Production design and process of "Boys don't dance"

Abstract

“Boys Don’t Dance” is a film about self-acceptance told through the main protagonist Ono who hopes to become a good ballet dancer one day. He practices alone when no one is around, as he gets mocked for doing so. On the other hand, he is in love with his best friend Ryan, but hesitates to confess his love for him as Ryan hides his homosexuality to not be looked down by his friends. Amidst this Ono gets transported to a fantastical world where he meets three circus freaks, who help him with self-realization.

Being a film with a lot of fantasy elements, our main goal was to build a convincing set that helped to portray the world the freaks stayed in. We hoped to achieve this within the low budget we had, as buying and renting set and props would cost way more than the stipulated budget for the film. Hence we opted to build most of the set and props on our own with materials that cost less or those that are free. Hence the reason for using cardboard, as it is free.

Using cardboard to make prop is a huge task as the aim was to not make it look like it was made from cardboard. A lot of methods and other materials were added to the sculptures and set pieces to make them look as convincing as possible. This was the main achievement in my opinion as most of the props did turn out better than expected. And some of them did not look like it was made from cardboard or paper.

Making a big set would require a lot of manpower, but we lacked that tremendously. But since the show must go on, I had to build all the props and set piece simultaneously. I had to plan out my time well so that all the props are completed by shoot day. Thankfully all was completed as expected on time.

Almost 90% of the production design seen in the film is handmade using recycled items. That is the one aspect, which sets this film apart from other films. Definitely a lot of problems were faced because of it. But we were able to produce a set that looked expensive at a low cost with the available budget.

The production design report will be a walk through on how the props were made step by step and the obstacles faced and the solutions implemented to bring the set to screen.