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Moviemaker sets the scene for BAFTA tilt
The devil's in the detail says a Calderdale film production guru nominated for a top award. Virginia Mason reports.
And the winner for best set design is . .
IT is the attention to detail that is key, says Duncan Windram-Wheeler of his job. It's all about creating an illusion.
And he obviously knows what he is talking about since this weekend he could be the proud owner of a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award.
Duncan is part of the production design team who worked on the acclaimed Red Riding television drama, a trilogy of films based on the books of David Peace, dealing with police corruption, and set against a backdrop of the Yorkshire Ripper murders.
Duncan worked as set decorator on the first of the three films - In The Year of Our Lord 1974 - which used several Halifax locations and which starred Sean Bean, Warren Clarke and Andrew Garfield as journalist, Eddie Dunford. The film has now been nominated in BAFTA's craft awards with the ceremony held on Sunday at London's Hilton Hotel.
"It will be terrific recognition if we win," says Duncan chatting at his lovely home in Heptonstall. We are seated in the conservatory which is awash with colour and glorious textiles - the talents of Duncan's wife, Nicola, a costume designer.
He reveals that this is the second time he has been nominated for a BAFTA - the first was for Seaforth, a 1994 television series, part of which was filmed in Hebden Bridge.
His career as a film production buyer and set dresser now spans 40 years and his lengthy cv makes for impressive reading.
It includes popular television series such as Poldark, Spooks, A Touch of Frost and Sharpe, light entertainment programmes including the Freddie Starr and David Essex Showcases and major movies such as the newly released Four Lions, the debut feature film from director Chris Morris. Duncan worked as set dresser on the film, a satire following a group of Islamic Jihadi terrorists from Sheffield, England.
He was also involved with the 1997 blockbuster, The Full Monty, working as production buyer and tells a lovely story of the process involved in trying to acquire a dole office for the filming of the famous dole queue dance scene.
"Basically we filmed out of hours when the office was closed, built our set and then had to make sure it was all dismantled ready for the opening in the morning.
"It was just one small part of that film but probably the one everyone remembers. It's all about creating illusions. You're there for just a few days on set but hopefully what you create will live on," he says.
He talks passionately about the British film industry and how it is suffering because of free downloads. As a result he is campaigning for the government to introduce tougher legislation.
There is no doubt he enjoys a challenge and every production will throw up something different. "Often it's the budget that's the main challenge," he says laughing. "But I like making something work."
He backs this up with a collection of fascinating snippets relating to various productions including the 1992 Rutger Hauer futuristic film Split Second, which involved blowing up a tube train.
"First we had to find an old train, move it across London, build a tube station around it, flood it and blow it up. Oh and there was a monster. The hardest bit was replacing the real glass in the carriage windows with sugar glass. You can't believe what a pain that was."
With Red Riding, the challenges were less spectacular, but there all the same.
"The key was to dress the sets as realistically as possible for the time, the 1970s and because it's relatively recent you have to be spot on because people remember and if you get something wrong, they'll see it straight away," he says.
For the Red Riding scenes of a busy Yorkshire newspaper's newsroom, he turned to his friend, former Evening Courier journalist Clive Bond.
"He was brilliant at telling me how journalism was in the 1970s, because he had been there. So I'm really pleased we managed to create an authentic set."
Duncan adds how he spent a whole week on eBay tracking down 30 1970s cigarette lighters ("everybody smoked then, especially in workplaces like newspaper offices") and then tracked down someone in Coventry who managed to get all but one working.
One scene called for a Hillard's supermarket carrier bag. "Obviously no originals existed but I could remember the logo and the colours so we got some printed up."
Duncan's career began after originally studying to be a research chemist.
"I realised I didn't want to be a scientist so I walked into the old Leeds Playhouse one day in 1970 and said 'any chance of a job?' They said 'when can you start?'
He then went on to work as a stage manager, props' man and props buyer before moving into production and sets.
"I love the job although even though you never really know when the next job is." (He is hoping that the next will be a film with Imelda Staunton and Helena Bonham Carter or one involving Eddie Izzard.)
"It can be stressful but it is never, ever boring. I mean, I've even worked with Rod Hull and Emu."
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Tuesday 07 February 2012
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