Featured Article No7
Alan Spalding reveals how to saves time and money on any production. Words by Lynda Beckett.
Alan Spalding is a talented production designer with the ability to create any environment required from Ancient Rome to the far off lands of Narnia. What strikes you most about his on screen work is the attention to detail, there’s a Peter Greenaway feel about it; every object and its surroundings are so carefully chosen. His obvious love of history is 
encapsulated within each scene as you are transported into the centre of the action, be it a Napoleonic war or during Nero burning Rome. Curiously, because of this love of history within his work I wanted to find out the secret behind his beautiful recreations, so I ventured across London to his creative den. Within minutes I was whisked into his own walled library, thousands of books lined the walls from top to toe, from the Renaissance to contemporary furniture design and beyond. This was a true sign of anyone commitment to research. I could have spent weeks in that beautiful room curled over books, however I had another task.
I had come to pin point what is at the crux of a successful production from a master designer’s point of view. Within minutes I was told. Alan is most definite about it all being the planning, yes the planning. Getting the time to research properly is crucial and knowing the history around the period you’re designing within. Being able to immerse yourself in the architecture, culture and design of the time. To read the books, gather the images and then meld the different elements together to create a memorable and sensitive reconstruction of the desired period. Alan has recently implemented this when he exhaustively scoured through research material and found arresting locations to visually reproduce the lives of some of history’s greatest warriors for the BBC /Discovery series Heroes and Villains.
Shooting any large period piece in HD doesn’t come cheap, so on Heroes and Villains Alan knew good planning meant he wouldn’t venture into the realms of spending money when he didn’t need to. During the making of Napoleon, it was quickly realized that Toulon, Napoleon’s original stomping ground was going to be out of the question for filming, too built up and modernised. So Malta and Gozo were suggested and proved to be excellent locations, easily transformed into 18th century France; ideal for Napoleonic times. One great find was a fantastic 18th century theatre in Valetta which was used for a scene about French Revolutionary Propaganda and another was the bareness of landscape on Gozo, it was perfect for the battle scenes.
Alan was able to visit the locations three times, initially with Nick Murphy, the writer/director with his synopsis of the docudrama. From this visit Nick got his ideas and was able to consolidate the script. The second visit confirmed the locations and he and Alan decided exactly what was required at each. The final visit was used as a camera recce to pass the information across to the rest of the unit. Taking time to look around Malta meant Nick and Alan were able to develop the script, finding new locations that would later feature in the final production.
To re-enact the fort scenes Alan found a low stone terrace wall built by a farmer on Gozo. The set builders were able to build and dress the top of a terrace to look like a realistic Napoleonic fortress. This saved money on the fort build, as did the finding the Arsenal of Fort Ricassoli, built by the British in the 19th century. It transformed into a sparse 18th century hospital ward with a few hired lanterns and a minimum of other props. Shot cleverly split screen, the production were able to use half the actors, this left money to help build unique working replicates of old French canons used in the battle scenes at the Fort.
‘Malta was a brilliant location, the local set and model builders created work to such a high standard, and they all spoke English, which really helps. There are loads of props and models already in storage from other productions shot on the island, a model ship again saved us money with a little adaptation as it was already there.’
‘Knowing what you really need to build helps’. Excellent storyboards drawn for the Nero episode of Ancient Rome by Gregg Fangeaux made every ones job just that much easier. T
his time round we were 
on location in Tunisia working with CGI enhancing crowd scenes in amphitheatres, creating Rome and again re-enacting massive events in history. We were using matte lines in order to enhance the on screen image and CGI cityscapes in the distance. With careful planning and negotiation the team were able to film within an archeaological site at Dougga, Tunisia, to portray the scenes after the burning of Rome and for the initial rebuilding of the city scenes. Getting access to a site like this would be unheard of in the UK. The actual burning scenes were on the Rome set built at Hammamet.’
The job of the designer is to be the visual co-ordinator, the one who pulls the image and the look of the whole production together. Shooting in HD and using CGI means the designer’s job doesn’t finish when the shoot wraps. Attention to detail is everything, therefore Alan likes to keep an eye across the production when it is in post, monitoring the CGI, making sure it is seamless, co-ordinating the visual and historical accuracy of the piece, as he has researched the period in context and has done the ground knowledge of the historical setting of the production.
Alan obviously enjoys working with new technology and has bags of experience working in HD and CGI, however as I leave he tells me a nugget of a story about getting a hat to land on a coat-stand. ‘CGI isn’t always the answer; a piece of fishing line and reversing the shot was in this instance.’
And what did I learn from my visit to Alan…? Planning, forethought, a good production team, a good director and a wise production designer seem to be the order to the day for a successful production.
All photos and planning sheets courtesy of Alan Spalding. Storyboards courtesy of Gregg Fangeaux.