PRODUCTION DESIGNER'S NOTES
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The design of T.R.A.N.S.I.T is hinged around 1927-1928. Each sequence pays reference to a different style of graphic art current at that period. A highly fashionable and stylized era in the decorative arts, in terms of fashion never had so much been done to flatter and adorn the female sex. The age was rich and cultured with a great desire for novelty and surprise. Serge Diaghilev's command to Jean Cocteau: "Astonish me!", was typical of the attitude to life. Someone new would be discovered, feted and indulged, but only as long as incisive work was produced. The abstract and fractured styles of illustration have obvious roots in the abstract paintings of Picasso and Braque. Each style has its own honed down simplicity, a sophisticated abration of the jazz age. Because of the wide diversity of styles and abstractions it was important in T.R.A.N.S.I.T to keep the three main characters constant and recognizable throughout. We cast a "mood" tape and photographic reference for the animators to keep a continuity of gesture and expression to the three. Although concerned with the broader brush strokes of the design styles I find I have an almost fanatical obsession in finding the 'right' car, the 'right' aeroplane, the 'right' gun etc. Amsterdam The design for this sequence is based on social-realism illustrations and posters, in particular the work of Dutch artist Albert Hahn. Hahn worked around the turn of the century, so his art is strictly speaking dated too early for T.R.A.N.S.I.T. His limited palette with strong use of black line and texture however does provide the environment of Oscar Bleek's solid working class life. Baden Baden In contrast the looser, more fluid style of this sequence, using brush pen line and colour highlights that are double exposed in camera, sketches the opulence of the health spa where Oscar and Emmy's passion blooms. St. Tropez The strong colour with an absence of line here are intended to enhance the carefree moment in Oscar and Emmy's affair. The style is inspired by the sophisticated simplicity of the 1920's holiday posters. Egypt Originally inspired by the design on an cocoa packet but adapted to give a sense of the extreme heat of the desert and also the stark reality of an act of violence. The animation was rendered in pastel on coloured paper. Venice The theme in design terms in this sequence is reflections and duplicity, an affair which has gone horribly wrong, the two players facing the unthinkable with their own strong desires. The angular line, very much inspired by the fashion illustrations of artists like Charles Martin, L'Hom and Lucien Vogel, hopes to enhance the brittle, violent state of the relationship. The purple bedroom to enhance the duplicity of passion and violence. Orient Express The style for this sequence is inspired by an engraved glass panel from the interior of the Orient Express Venice Simplon train. We wanted to combine the Art Deco feel with a dark and monochromatic feel to echo the drama of the urgent sense of Emmy's escape and Oscar's hot pursuit of her across Europe, paying reference to the rail travel posters by Cassandre. This was achieved after some sticky experimentation with glue by multiple exposures of chromomatte tinted in camera with gels. The backgrounds were airbrushed in white ink. SS l'Amerique du Sud The design for this sequence shows a sharp contrast between the dark world of the workers below decks in the boiler room and that of the light stylish and rather vacuous world of the players above deck. Oscar appearing somewhere between the two sporting the deep red which acts as a motif of lust and violence throughout the film. As in the Orient Express sequence, Cassandre strongly influenced the look of the backgrounds. |
| - Gill Bradley |
