OUGD501 - Studio Brief 01 - Further Reading - Eaton and Hickson on High-Rise

This interview with the production designers of 2015 High-Rise by Mark Sinclair in Creative Review gives a first hand account from the designers themselves allowing an analysis of their design approach. Michael Eaton and Felicity Hickson both worked on the production design for High-Rise and discuss how they approach the work for Ben Wheatley's film.

Their main inspiration came from 1970's imagery, this in itself is a pastiche of cultural memory. Much of their work was taken from inspiration of other works which, ranging from existing examples of packaging, photography and production design in existing films.

The supermarket scenes were inspired by Andreas Gursky's photography work, many of the props where inspired by old 1970s text books, 1970's packaging, examples from the Museum of Brands in London and IKEA manuals. Some of the type treatment was even inspired by Stanley Kubrick films.

The production design in High-Rise has been inspired by a variety of 1970s items as well as other imagery. This collection of pastiche or imitation is another example of Jameson's blank parody in place, it is romanticising the 1970s and creating nostalgia film. The work has been inspired by this imagery for the sake of it being from the 1970s.