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FIVE IN FOCUS
Everyone - from spy writers to spry stylemakers - have opinions about film, culture, and art. Check out the top-five lists of our favorite cultural trendsetters.
Designers on Design in Film
Designers on Design in Film

Detail: The Bride of Frankenstein

Obviously films tell stories about people. But they also tell stories about places — homes, offices, castles, prisons, dreams. It falls to the production designer and art director to work with the director to create those spaces. (To learn about the collaboration between Joe Wright and his production design, Oscar-nominated Sarah Greenwood in Design of History). For designers, these sometimes magical, sometime nightmarish constructions can spur on real life designs. Sometimes its as literal as copying an image. At other times, its more philosophical, like the issue of light for Deborah Berke in Wait After Dark. And sometimes is just the graphic shape of things, as the proportions and perspective of objects in The Bride of Frankenstein for Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz.

We asked five leading architect/designers to tell us what five films — and why — have inspired their own creative growth and direction. The results are fascinating, not simply for the diversity of films. Connecting the designers' work to their films throws light on the complexity of the creative process itself.


The Designers
Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz

Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz

For designer Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, cinema is an infinite font of inspiration. We asked him for his five most inspirational films.

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Deborah Berke

Deborah Berke

Architect and interior designer Deborah Berke chooses five films which have influenced her sense of style.

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William Sofield

William Sofield

Stylish modernist designer William Sofield today selects the five films cinematic experiences influenced his aesthetic sensibility.

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Jonathan Adler

Jonathan Adler

Guru of grooviness Jonathan Adler remembers the films that opened his eyes to the world of chic and style.

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Calvin Tsao

Calvin Tsao

Calvin Tsao, half of the esteemed architectural duo Tsao & McKown, emphasizes the importance of collaboration. We asked what five films have helped him.

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Filmmakers' Tips on Green Filmmaking
Filmmakers' Tips on Green Filmmaking
Kermit the Frog once declared, “It’s not that easy being green.”  Or perhaps it is. While t...
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Nothing but Fear Itself
Nothing but Fear Itself
The first recounted horror film, Le Manoir du Diable, was made in 1896 by Georges Mèliès. A rath...
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High on Film
High on Film
Many writers from Thomas de Quincy to William Burroughs have attempted to describe in prose the stra...
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Comedians
Comedians
A stand-up comic attempting to parlay his onstage charisma from comedy club to silver screen is abou...
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Projectionists and Theater Managers
Projectionists and Theater Managers
Between school recess, vacations and all the new movies in theaters, most of us watch a lot of movi...
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<em>Sin Nombre</em>'s Westerns
Sin Nombre's Westerns
While Sin Nombre brings a story of hope to the thousands of brutal tales about immigration from Cen...
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Portland Bands
Portland Bands
Certain places seem to become magnets for the bohemian indie musician. The most famous, of course, ...
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The Magicians
The Magicians
Moviegoers are used to experiencing magic. Sword-bearing heroes flying through the air, villains mu...
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