Coco Li on Production Design
This week on Film Center News we talk to Coco Li and her journey to Moving to the U.S from China and becoming a production designer!
Transcript
This is Film Center, your number one show for real entertainment industry news.
Speaker:No fluff, all facts.
Speaker:Now, here are your anchors, Derek Johnson II and Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:Hey everyone at the Film Center, my name is Derek Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And what are we doing today, Nicholas?
Speaker:Today, we are talking to a very special guest.
Speaker:Could you please introduce yourself?
Speaker:Hi everyone, my name is Coco Lee.
Speaker:I'm currently at downtown Burbank with Derek and Nick.
Speaker:Yeah!
Speaker:What's going on Kelko?
Speaker:It's been a beautiful day after several days of rain in L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And finally the sun came out, so Yeah, finally you can walk around.
Speaker:It's not flooding everything.
Speaker:We, Kelko, as you guys know, this show is on the road.
Speaker:We go to different places around Los Angeles and around Burbank.
Speaker:Where, what is this place called again?
Speaker:We're at a bakery.
Speaker:I don't know what the bakery is called.
Speaker:We're at a bakery.
Speaker:It's very delicious.
Speaker:It's a classroom.
Speaker:It's in downtown Burbank on the corner of Alla and San Fernando.
Speaker:So that's all you need to know.
Speaker:Coco she messaged me.
Speaker:She was like, this is a secret place that most people don't know about.
Speaker:So I guess we should keep it secret.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Now that all the rain and everything, we haven't drowned.
Speaker:Where are you from, Coco?
Speaker:I'm originally made in China.
Speaker:You were made in China.
Speaker:She was built there.
Speaker:She was designed in China.
Speaker:I was raised in China.
Speaker:I went to America for MFA studying.
Speaker:Since 2015.
Speaker:Me and Coco went to the same film school.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And we went to the same program.
Speaker:Disney Coco.
Speaker:Before Nightfall, which is such a coincidence.
Speaker:Yeah, I, as you guys know, cause I talk about my experience at Disney
Speaker:before, Coco was there at the, DCP, the Disney College Program, when I was.
Speaker:We just worked in different parts.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It was crazy.
Speaker:It was crazy.
Speaker:We were meant to meet each other.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:After the college program, I applied for NYFA.
Speaker:I went to the MFA Filmmaking Program.
Speaker:The first year was in New York campus.
Speaker:And it was great.
Speaker:And after graduation, for one year program, I went to, I moved to Los
Speaker:Angeles for the second year of master.
Speaker:What made you go from New York to L.
Speaker:A.?
Speaker:What was the, why did you want to make that?
Speaker:I think the industrial is better built in L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Also, since I started my dream in Disney, so I would love to work for Disney.
Speaker:That's my lifetime goal.
Speaker:Yeah, to work for Disney.
Speaker:And you know what?
Speaker:You're in the right place.
Speaker:You're in the right place.
Speaker:One other thing I want to know is, You came over from China.
Speaker:Did you come by yourself?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, what do your parents think?
Speaker:They Cause it has to be, like, interesting.
Speaker:You, your parents, they're both Chinese and live in China.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then their kid's I'm gonna go to America.
Speaker:And I wanna do movies.
Speaker:Your parents are teachers, correct?
Speaker:Yeah, they're teachers.
Speaker:They're both geography teachers.
Speaker:And at the first, they were like Are you crazy?
Speaker:This is on the other side of the world We can't reach you.
Speaker:We can't take care of and like you're gonna depend on yourself physically,
Speaker:so I was like Yeah, I'm pretty sure Cuz this is my dream cuz I was like
Speaker:brainwashed during the Disney program
Speaker:I would love to do something that's really magical, that's
Speaker:phenomenal, that's timeless, that's inspiring for a lot of kids.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So that's why I would love to see the world.
Speaker:When did your love for production design really start?
Speaker:When did you know you wanted to do that?
Speaker:Oh, that started the first time in, the first time we were doing
Speaker:the production workshop in NYFA.
Speaker:It was introduced, the first time work Production workshop that we were
Speaker:introduced to the position of production design and our professor let me try that.
Speaker:But it was, like, in January 2017 seven years ago, and I fall
Speaker:in love with production design at the first, very first time.
Speaker:The first time you did it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then, where did your, where did the idea of you wanting to
Speaker:come to the US and work in movies, where did all of that come from?
Speaker:Was it just from childhood watching Disney movies, or?
Speaker:It was part of it.
Speaker:And then I was studying filmmaking in college in Shanghai University.
Speaker:Where?
Speaker:In Shanghai University.
Speaker:Oh, shout out to Shanghai University.
Speaker:Shanghai University.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it was mainly focused on the directing.
Speaker:So I was like, I want to do, I want to do film.
Speaker:Directing for my lifetime career first.
Speaker:Then I reached, when I reached to production design, I was like I'm
Speaker:actually a really bad storyteller, but I'm a good designer for the visual part.
Speaker:What happened to the directing?
Speaker:You don't want to direct anymore?
Speaker:I think people We'll have different talents for different things.
Speaker:The director really needs storytelling, and also working with the cast.
Speaker:That's really challenging for me.
Speaker:But it's, I found my comfort zone on visualizing everything, when it comes to
Speaker:picking up the prop and coming up with the idea, like, how it looks on set.
Speaker:It's quite interesting.
Speaker:We've had a lot of people on the show who, originally, they Wanted
Speaker:to do something and then it pivoted.
Speaker:That's interesting because I originally was going to do costumes, costume design.
Speaker:And then I pivoted to writing and directing.
Speaker:And you were like, I'm gonna be a director.
Speaker:And you were like, oh, you know what, nope, I'm gonna go to the art side.
Speaker:And Nicholas, you still act some, but now you do mostly executive producing.
Speaker:What is it about production design that you just love so much?
Speaker:It's like building a world.
Speaker:It's really magical.
Speaker:You translate what the writer writes and what the director decides
Speaker:into What the real world is, it's like experiencing different lives.
Speaker:Like sometimes you got to do the Asian China architectural style, or
Speaker:sometimes you do the New York super modern international office, or
Speaker:sometimes you just travel back to time, sometimes you travel to the future.
Speaker:It's like designing a world.
Speaker:Yeah, various type of work.
Speaker:Bringing a story to life, bringing a world to life, that's what it has on the paper.
Speaker:Yeah, and that's your job to do that.
Speaker:So Coco you do you've been around you've done some traveling with this job, right?
Speaker:Huh.
Speaker:Yeah, what do you how do you as a production designer when you know?
Speaker:Okay, cuz it's different when you're gonna do some production design at a place that
Speaker:you know Yeah, like I'm sure if someone was like, oh, I want you to make this
Speaker:look like back home in Shanghai You're like, oh, I know what that looks easy.
Speaker:But then how do you're going to somewhere you were in Tokyo, correct?
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So how do you're like, okay cool.
Speaker:I'm gonna design something in a completely different area Yeah.
Speaker:How do you tackle that?
Speaker:How do you handle that?
Speaker:Or how do you visualize it?
Speaker:Did a lot of research?
Speaker:That was a lot of research.
Speaker:Because we were doing a traditional Japanese house in that music video.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it's for Kingston video game.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I would say, I didn't have that much experience of Japanese culture,
Speaker:so I was like, doing a lot of research, not only me, with my whole team there,
Speaker:and also we pick up the, we pick the great person from the local production
Speaker:design team as my art director.
Speaker:So you partnered with someone local?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And they're doing great, giving me suggestions during the very,
Speaker:very early design process.
Speaker:So when you're doing your design, do you do a lot of things by hand
Speaker:or do you do it on the computer?
Speaker:Mostly computer.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Do you ever do it by hand?
Speaker:Oh yeah, we're doing sketching.
Speaker:Sketching for the site designers to get a more detailed idea
Speaker:about how the site looks.
Speaker:Which do you prefer, the computer or by hand?
Speaker:I will refer, prefer the computer way, which is more efficient.
Speaker:And wider spread and also, but there are some of the production
Speaker:designers in our guild doing hand drawings, which is really classical.
Speaker:I try that sometimes.
Speaker:Sometimes.
Speaker:Sometimes.
Speaker:So what has been some of your favorite designs that you've done so far?
Speaker:You've done a whole bunch of them.
Speaker:Huh.
Speaker:My favorite designs will be the music video I did this summer.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It was for one of my friends, and he's also one of the top celebrities in China.
Speaker:And Ooh!
Speaker:He's the top celebrity in China?
Speaker:One of the top.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Singers.
Speaker:What does he do?
Speaker:He's a singer.
Speaker:He's a singer?
Speaker:He's a singer.
Speaker:Does he rap?
Speaker:Does he sing?
Speaker:Or what's Mostly pop.
Speaker:Oh, it is pop.
Speaker:Yeah, was the pop.
Speaker:So he's one of the PTS guys, . That's great.
Speaker:That's different story.
Speaker:. Do you are you decent to a lot of his music.
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:I love music.
Speaker:Is he one of your favorite artists?
Speaker:Yeah, he is.
Speaker:You know he's not going to listen to this, right?
Speaker:You can say if he's really not.
Speaker:There are a lot of talented singers in China.
Speaker:What was it about this song?
Speaker:What's this one that you like so much?
Speaker:This music video, first of all, the song was pretty good.
Speaker:You had a good foundation to work with.
Speaker:Yeah, that's the start of the story.
Speaker:And also this, cause this music video was sponsored by his company and his parents.
Speaker:So they're like.
Speaker:Yeah, we have a budget.
Speaker:We do have a budget.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then I was working on that budget and I did some, something
Speaker:wild, like several sites.
Speaker:Like the angel in the field and also the devil in the middle of the water.
Speaker:Oh!
Speaker:And the end of the world, which is industrial futuristic.
Speaker:Man, when does this video come out?
Speaker:I gotta see this video.
Speaker:yet?
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:It is, you gotta send us a link and maybe our listeners can watch it too.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What do you find is the most challenging thing about being a production designer?
Speaker:I would say, most challenging thing would be, budgeting?
Speaker:Budgeting?
Speaker:The budgeting?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What do you mean budgeting?
Speaker:Do you mean like, where the money goes to or getting the money?
Speaker:The money goes to.
Speaker:Like spending the money and where to put it?
Speaker:Yeah, because we need to work, especially in commercial world.
Speaker:We need to work around the budget.
Speaker:We can't go over budget at all.
Speaker:We can only make like compromise for something that we really want.
Speaker:But also at the same time, you've got to have a clear mind that like how much
Speaker:each of the element or construction.
Speaker:Props will cost and where do you want to put the emphasize on those things.
Speaker:And also it's like a lifetime lesson.
Speaker:Like you get to know every single thing, the price of every single thing.
Speaker:And also it's updating all the time.
Speaker:It would be really helpful to have somebody experienced on budgeting.
Speaker:We'll keep telling you what can you do or what you can.
Speaker:And also get to the experience of those budgeting.
Speaker:Do you guys worry about the timeline it takes?
Speaker:Say you're like, okay, we're budgeted, we want to do this,
Speaker:but it's going to take too long.
Speaker:Or, it's gonna, what do you guys do when that happens?
Speaker:We all know like the triangle of quality.
Speaker:Yeah, quality, time schedule and budget.
Speaker:So you can only get two of this.
Speaker:You either have the money and it looks great, or it's either fast
Speaker:and it was cheap, fast and good.
Speaker:You can choose two.
Speaker:You can only choose two.
Speaker:So you're saying it really depends on the project itself, which two you choose.
Speaker:Do you have some, so when you're looking for references, do you like to do a lot
Speaker:of physical legwork, go see it in person?
Speaker:Huh.
Speaker:Just on the internet's enough or do you prefer to go look at
Speaker:your references in real life?
Speaker:Due to the time sensitive of our commercial world, we always do that, the
Speaker:reference in one day or even half a day.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:That quick?
Speaker:The commercial world is Oh, in China.
Speaker:It's commercial world, they really so there's a lot of overlap.
Speaker:Like you, you're working constantly.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:For you got a lot of job.
Speaker:Huh.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We once did 10 commercials in a month.
Speaker:For the team, yeah.
Speaker:Commercials, oh my gosh.
Speaker:How long is, how long does it typically take to do one commercial that you
Speaker:what's the timeline from start to finish?
Speaker:And this is in China we're talking about.
Speaker:Oh yeah, in China it's one week.
Speaker:From we start, from we got the script or storyboard to the start of the shooting.
Speaker:And, but in here in Hollywood it takes two weeks to a month.
Speaker:Do you think there is a difference, like a major difference or not really?
Speaker:It is a major difference.
Speaker:What does the working day look like in China compared
Speaker:to the working day in Holland?
Speaker:Like when you wake up and you're like, oh, I'm on this thing in
Speaker:China, what's the first thing you do?
Speaker:You don't want to know.
Speaker:Is it a secret?
Speaker:It's brutal.
Speaker:Oh, it's a brutal schedule.
Speaker:You're working a lot, huh?
Speaker:Yeah, it's really intensive.
Speaker:So in China we work typically 16 hours a day.
Speaker:Jesus.
Speaker:Hours a day.
Speaker:And no OT for our team.
Speaker:No overtime?
Speaker:No overtime.
Speaker:So what do they pay you, just 8 hours?
Speaker:They pay me at the flight package.
Speaker:For a shooting day.
Speaker:They pay you all at once?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, okay, so it's like contract.
Speaker:Yeah, it's a contract.
Speaker:It count as a shooting day.
Speaker:Not prep day, it doesn't count.
Speaker:But we have a higher day rate, so that's how it works.
Speaker:Do you have to be a part of a union or a guild in China too?
Speaker:Like over here?
Speaker:China is before union era.
Speaker:They don't have any protections.
Speaker:To be honest, I would love to have it in the future, but right now they're
Speaker:doing whatever works the best for them.
Speaker:So with your experience, then, when it comes to doing stuff over here in
Speaker:America, Do you think that there's like a best of What do you like best
Speaker:about working in China, and like best about working here in the States?
Speaker:The best of working in China, it's efficiency.
Speaker:It's like everything is not everything a lot of things are made in China.
Speaker:A lot of things are efficient?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, they're made in China, so they're like, we can easily get it.
Speaker:And we have like millions of choices of furniture.
Speaker:Staggered because everything's made over there.
Speaker:It's Oh, everything's like available.
Speaker:It's easy.
Speaker:Yeah, it's easy.
Speaker:It's cheap.
Speaker:And also in China, the RDR at art department it's different from the
Speaker:prop team and construction team.
Speaker:So they are like three departments.
Speaker:So the art team is different.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So we have art department and we have like prop team.
Speaker:And the construction team, or we can call it prop department
Speaker:and the construction department.
Speaker:And we are all separate.
Speaker:So the art department are only taking care of the design part, like the drawings,
Speaker:the reference, and after it's got approved by the client, we are passing on those to
Speaker:the prop team and the construction team.
Speaker:Also, we keep in close contact with each other because we're keep supervising
Speaker:them and also keep tracking like the Checking the process, progress.
Speaker:Constant communication with each other to make sure everybody is on the same page.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Compared to here in America, where the art department is in charge of everything.
Speaker:Yeah, the art department is everything.
Speaker:We have construction team within the art department and also the
Speaker:property within the art department.
Speaker:Also the art director is taking care of the art budget.
Speaker:But in China, the art budget goes to the property and the construction
Speaker:team, which means they are talking to the Producer directly.
Speaker:Yeah, I need to have a clear mind that how much would it cost, but it's
Speaker:not my job to Budgeting those to the producer that will avoid a lot of
Speaker:arguments And that's how we make our made our life easier and move faster
Speaker:from one project to another Oh, do you think that should happen over here too?
Speaker:It should be separate.
Speaker:I think you said it makes it faster It makes faster for art department.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:But also there are also problems with that system.
Speaker:Like miscommunication?
Speaker:Like miscommunication, like over budgeting.
Speaker:Cause the art department really don't have that much idea about how it actually cost.
Speaker:Some of the budget may go waste.
Speaker:Someone in our department over there could be like, Oh, I need this type of building?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And the construction would be like, I don't, I can't do that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, okay.
Speaker:So then what do you like about doing it here in Hollywood?
Speaker:In Hollywood, since it has been a hundred years, it's
Speaker:physically and mentally healthier.
Speaker:From my perspective.
Speaker:You don't have to work 16 hours a day.
Speaker:Yeah, that's heaven.
Speaker:There's more structure to it on the back end.
Speaker:I hear that a lot.
Speaker:Especially when it comes to.
Speaker:But that comes with time.
Speaker:It's like you said, we were like, oh, China's like in the
Speaker:area where it's pre union.
Speaker:Pre union.
Speaker:There's nothing wrong with that, it's just they haven't been doing
Speaker:it for as long as America has.
Speaker:True.
Speaker:So how long do you think, this world's really pretty interconnected,
Speaker:you know what I'm saying?
Speaker:It's especially more and more every day.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We get to talk about, if you want to talk to someone on the
Speaker:other side of the world, you can.
Speaker:And even though we're more systems over here in America, now there's
Speaker:this trend for things going more CGI.
Speaker:Oh, yeah, which affects people like you who you're specialized
Speaker:in production design, right?
Speaker:And so now there's less production design because we won't do everything in CGI And
Speaker:even though a lot of audiences like to see real stuff What do you think about
Speaker:the transfer for most stuff going to CGI?
Speaker:I'm open to the new technology I think it's it has their good size
Speaker:and also has their shortcomings.
Speaker:Yeah With the CGI, our life is actually easier.
Speaker:We don't have lots of works to do.
Speaker:How does it make your job so much easier as a production designer?
Speaker:Cause some of the sites will be really challenging before CGI.
Speaker:Oh, to make or build?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We, like in the old days in Hollywood, we need to build the mountains.
Speaker:As you may learn from the production design professor.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They do huge constructions just to make it These giant statues or whatever.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And a lot of miniatures, too.
Speaker:The miniatures are really complicated.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And fragile.
Speaker:Yeah, they're Very challenging for our department, too.
Speaker:So with CGI, those things can go easily with the computer.
Speaker:And also, but that CGI also involve the aesthetics from the art team.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:You still have to design it.
Speaker:Yeah, which means we are on the early stage of the design process, and also
Speaker:we have the choices to make it in CGI.
Speaker:Do you find that CGI allows you to focus on other things now,
Speaker:other than the challenging parts that you were talking about?
Speaker:So for example, some people would think that CGI would not
Speaker:necessarily replace a production designer, but augment the position.
Speaker:The CGI actually expand our visions.
Speaker:Oh, it expands your vision?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Now we Because it allows you to focus on things you couldn't previously before?
Speaker:Yes, it said before CGI we have limitations of what we can do.
Speaker:But when it came out Then we can have some very wild imaginations.
Speaker:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker:So how do you decide then what you want to be CGI and what
Speaker:you want to make in real life?
Speaker:How do you decide, oh this should be CGI or this shouldn't?
Speaker:It's also a conversation with the director, the producer in case
Speaker:of the budgeting, and also the CGI team that they, now they all
Speaker:always have their own idea too.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And also, it's also according to the material, what they have in the stock.
Speaker:For cgi.
Speaker:If it is something that will close to the character or will be a
Speaker:hand prop or be touched during the scene, we'll do it in real life or.
Speaker:If it is something that goes far away or something really well that consumes a
Speaker:lot of budget, then we'll do it in CGI.
Speaker:So it's really more of the background stuff that needs to be CGI compared to
Speaker:things that the characters need to be around and touch and things like that.
Speaker:Like you wouldn't CGI a tape.
Speaker:You'll probably get a table.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You could make the table something else.
Speaker:You'd have just a regular table, but make it in CGI maybe something more ornate.
Speaker:Super table.
Speaker:Super table that has dance and stuff.
Speaker:Like the VR guest table.
Speaker:Yeah, like the VR guest table from Beauty and the Beast.
Speaker:What is like some of the franchises or some of the movies that you would
Speaker:love to do production design for?
Speaker:I love The fantasy and sci fi stuff.
Speaker:Yeah?
Speaker:That's my favorite.
Speaker:Is there any movies or TV you were like, Oh, I would love to work for them?
Speaker:Oh, recently it's Wonka.
Speaker:Which one?
Speaker:Wonka.
Speaker:Willy Wonka.
Speaker:Oh, Willy Wonka!
Speaker:Willy Wonka!
Speaker:Willy Wonka!
Speaker:Wonka.
Speaker:Yes, yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, dude.
Speaker:Willy Wonka is always interesting to watch and see and stuff like that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What parts do you think that you want to be involved in?
Speaker:If so, let's say we go back in time.
Speaker:We're making Willy Wonka.
Speaker:What part are you like, Okay, this is me.
Speaker:I'm gonna do this.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I would love to design the Wonka store.
Speaker:Oh, the Willy Wonka store?
Speaker:Yeah, his own chocolate store.
Speaker:It was great.
Speaker:So when it comes to Willy Wonka, it's quite interesting
Speaker:because it's way different.
Speaker:The modern ones are way different than the one that had Johnny Depp.
Speaker:Oh, yeah?
Speaker:It's also different than the one that had D Modern.
Speaker:Yeah, D Modern back in the day.
Speaker:How would you take that and redesign it for yourself?
Speaker:What do you think is one of the first things you would change to be like?
Speaker:Oh, I would do this interpretation Wow, I would expand the candy store even more.
Speaker:Oh make it even bigger.
Speaker:It would make it bigger make it more playful I can see that they are
Speaker:trapped can a little better budget.
Speaker:Yeah, a lot of things Back to the CGI topic, a lot of things were doing by CGI,
Speaker:and the construction only go like the first and second level of the building.
Speaker:So if we really do have a budget, I would love to make it more fantasy, playful.
Speaker:More of a whimsical kind of fantasy.
Speaker:Like a fantastical place.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's more like a theme park than a Canada store.
Speaker:Oh, that's cool.
Speaker:Now, when you say fantasy, do you mean like historical fantasy,
Speaker:like Game of Thrones or The Witcher or Lord of the Rings.
Speaker:Or do you mean fantasy like anime and stuff like that, like power fantasy?
Speaker:I love Disney fantasy.
Speaker:Magical fantasy.
Speaker:Magical fantasy.
Speaker:Yeah, Mary Poppins Returns.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Particular Children.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:One Guy is Right.
Speaker:Warner Brothers.
Speaker:Would you ever do something like How would you tackle something like Tarzan?
Speaker:Because it's still fantasy, but it's like a jungle.
Speaker:Like how do you design The woods.
Speaker:How did he design the jungle?
Speaker:Oh, I probably gotta go to Amazon first.
Speaker:A few months before I took that job.
Speaker:Have you ever, let's say you're working, let's say you're
Speaker:working on a Disney project.
Speaker:There's a lot of CGI that they use for a lot of their stuff, too.
Speaker:When it comes to allocating the budget, you just said that, looking at Willy
Speaker:Wonka's, you were like, oh, I think they had a limitation on the budget.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Should have gone to that amount.
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:What do you think their budget should have been for you to say, okay, I
Speaker:would probably be able to do it.
Speaker:That's a tricky question.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Because really budget is some of the topic that I'm working on.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I'm not really familiar with the U.
Speaker:S.
Speaker:market when it comes to it.
Speaker:I would say million dollars.
Speaker:Would you say it's easier to, because you did say earlier that it was easier
Speaker:to get some stuff in China than it is like here in America, but with
Speaker:CGI it's like you just make it, so if you were doing Willy Wonka in China,
Speaker:would you have more practical stuff or would it be the same amount of CGI?
Speaker:I would love to do more practical.
Speaker:Because we do can make it happen cheaper than CGI.
Speaker:Cheaper than CGI?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What?
Speaker:Are you serious?
Speaker:CGI is really overpriced in China because it's like new technology.
Speaker:Like it's really common here and also in Europe.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But in China it's like It's, they're making a lot of money out of it.
Speaker:With CGI.
Speaker:Yeah, cause it's also, it's like a short resource for in the film industry.
Speaker:Oh, so the Chinese film industry is not as popular as CGI.
Speaker:It's more popular to do with practicals.
Speaker:True.
Speaker:So practicals are cheaper then.
Speaker:True.
Speaker:And also the CGI requires the producer have more knowledge
Speaker:on what they can do in CGI.
Speaker:Aren't you?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And their industry is still younger.
Speaker:Huh.
Speaker:I think in case of Chinese producers, they got to know more
Speaker:about the CGI world to apply it in the commercials and film stuff.
Speaker:Oh, cool.
Speaker:But it's a trend.
Speaker:Whenever you're doing these commercials and projects that you're doing, do you
Speaker:find that the practical is better than the CGI as far as the performances you
Speaker:get from the people in the commercial?
Speaker:Yeah, some actors say that they need it around practicals instead of CGI.
Speaker:Huh.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Do you think it, do you think the practical is better?
Speaker:I totally agree.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The practical is always better.
Speaker:It helps with the acting, the performance, and also it helps with the client because
Speaker:the client doesn't have the imagination.
Speaker:, they're always saying that, I can't imagine this.
Speaker:Show me the picture.
Speaker:The picture.
Speaker:See what Lucy, what it looks like.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You can show a client a green screen and telling them this is what they're
Speaker:gonna be . Have you been there when?
Speaker:Actors have had to completely imagine what's going on, and is it awkward
Speaker:for everybody around to just make believe that something's going on?
Speaker:It happens sometimes when they don't have the time to prepare the
Speaker:CGI drawings ahead or modeling.
Speaker:So sometimes I help with the director.
Speaker:I also do the concept drawings.
Speaker:I do the photoshop of what it will look like in CGI, and the director will
Speaker:show that picture to the celebrity, whoever is performing there, and tell
Speaker:them there is gonna be this, there is gonna be a train, there are mountains.
Speaker:And also sometimes we have something for reference.
Speaker:A combo high.
Speaker:Going high up.
Speaker:Put someone on top of a combo and be like, Oh yeah.
Speaker:This thing, way up here, you're scared of it.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:So that will help.
Speaker:What do you think is, so as a production designer, what do
Speaker:you use on a day to day basis?
Speaker:What is your main tools that you use?
Speaker:Oh, so first of all, for reference, we're using Pinterest the most.
Speaker:Pinterest.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We also use the app called Ego.
Speaker:Ego?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's like a photo collaborative app where we can put all our reference in stock.
Speaker:Because in the commercial world there are so many projects that use like
Speaker:similar rooms, similar type of thing.
Speaker:So sometimes we pull out from our library, like a photo library,
Speaker:that we are building as a team.
Speaker:And for the modeling we do SketchUp.
Speaker:Same in Hollywood, we do SketchUp for modeling, we do
Speaker:Vary or Inkscape for rendering.
Speaker:And sometimes for the real locations that we do Photoshop.
Speaker:Do you like to use?
Speaker:Pictures from other films sometimes, or mostly just realistic stuff?
Speaker:From the films, would be more helpful than the realistic stuff.
Speaker:That was from my experience.
Speaker:Because with the film they have the camera angle, it has the depth of
Speaker:field, and also it has the lighting.
Speaker:So it creates a more closer atmosphere as you may look in the real commercial.
Speaker:So it will help the client to visualize what we are going
Speaker:to get in the final product.
Speaker:Oh, so it's like closer to what it might actually look like.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Now, with AI being such a big thing now is there anything that
Speaker:you use as a production designer?
Speaker:Do you use any AI tools, or do you I haven't tried that before for my job,
Speaker:but I tried for pleasure sometimes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I heard some of the production designers, they use the AI for the
Speaker:reference and also for the drawings.
Speaker:Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You could put into the AI tools what you would want, or you could put in the
Speaker:pictures and be like Type in Super Table.
Speaker:Type in Super Table.
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:Coco, it's been great having you on the show.
Speaker:Do you have any projects that you want to possibly shout out,
Speaker:or where can people follow you?
Speaker:My Instagram is Coco, underscore, Dream Big.
Speaker:That's my design account.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And if you guys go out there, you're gonna see a portfolio of like I think what,
Speaker:are you done 18 billion projects now?
Speaker:Yeah Come on!
Speaker:Yeah, i'm guessing this You do 10 a month!
Speaker:With those brutal schedules.
Speaker:Oh my gosh, she has more experience than we do in a month.
Speaker:She's making We What, it takes us about a couple months to make a project.
Speaker:She's doing 10 a month!
Speaker:We gotta get up to your level Coco.
Speaker:We gotta get up to Chinese standards.
Speaker:Welcome to China!
Speaker:You guys My name is Derek Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Keller.
Speaker:This is Coco Lee.
Speaker:And we'll see you next time.
Speaker:See ya.
Speaker:This has been Film Center on Comic Con Radio.
Speaker:Check out our previous episodes at Comic ConRadio.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:Com.
Speaker:You can follow the show at Film Center News on all major social media platforms.
Speaker:Tune in next Wednesday for a fresh update.
Speaker:Until next time, this has been Film Center.
Speaker:Hey, do you like anime and manga?
Speaker:Nick and I are big fans of the genre.
Speaker:Yeah, we recently discovered a manga named Tamashii.
Speaker:It's written and created by Ryan McCarthy, and it recently just
Speaker:came out with its 10th volume.
Speaker:Now, Tamashii is an isekai.
Speaker:About a girl who gets transported to another world called the Ancient Lands.
Speaker:She gains mysterious powers and must fight demons and monsters to find her way home.
Speaker:Check it out on Amazon, Blurp, and get a physical copy at ryanmccarthyproductions.
Speaker:com
