A film's art director is in charge of the set, from conception to construction to furnishing. This short film walks the viewer through art directors' responsibilities and the demands on their talents. They read a script carefully and design a set to capture the time and place, the social strata, and the mood. They must be scholars of the history of architecture, furnishings, and fashion. They choose the colors on a set in anticipation of the lighting and the mood. Their work also sets styles, from Art Deco in the 20's to 30s modernism. Then it's on to the next project. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphre...

Les Blank's poetic documentation of 1967's Los Angeles Easter Sunday Love-In. Preserved by the Acad...

A description and enactment of the discovery of gold by James Marshall, and the role played by John ...
Documentary short film reporting on the activities of the American Red Cross and the useage made of ...

This short focuses on the job of the costume designer in the production of motion pictures. The cost...

Produced by the Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps, with the cooperation of the Army Air Forces an...

The documentary traces Eddie Sachs (one of the most popular drivers in the history of the Indianapol...

The Town was a short propaganda film produced by the Office of War Information in 1945. It presents ...

Satyajit Ray's poetic documentary was commissioned by the Chogyal (King) of Sikkim at a time when he...

Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each wa...

One of Les Blank's industrial films, which follows a Holly Farms "broiler" chicken from factory incu...

A lyrical recreation of Lightnin’ Hopkins’ decision at age eight to stop chopping cotton and start s...

Follows a crusading lawyer as he embarks on a campaign to save an African-American man, Paul Crump, ...

A truly major work, I Don’t Know observes the relationship between a lesbian and a transgender perso...

The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director We...
Documentarian Jon Boorstin follows architect Frank Gehry and his sister, Doreen Gehry Nelson, as the...

A look inside the Will Vinton Studio, with specializes in stop-motion animations with clay. Preserv...

Part documentary, part expose, this film follows one-time child evangelist Marjoe Gortner on the "ch...

A portrait of artist, actress, poet and occultist Marjorie Cameron, it shows images of her paintings...

This Oscar-winning documentary tells the story behind Japanese daredevil Yuichiro Miura's 1970 effor...