and ghost CS as an operation is very thorough so we've managed to especially with the firehouse get original drawings and we haven't F I mean we've obviously followed a lot of them but they kind of change per production and so um we were lucky enough to get out to New York and measure every brick and every bit of window and just make sure we got it really right that's but we'll pass it on there that level of of obsessiveness makes me very happy oh good yes that's me even like grout color everything really yeah yeah obsessive you have like you end up with binders full of notes on every last so much we have so many books of stuff and even just Graphics probably has boxes and boxes yeah and that will also be part of the history for the next f for the next people to take up the batom amazing\n"