Public defence in Film and Television, MA Meri Marjaana Rantama

Title of thesis: Tasapainoa tavoittamassa - Lavastajan ammatillinen asiantuntijuus fiktioelokuvatuotannon ennakkosuunnittelun valtakäytännöissä

Doctoral student: Meri Marjaana Rantama
Opponent: Professor emerita Pirjo Ståhle
Custos: Professor Susanna Helke, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Department of Film

Film set designers create whole cinematic worlds, but how much power do they have to do it on their own terms? This doctoral thesis is an inquiry into power structures in film production and how they limit the possibilities for creativity - and challenges filmmakers to examine their ideas about power, responsibility and future stories. 

This research examines the professional expertise of set designers from the starting point of the problematic power relationships within the pre-production phase. The set designer is hired for a project not until the production framework is defined. The set designer's aim however is to create a stream of affective effects in the narrative, in which the various elements of the set are integrated into the work as a whole and communicate the story's meanings to the spectator. 'Affective effects' refers to the way in which the set appeals to the emotions and responses of the viewer before the meanings have had time to activate conscious thought. 

In this practice-based research, the set designer-researcher analyzes the power practices from the perspectives of repetition and silencing. The findings present five "narratives of public truth": everything can be found in the script; the set designer should realize the director's vision; conflict is inscribed in the producer-director relationship; competition guarantees quality and verbal communication enables understanding the meanings of the story. The narratives are compared with the practitioners’ experiential knowledge and contextualized in relation to the wider phenomena of power. The research demonstrates that production structures often limit the ability of set designers to utilize their professional expertise. It appears that both the challenges to the practices and attempts to resolve them arise from socially constructed power practices and cultural patterns of thought beyond film. 

This research takes part in the process of changing such power practices of filmmaking. Film is seen as a product where artistic and economic agency intersect. The effects extend both to our collective consciousness and to the real world. The study suggests that filmmakers need to examine their perceptions of film and of themselves as filmmakers, and it concludes with an emphasis on the meaningfulness of the art work as a primary consideration in our search for more sustainable ways of making films and of being individuals together in our shared world.

Contact

Thesis available for public display 10 days prior to the defence at: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/doc_public/eonly/riiputus/

Doctoral theses in the School of Arts, Design and Architecture: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/54