Luigi
Marchione

Teaching:

Course:

Art Direction for Cinema

Second level

Biography

Luigi Marchione is a Production Designer, Art Director and Visual Artist who works in film, television and theatre. His training was significantly shaped by his experiences in the fields of staging and opera, working with Franco Zeffirelli and the production designer Gianni Quaranta (Academy Award winner for A Room with a View).
In the field of cinema, a key milestone was his meeting and professional collaboration with Ermanno Olmi, with whom he designed the production sets for The Profession of Arms and Singing Behind the Screens. For these projects, he received major awards, including a David di Donatello and a Nastro d’Argento for production design, as well as other prizes and honourable mentions for the same works.
In the theatre, his work has also evolved through engagement with directing and the live performance production machine, including his collaboration with Luca Ronconi, which has consolidated an approach based on method, design clarity and control of visual coherence.
His filmography includes both Italian and international titles, with roles ranging from Production Designer and Art Director to Concept Artist / Visual Development work. He has worked with Peter Webber (Kingdoms of Fire), Carlo Verdone and Alessandro D’Alatri, among others.
During his time in the United Kingdom, he worked as Art Director and Concept Artist on productions associated with Ridley Scott (Exodus), Guy Ritchie (King Arthur) and Kenneth Branagh (Murder on the Orient Express, Artemis Fowl, Death on the Nile).
His expertise encompasses set design and visualisation, with a focus on communication between the director and the various departments.
Listed/recognised in the main industry databases, he is also a member of the A.S.C. – Associazione Italiana Scenografi Costumisti Arredatori (Italian Association of Set Designers, Costume Designers and Prop Stylists).
In his teaching, he favours a practical approach, drawing on his experience as a Production Designer, Art Director and Concept Artist: from interpreting the scene to building the visual world, through to the ability to make decisions communicable to the various departments by means of drawings, reference materials and a clear, verifiable dossier.

Art Direction for Cinema

Teaching programme

Target audience: students on the Cinematography course and the two-year Scenography course
Approach: Workshop-based programme incorporating case analyses, guided exercises, reviews and progressive submissions.

Overview (what ‘ART DIRECTION’ means in cinema)
In cinema, ART DIRECTION corresponds to the production design department in its broadest sense: the design and realisation of the film’s visual world (settings, objects, materials, colour, atmosphere), in alignment with the narrative, direction and cinematography, and in dialogue with production, costume design and any special effects.
The Production Designer defines the overall visual framework; the Art Director organises and oversees its practical realisation, ensuring consistency, attention to detail and continuity.

Guiding concept
The course focuses specifically on the director’s (and, more generally, the filmmaker’s) ability to visualise their idea in terms of production design and to communicate it to the various departments through clear drawings and reference materials. This enables effective collaboration with the scenography, costume, cinematography and production departments, even without technical training as a production designer.

Learning objectives
The course aims to provide students with practical tools to:

Translating a scene or short sequence into well-founded visual choices (space, material, colour, atmosphere);
developing a method for researching, selecting and organising reference materials;
developing a shared language for collaboration between departments (scenography, costume, production, cinematography);
producing a final project that is printable, clear and usable in a professional context.

A non-standardisable learning path, but with common rules
Students in the class may have different starting skills: for this reason, the course is not the same for everyone in terms of the tools used (drawing, collage, photography, material samples, layout), but it is the same for everyone in three non-negotiable aspects:

Objectives: To produce a coherent and communicable visual project.
Minimum deliverables: identical for everyone.
Assessment criteria: identical for everyone (coherence, clarity, quality and printability of the final submission, ability to justify choices).

Final outcome
A3 printable mood board + essential project dossier.
Each student submits one mood board in A3 format, ready for printing, created using both traditional and digital methods:

Traditional: drawings, sketches, handmade collages, annotations, material samples, printed photographs;
Digital: collection and organisation of references, layout, incorporation of images/drawings/photographs, revision and finalisation.

(From the second occurrence onwards: ‘mood board’, without repeating ‘mood’.)

Minimum mandatory contents of the dossier:

Selected and justified visual research
main mood board (plus any variations)
stage space layout (diagram/sketch/rough plan or visual layout)
Essential list of furniture and props (with priority)
Notes on consistency with characters and costumes, and indications of atmosphere in line with the narrative

Course structure
1) Fundamentals and methodology of ART DIRECTION

Role and responsibilities of the production design department in the filmmaking process;
From scene to choices: a practical breakdown (space, time, action, objects, materials, atmosphere);
Research criteria: relevance, coherence, hierarchies, justification of choices.

2) Research, observation and construction of the visual world

Construction and organisation of references (spaces, surfaces, objects, colour, light, signs of time);
Observation and drawing exercises as tools for decision-making and synthesis.

3) Application to the scene and finalisation of the printable work

Coherence between setting, objects, characters/costumes and atmosphere;
Definition of priorities (what is essential and what is secondary);
layout and finishing of the booklet;
Final presentation and critical discussion.
There will be an outdoor day dedicated to life drawing and the targeted collection of reference material to support the creation of the plates.

Professional materials analysed

Ridley Scott – Exodus (director’s materials)
Davide Gentile – Denti da Squalo (director’s materials)
Examples of ART DIRECTION: Exodus and Snow White)

Ermanno Olmi – Singing Behind the Screens (construction of the visual world)

About

Bibliography

Peter Ettedgui, Production Design
Fionnuala Halligan, Production Design

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LuigiMarchione

Luigi
Marchione