Production Designer Short Film “Coping” Reeti Narayan
It’s interesting how our perception works. If you know anything about movies you automatically think of a Production Designer as the person who designs and oversees the film sets and the backgrounds, etc., which, of course, is what that highly artistic person does. The thought of her being an artist outside of that realm, that is, actually being able to draw and sketch and come up with unique artistic concepts of how most other things in our daily lives should look never really enters our minds.
We got a chance to look at Production Designer Reeti Narayan’s website and we were blown away by how far-ranging her talent is for all kinds of design, and not just for the movies, although designing for films is her priority. She has some exquisite drawings and renderings of design concepts for her clients outside the entertainment industry. There are buildings, people, menus, and places she has been, along with some very interesting ideas for new businesses, such as completely changing the outside look of the actual storefront and merging alluring color schemes and functionality with futuristic and quite efficient use of space. We loved her menu work. It showed us that Reeti is a true graphic designer whose ideas adapt to any budget and to any assignment. Plus, they demonstrated her wonderful sense of humor and her consistent habit of pleasing the eye.
Reeti is a bona fide architect with credentials and work experience from her home country of India. We certainly understand why she would want to move to Los Angeles and work in the movie business instead of what most of us think of as a very boring life in a quiet architectural office. There goes our perception again. We don’t really know if architecture is boring but we do know that the film industry appears to be colorful, fun, and truly rewarding on many levels.
Reeti has worked on numerous films, music videos, and live events and recently she worked as a Production designer on a short film called Coping, directed by Derek Dow, an award-winning filmmaker. It has been very successfully screened at the Black Harvest Film Festival, Schaumburg Black History Month Short Film Festival, and MECCACon International Film Festival. Her challenge on that film? She had to design one location to look like 3 different sets. She made the apartment look like a therapist’s office, the office reception area, and a virtual reality room.
