The Worker Bees…. |
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The Art Director… |
 Designing a set |
The Art Director, also known as a Production Designer, is responsible for the visual quality of the film. The script is given to them to read through and once they have they imagine the scenes in detail. They then direct the various departments like set design, props and costume design to bring to life the vision the script had given them. The role of the Art Director is more apparent in those films that are more time specific, and those whose sets and costumes have a great importance to the story like Marie Antoinette (1936 and 2006), The Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, and 2003), Pirates of the Caribbean (2003, 2006, and 2007)and Earthsea (2004). They are also important in films where special effects like those in San Francisco (1936) and In Old Chicago (1937) are needed. Also many of the films made by MGM during the Studio era are good examples for art direction such as Naughty Marietta (1935), Merry Widow (1934), and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).
 The fire.... "In Old Chicago" 1937 |
 Darryl Zanuck, Alfred Hichcock and Salvator Dali collaborate on "Spellbound" |
 "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" 1954 |
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For FortApache and many other John Ford films, the art director was James Basevi.
 "Fort Apache" |
He was born in Plymouth England on June 11, 1890 and was known not only as an art director but also as a special effects expert. He served in the British Army in World War I and exited with the rank of Colonel. He emigrated to Canada and then the US in 1924. He started his career working as a set designer for MGM soon after, where he became the head of the special effects department once the studio began producing sound films. His special effects while at MGM include the San Franciscoearthquake which was so realistic that documentaries of the event use his footage. In 1936 he began working for Fox where he met John Ford and did a special effects sequence for The Hurricane. He also did art direction for films such as A Yank in the RAF (1941), Black Swan (1942),and Hello, Frisco, Hello (1945).
 "The Black Swan" 1942 |
He later went back to Art direction and even won an Oscar with William Darling in 1943 for the film The Song of Bernadette. He also worked as an Art department head for Vangaurd Films (known for modern animation films such as Shrek (2001)) where he worked on the Alfred Hitchcock film Spellbound (1945) with famous painter Salvador Dali. Later he became a freelance designer. In 1948, Fort Apache was released. This film stared Harry Fonda (our spotlight in this issue) and John Wayne and was filmed in various places, including Moab, Utah (See “Starring My Town”). Basevi also worked on the follow up movie She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)but did not return for the third in the series Rio Grande(1950). His final film was The Searchers (1953) once again with John Ford and John Wayne.
 "Song of Bernadette" (1943) |
 "The Searchers" 1953 |
James Basevi died in Bellflower California on March 27, 1962 at the age of 71.
For more on San Francisco, see Issue 1 http://arabella-and-co.com/1/mnmovie1.htm and
Issue 21 http://www.arabella-and-co.com/21/readers505.htm
The Composer… |
 Setting the mood |
Another important part of a film is the music that accompanies it. Most films have at least a few pieces written specifically for the film. This music is known as a score and the writer or composer can usually be found after the words “Original Score by” or a similar credit. Famous score composers include John Williams (Star Wars, Harry Potter), Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings), Danny Elfman (Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman), Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Taxi Driver), Leonard Rosenman (Rebel Without a Cause, Fantastic Voyage), and Max Steiner (Casablanca). The score of a film is a very important part because it sets the mood of the scenes as much as the actor’s tone of voice or facial expression.
 "Casablanca" (1942) |
 "Fantastic Voyage" (1966) |
Most often, a score is written as an instrumental to be played by an orchestra. Many filmmakers prefer this to having an electronic score or songs from various musical artists. However, depending on the mood of the plot, an occasional musical piece written by a musician will appear to set a particular scene differently then the rest.
Essentially the director will sit with the composer and discuss the themes he feels are in the movie and what kind of mood he or she would like to see for a particular scene. The composers then try to write music that will help give the impression that the director had.
In the case of Fort Apache the composer was Richard Hagman.
Hagman was born on July 9, 1882 in Leeuwarden, Freisland in The Netherlands and started his musical career early. He was performing piano concerts by the age of six and worked his way up to becoming the conductor of the Royal Opera Company in Amsterdam in 1889. In 1906 he became a U.S. citizen and took a position as assistant conductor of the Metropolitan Opera two years later. He was promoted to conductor in 1914 and continued to hold the position till 1932. At that point he became the head of the Opera department at the Curtis Institute for four years before becoming music director at the Chicago Civic Opera and the Ravinia Park Opera. During the summers he also headed the Philadelphia Orchestra and frequently guest conducted at various symphony orchestras.
 Curtis Institute |
 Hollywood Bowl |
His career in Hollywood began in 1938 where he conducted the Hollywood Bowl for six seasons and did the score of various films. Some of the films that he worked on were Stagecoach (1939), The Angel and the Badman (1947), The Fugitive (1947), Fort Apache (1948),and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949).
Hagman joined the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1950. He died on March 6, 1966 in Beverly Hills, California. However, his music made another appearance in Larger Than Life (1996) when the music he made for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was used in the soundtrack.
To find out more about the ASCAP, you can visit their website: http://www.ascap.com/index.html
 "Larger Than Life" (1994) |