⌊Can you please patina the chickens?⌋
The snow still needs to be painted away. The grass isn't green enough, can you change that? We need a patina that is easy to wash off, but it should be weatherproof. Please paint this wall away, I would hate to have it in the picture. All columns are supposed to have a marble structure, but the monument protection authority does not agree to us painting them. Remember, we are a green production , a small film and we have no money!” These are also demands on us that we try to meet. They are tasks that we enjoy taking on and that make our work varied – the spice in the soup.
↑ The Manchon’s at lunch break
↑ Painting based on Gerhard Richter, Felix Manchon
The different shimmer of wood
The needs of Production Designers are individual, diverse, exciting and our solutions often have to be creative. Whether tasks are repeated? Actually, not really. For example, painting wood is common, but every wood has to look different in every film. Sometimes reddish, sometimes like oak, sometimes noble, sometimes historic or with a silvery shimmer because it has been lying outside in wind and weather for years. For these reasons, our work is anything but boring. Especially not since we can work together and complement each other.
Even if the chickens run away cackling, the color of the wall can only be adjusted so that it doesn't stand out, but it will still be visible in the scene due to the light and shadow... it's definitely worth a try.
↑ Sculpture-painterly wall design, imitation of slate for Ferdinand von Schirach's “She says. He says.”, production design: Silke Buhr
↑ Plastic-painterly wall structure for the Sky series “Hausen”, production design: Jenny Roesler
↑ Imitation marble on adhesive film for the Netflix series “Winterpalace”, production design: Marion Schramm
↑ Digital painting for the post-production of “Jim Knopf”, production design: Matthias Müsse
With shellac, quark and bitumen
We paint pictures, make fonts, make rust, rotten plaster, weathered wood, peeling paint, slate surfaces... Our bus is like a laboratory in which we (to name just a few) shoe polish, wax, stains, natural latex, wool felt , fixogum , bluing, spirit, lubricant, borax, instant coffee, walnut flour, cellulose, potassium permanganate, water glass, shellac, quark, bitumen, earth, ox bile, transport ash. What are we? Sometimes chemists, bricklayers, painters, artisans, gilders, sculptors, alchemists. We are both passionate “Theater Painters”; this job title is at least on our diploma. Felix learned this profession at Südwestrundfunk, I studied theater painting at the Art College in Dresden. Felix has been working in his job for 30 years, as a scene painter for 25 years and for 6 years, since all the children left home, we have been traveling happily through the country as a family team. Since then, we have been working together on colors and glazes, painting and patinating, helping to realize the Production Designers' wishes and making film dreams come true.
A lot is possible: making parquet from a printed floor, old panes from simple glass, making slate from soft fiber. “How do you get it to do the right thing? What do you need from us? What’s the best way to talk to you?” the Production Design students asked us during our Patina courses at the film schools and universities in Potsdam and Ludwigsburg.
