JAMIE WEISS
Interviewed by Nicole
May 9, 2020
Jamie Weiss is a production designer from Chicago who is now currently based in Orange, California. They fell in love with visual storytelling at a young age, starting out as a screenwriter who enjoyed writing about fantasy worlds. Their understanding of characters enhances their approach to design as they contemplates what colors, spatial relationships, and props affect the way in which characters interact and feel. Their style typically consists of bold colors, retro elements, and quirky props.
Nicole: How did you get your start in the film world? Were you always in production design?
Jamie: I started off in the theater world and it was with my high school theater director, Mr. Ash, where I discovered my love for directing and screen writing films. I quickly then realized that I did not have the motivation to write everyday but I still wanted to be involved with process of telling stories. As a director, I would always decorate my own sets myself, I didn’t even realize that there was a specific job for that. I got my first production designer job because a friend really liked the way I had decorated my room.
Nicole: Above all else, you are a production designer, but you have done it all - from writing and directing your own films, being a part of making music videos, working on launching clothing lines, alcohol campaigns, & more. What is your favorite part about story telling and what has been your favorite medium to work with?
Jamie: My favorite part about being a production designer has to be the props. The way individuals interact with the objects in their spaces has to be realistic to make the story believable. When building a scene or a set, I will sometimes have the opportunity to go to a prop house and peruse for hours, finding an old object used in other sets and films to inspire the world we are trying to create. There is always a moment when I find an object that will hit me and it’s “the one” that will make the story come alive.
When I was working on the short film In My Image, we were building a 70’s sci-fi world. It wasn’t like we were creating a world from thin air. The technology from the time existed. It’s incredibly tangible. We just had to find the right pieces to create the color scheme and we just didn’t know what it would be yet. I found this orange TV that was just absolutely perfect, I was obsessed with it. Using that as the center piece, the rest of the set just fell into place. So yes, the prop houses have to be my favorite part about production design.
In terms of my favorite mediums to work with - I really enjoy working with photography because you really have one shot to convey whatever message you were tasked to. You can do a lot with one shot and less has to be taken into account when there is no movement. However I think my favorite medium to work with would have to be short films.
Every project is different. sometimes I get a call sheet that has little to no information other than where to be and when. sometimes I don’t even know who I am working for. Some sets I am there to just hang out and keep things organized. However sometimes, you get a project and work so closely with it that it becomes very much a part of your life for months and months and months. You see it from the very beginning and are apart of bringing the entire process to life.
When you are in the middle of school or work or life is just happening to you, there will often be opportunities to do something new and exciting, to be apart of something you have absolutely no experience with. That can be incredibly daunting. I have found that sometimes with myself, it is easier to take the convenient route and turn down those projects and work with mediums and on things you have had experience with - it’ll take less time because you know how to do the work and how to make it look good.I have had this experience with a few projects. For example, the music video for the single Growing Pains by Teddy Coffey is something I often look back at and feel my actual heartstrings tug. I have also recently worked on a few thesis films that completely put me out of my comfort zone. instead of like In My Image, where we got to create our own universe, the world of Silk Screen, a short film about a Korean American family residing in LA working in the t-shirt printing business, already exists.
With Silk Screen, I had to spend months doing research in order to feel remotely confident in being able to tell this story in an accurate and respectful way. I had the opportunity to dive into a culture and get a glimpse of a human experience that I have had absolutely no exposure to and may never would have discovered on my own in order to ensure the setting with the interaction of characters felt genuine. learning about another culture and their experiences helped to not only better my own knowledge and perspective as a human being, but to also make me a more well rounded creative.
Nicole: You mentioned you were wrapping up some exciting projects before the world got chaotic. What does your day to day look like especially now that we are all living our lives at home?
Jamie: Honestly, I am just not creating anything at the moment. Being in quarantine has been really good for me though because I am actually sitting down to do the things I normally wouldn’t have the time to do or would even want to do. I am updating my portfolio and my resume. I am cleaning out my computer. I am even taking the time to learn new things like some more graphic design stuff that I wouldn’t have had time to delve into and just applying for more jobs and hoping another cool opportunity comes my way.
