ART DIRECTOR May 2023
A 1236 A.D. Epic Drama
ENTIRE GREAT HALL BUILT ON SOUNDSTAGE
BEDROOM ON LOCATION
*NOW STREAMING ON KANOPY
Locations: Great Hall, Razia's Bedroom
INT. GREAT HALL
Razia Sultana was first and only woman Sultan of the Delhi Sultunate. Set in 1236 A.D., there was immense research required for this project to ensure there was as much historical accuracy as possible; from the fabric used, dyes available in the region, royal furniture, weaponry, architecture, and most used iconography at the time. As there was not much written information available on how the life was at the time, the Production Designer, Sahil Rustami, and I acquired as much information as we could through the paintings of life at the time; sources were from the Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, USC's history library, and more.
The script mostly took place in the Great Hall, which meant we had to dress it for the day and night time, but also with enough space for a stunt.
PREVISUALIZATION
After researching, we realized the architecture in 1236 A.D. Delhi Sultanate had a lot of openings to the outside, if not already outside. Rather than traditional windows seen in our homes and architecture today, we made window openings out of recycled materials. We attatched hundreds of cut out star shapes onto the lattices, and then attatched the lattices to the tent structure we had on the soundstage for an opening. To establish the building in the Delhi Sultinate, we added a backing of vast mountains and greenery behind the windows.
We added curtains to the tent structure in red, cream, and gold as they were prominent colors used at the time and embodied royalty and power. We added a linoleum flooring that appeared like a washed concrete to the tent structure with a persian rug on top to hide the cushion we would be using later for the stunt in the night sequence. The throne was a rental from Warner Brothers property department and was a large part of our budget, so for the other seats we created it out of recycled materials and draped a gold fabric over it to cover the main structure but also emphasize the royalty. For the night scenes, since there was no electricity at the time, we had to use lanterns for all of our light sources and inserted a fire-imitating light bulb to make it seem like a fire lantern.
Testing weekend: After sourcing all materials from close friends and family as well as South Asian owned stores in Artesia, we decided to test all of our options prior to principal day of shooting to choose the best ones for our actors and for the colors set in the environment. From here we were able to choose the best options for all charaters that would also help emphasize their arc throughout the story.
Wardrobe, Makeup and Hair: In the beginning sequence, we wanted Razia to start with soft colors to emphasize her arc toward the end into an empowered Sultan. While researching, we found a painting of a woman who was alive at the time and used her as our inspiration for Razia's wardrobe and makeup. We used traditional South Asian clothing and used kohl as eyeliner for all characters. For the headpiece, I painted it with a mix of gold and brown to add some depth to it as well as coat it in a matte mod podge to make it seem heavier and more real than it was. For the men's clothing, we contacted crew family members to ship authentic handmade Kurtas and other traditional South Asian garmenets to add more cultural authenticity to our world.
Floorplan: Sahil Rustami, production designer, wanted the great hall to seem as grand as possible, so we rented the largest tent we could find to build it on a soundstage and dress like it was inside of a traditional castle in the medieval era of Northern India. The floorplan with the tent and the seating arrangement of the characters was planned beforehand to not only ensure safety on the soundstage during the build, but also confirm there was enough space for the shots necessary with the director of photography, Ruben Plascencia.
Colors: The colors of all wardrobe and settings were carefully planned taking the dyes available at the time and each characters relationship to others in consideration. We wanted their wardrobe to highlight each characters personality as well as their underlying intentions with Razia Sultana. The clothing itself had an arc with each of the characters.
STILLS:
INT. RAZIA'S BEDROOM
Razia's bedroom was located on site at a mansion in Encino, California. The home was decorated to the liking of the family living in it and had Egyptian decor in every room. The structure of the mansion itself was European, which we had to hide and blend in with our own set dressing as much as possible to build the Delhi Sultunate in present day Los Angeles. During the location scout we measured every detail in the home to ensure we had all the proper measurements to completely change the aesthetic.
All measurements with planned colors and set decor drawn on top:
To dress it like 1236 A.D. Delhi Sultunate, we hid the bare white walls from the location and painted our own embossed wallpaper to have the feel of tile without using tiles. We painted the wallpaper completely green then wiped the excess off to create a double layer within the wallpaper to create depth.
Props and Set Decor: After researching to know what aesthetic of decor to get, we explored prop houses like History for Hire, The Hand Prop Room, and Warner Bros. Property Department to find the most period accurate and culturally accurate pieces available. We also added curtains to the space to hide the European architecture of the room and make it seem like there are more private spaces within the room itself.
STILLS:
