From the smallest prop to the largest set no job is too small or too large and whatever their complexity the same care and attention to detail is always maintained.

Stephen is a member of the United Scenic Artists Local USA 829.

One of the most important products the Art Department generates are the construction drawings as they communicate the set designs into buildable forms allowing the vision to become reality. Working as a set designer much experience has been gained drawing set construction drawings from classical architecture to futuristic spacecraft, by hand and by utilising CAD.

Care is always taken to ensure that the set layout drawings are produced to define the overall look, space and volume of the set and reference the details and components that will make up the set. The methods of construction, materials, cost, schedule and shooting requirements are always considered as the set drawings are developed.

To ensure the set has the necessary detail to make it believable and so it also fulfils the shooting requirements the set detail drawings are produced to show portions of the set to ensure that the detail is communicated fully.

By co-ordinating with the model makers, construction drawings are developed which are sympathetic to the modelling methods and still maintain the necessary detail for shooting. The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur were featured in Entrapment. To generate the exterior backdrops to the live action a 30 foot high tenth scale replica was created of fifty floors of the two towers and also of the sky bridge that connects them. The huge quantity of parts and the overall size required that the construction had to be as simple as possible and yet still have adequate detail to mimic the originals. Careful consideration was given to how to construct the model and by drawing the construction drawings in CAD it was also possible to generate individual part drawings that could be CNC cut or etched from brass to greatly speeding up the model build and ensuring accuracy.

Utilising structural engineering skills and knowledge Stephen is able to design SFX rigs. Often elements of a set or sometimes the whole set require supporting steelwork to hold them on the SFX rig or the SFX rig within the set. Working with the Special Effects technicians their requirements can be worked into the set drawings. The swinging staircase in the Harry Potter movies relies on a circular slew ring built into the landing which is square. The landing itself was not to rotate so over-lapping plates were design to maintain the square landing so the artists could safely walk over the landing whilst the staircase turned. The whole mechanism was designed to fit within the 8" thickness of the landing and to support the weight of the staircase with the artists aboard.

Much experience has been gained with the design and drawing of set dressing pieces. With the ability to work out how the piece can be made and then break it down into component parts that can then allow their fabrication either by hand or CNC machining and cutting.

BATMAN DARK KNIGHT - Hong Kong Office Reception Desk

Often the set dressing is contiguous with the set itself and therefore the design of the two go hand-in-hand. This is especially true for technical dressing such as consoles which have featured on a regular basis in the projects and sets worked on.

TOMB RAIDER II - Glider Pod Interior and Console Drawing

To ensure the lid and base were tight fitting additional material was added to the CAD model around the joint of the two halves so they could be turned in a lathe to be exact and also the interior of the base could be bored out to be able to accept the interior workings and details which included various pieces that were drawn in CAD so they could be etched from brass including the compass needles and cog workings.

THE GOLDEN COMPASS - Alethiometer Internal Etchings

Stephen's skills have been called upon for use on other projects such as modern art installations and exhibitions.

Stephen was responsible for two rooms within THE BODY ZONE at the Millennium Dome which was built in Greenwich, London to celebrate the new Millennium. The Body Zone consisted of a huge half male half female reclining figure designed by Branson Coates Architects. Within the body were various rooms the public could walk through. The laboratory room involved a member of the public being selected, scanned, the image of their forehead appearing on the over-head screen which then zoomed in to reveal bugs crawling around the skin! Great care and attention had to be paid to not only the functionality but also the health and safety of a very heavily trafficked public space.

Artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster vision for the 'TH-2058' art installation within the cavernous Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern in London included enlarged re-productions of large modern art sculptures. Two of the original sculptures were fabricated from steel. The Maman utilised steel tubes welded together to mimic the sinew of a spider's legs and the Flamingo piece was formed from steel plates. As the TH-2058 exhibit was to be inplace for only 6 months the replicas had to be constructed in alternative lightweight materials. The Maman legs were made from polystyrene clad over a lightweight steel box frames and the Flamingo was constructed from 20mm thick corrugated cardboard covered in a fibre-glass skin. The arches for the Flamingo were CNC cut with jigsaw like joints to ensure the correct profile and steel plates with holes for bolting were embedded in the ends of each section and in the centre piece to give additional strength and ease of assembly on-site.

Frequently the knowledge and experience of structural engineering has been utilised to design supporting frames for sets which were either hidden from view or they formed an integral part of the seen set. This skill allows the design of the sets taking into consideration strength and often the visual design and strength are so intertwined that it would be difficult to of had the two carried out by different people.

The Thunderbird 1 set for 'Thunderbirds' was formed from rolled steel box section, clad in a fibreglass skin with an internal steel spine and CNC laser cut steel profiles to form the window frames. The whole set was then mounted on a SFX rig or it could be positioned in any attitude on stage.

The swinging staircase in the Harry Potter films where the staircase was made to turn practically had to have a steel frame hidden within the stair flight and landing which also included a slew ring. The stair flight was supported by steel trusses within the handrail, balusters and treads as the 'stone' treads were not thick enough to have accommodated enough steel alone. The steel tube within Harry Potter's broomstick was designed to minimise weight but also ensure its strength to carry the weight of the artists as the broom stick was attached to a SFX rig away from the broomstick.