Roberta
Iaci

Set designer and art director, working in the fields of cinema, advertising, television, events and fashion.
In 2004, she obtained a diploma in Scenography and Costume Design for the Performing Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.
Since 2009, she has designed the set for numerous TV and online advertisements, as well as for film projects that have won awards and received nominations at prestigious national and international festivals, including: ‘La Fuga’, nominated for the European Film Academy Award; ‘Malarazza’, nominated for the David Donatello Five Finalists;
and “Fuoristrada”, which won the Special Mention Award at the Rome International Film Festival and was nominated for the Nastri D’Argento DOC Five.

Learning Objectives

• To provide students with professional training on the role of the art director working in the film industry.
• All theoretical and practical skills, as well as study, research and design methodologies, will be taught.
• To enable students to develop and enhance their creativity and expressive skills in artistic-visual languages.

Teaching methods
Lectures, workshop and experimental activities, project development, viewing of audiovisual and photographic material, and consultation of dossiers and handouts on research and texts related to the course syllabus.

Examination method
The final assessment will consist of the creation and presentation of a project for the set design of a film.
The project must describe all the creative processes and design stages that the art director undertakes to produce the final set design, as covered during the course.
Sketches may be produced using traditional or computer-aided graphic representation tools.
Students shall choose a literary text or a film script of their choice, from which they will extract the information required to design the set designs for a minimum of two indoor and two outdoor settings.
The student’s ability to present and discuss the content of the exam will also be assessed.

Tutorials and reviews
An appropriate number of hours will be allocated for the review of final projects, to be distributed evenly and continuously throughout the entire academic year. All students, including repeat students and those behind schedule, will be entitled to participate in these review sessions, subject to prior booking where applicable.

Course content and schedule

1. Introduction: the profession of the production designer in cinema.
2. Historical overview of film set design, its development, and the emergence of the role of the art director. The key milestones in this development will be analysed, focusing on the most significant projects and works.
3. The importance of visual storytelling.
4. Light and colour as a means of communication. The works of the most significant creators will be examined.
5. The relationship with the director or client and identification of the user.
6. Creative processes: text analysis; identification of key themes; study of the historical, social and cultural context to which the work relates; iconographic research using various resources: the internet, books, audiovisual and photographic material, observation of contemporary settings; development of ideas.
7. Choosing locations: real-life locations; sound stages and film studios.
8. Design phases: analysis and relationship with space, light and colour; set design; creation of a sketch using traditional and computer-based graphic representation tools, employing specific software best suited to the project’s requirements; study and research of materials and new technologies for the creation of the sets.
9. The era of digital cinema: new technologies for creating virtual sets.
10. The professionals who make up the scenography department, their roles and responsibilities, teamwork, and how they work in relation to the other professionals involved in the project.

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• Basili, G., Canova, G., Giancarlo Basili. Spazio e architettura nel cinema italiano, Alexa, Milan, 2000
• Bernardi, S., Il paesaggio nel cinema italiano, Marsilio, 2004.

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Del Prato, V., Manuale di scenografia: il cinema, la televisione, il teatro, La Nuova Scientifica, 1990
Falcinelli, R., Cromorama. Come il colore ha cambiato il nostro sguardo, Giulio Einaudi Editore, Turin 2017.
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Itten, J., The Art of Colour. Abridged edition, il Saggiatore, Milan 2007.

• Lori, R., Scenografia e Scenotecnica per il Cinema, Gremese, Rome 2016.

Martin, S., Scenografie e Scenografi, Il Castoro, Milan 2013.
Mazza, G., Cinema e pubblicità. La relazione sorprendente, Editrice Bibliografica, Milan 2019.
Micheli, S., Lo sguardo oltre la norma. Cinema e arte figurativa. Luce, colore, espressione, gesto, scenografia e costume, Luce, colore, espressione, gesto, scenografia e costume, Bulzoni, Rome 2000.
Misek, R., Chromatic Cinema: A History of Screen Colour, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford 2010.
Perryman, L., “The Colour Bible. La guida definitiva ai colori nell’arte e nel design”, Apogeo, Milan 2021.
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Preston, W., What an Art Director Does. An Introduction to Motion Picture Production Design, Silman James Press, First Edition, Beverly Hills 1994.

Shorter, G., Designing for Screen. Production Design And Art Direction Explained, Crowood Press, Ramsbury 2012.

• Thompson, K., Bordwell, D., Storia del Cinema: un’introduzione, Laterza Edizione, Bari, 2010.

Venzi, L., Tinte esposte. Studi sul colore del cinema, Luigi Pellegrini Editore, Cosenza 2018.