\n<\/em><\/p>\n
I had the pleasure to chat with Black Panther<\/a><\/em> production designer Hannah Beachler<\/a>. If you don’t recognize her name, you’ve still likely seen her work. Her previous projects include Moonlight<\/a>, Creed<\/a>, Fruitvale Station<\/a>,<\/em> and Beyonce’s Lemonade<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n As someone who doesn’t know nearly enough about the workflow of a production designer, I talked to Hannah about creating a world from scratch,\u00a0her team’s creative process, and the overall progression of her career. Here’s what I learned.<\/p>\n Michael Maher:\u00a0<\/strong>Ok, so I’m super excited. I’ve seen a lot of the films you’ve worked on over the years, and I love everything you’ve done with Ryan Coogler<\/a>, Moonlight<\/em> looked amazing, and I’m incredibly excited for Black Panther<\/em>. It looks so beautiful and stunning. I wanted to pick your brain about it,\u00a0ask about your workflow,\u00a0and learn about how all this came together.<\/p>\n Before we dive into that, can you offer some insight to our readers? How did you start your\u00a0career as a production designer? What is it that lead you into\u00a0this role on Black Panther<\/em>?<\/p>\n Hannah Beachler:<\/strong> I was set decorating on a smaller film, and the director said to me, “You know, you should do production design.” and I previously had never thought of it. I had always aspired to be a set decorator like\u00a0Nancy Haigh<\/a>\u00a0(Oscar-winning set decorator and frequent Coen brothers collaborator). So that was always the drive.<\/p>\n I never really thought about production design. A couple years later, I was still set decorating, and I noticed I was decorating more as a storyteller. So I woke up one day and said, “You know what, I’m gonna try production design.” I could tell a story through the environment for an entire film on all levels. And that’s how I decided to go that direction. Then it was about finding people who would hire me for that, and I got onto a few horror films. Those were the first things I did as a production designer.<\/p>\n MM:<\/strong>\u00a0Man, everyone starts in horror. Only way to earn your street cred.<\/p>\n HB:<\/strong> [laughs] So true.<\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> Tell me about your work on Black Panther<\/em>. I know you were sent on research trips to South Africa and Korea, right?<\/p>\n HB:<\/strong> Well the first place we went was South Africa, and I went ahead of everybody. It was me and the location manager, Ilt Jones<\/a>, and my assistant Marley [Mountcastle]<\/a>. We were there two weeks ahead of everybody, and we went up and down the coast of South Africa. I was taking pictures of everything from the second we hit the ground.<\/p>\n We flew 18 hours, landed, dropped our luggage off, and went out right away to Table Mountain<\/a>. Went up there, then down into the gorge. I was taking pictures of all the rocks and plant life, you know just the entire environment around me. I did that all up the coast.<\/p>\n We had a team of people that traveled with us \u2014 they were telling us about the history of everywhere we went, the history of the flora and fauna, what was indigenous to the area. So I was looking at everything, researching everything, because it all got put into the design and design language of Wakanda.<\/p>\n It was really great to be that close to it, and touch it. To talk to the locals and hear their stories, and understand the different tribes, and understand the history and what the people have gone through beyond what I read and research on my own. It was integral to the design. You can’t really capture what it is on film or in a picture. You have to see it.<\/p>\n The landscapes are humongous \u2014 you lose a sense of perspective immediately, which puts you in a different frame of mind. All of that lends itself to the feeling we wanted to put into the nation we were building.<\/p>\n Korea was awesome. I love South Korea so much. It was another culture-rich tradition, so a lot of that trip was learning about their history.<\/p>\n We were in the fish market, and that’s were we started with the idea of the casino. Off of that was a place called Gangster Alley, which is where all the ships were. It was sort of the harbor, and it helped give us an international feel to bring in a very traditional side of what South Korea is.\u00a0And then we also have the very beautiful side of South Korea with what we all know with the vertical signs and lit-up signs.<\/p>\n The trips were amazing, and I learned so much, and so much of it was put into the design.<\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> Given that this is a Marvel comic book film, and with the success of Guardians<\/em> and Thor: Ragnarok<\/em><\/a>, it’s opened up the ability to use more color. That mixed with the afrofuturistic style; tell me about working with the colors in\u00a0Black Panther<\/em>.<\/p>\n HB:<\/strong> You know, textiles were the main export of many of the nations in Africa. That was destroyed during the Transatlantic slave trade, but the textiles are still so rich in color. I remember as we were driving in, you would see women walking along the sides of the road and they’d have these skirts that came down a little bit below their knee, and they would have these socks pulled up over their knees. They were just so colorful, it was the most awesome thing. Every time I saw it, I was like, “Oh My God! I love that.”<\/p>\n So the textiles are colorful, the buildings are colorful, everything is colorful. So I knew that was gonna be a part of it. Then looking at the [Jack] Kirby<\/a> stuff, there was a lot of color in this Thor<\/em> work, and even in the Black Panther<\/em> comics at the time.<\/p>\n We were gonna put all of that out there, you know, bring in the rich architecture. A lot of the architecture has designs, shapes, and colors that all have meaning. Senegalese buildings that have big, bold pinks, purples, and greens \u2014 and others with stripes that come down the columns.<\/p>\n We went crazy with it, and there was a color story. There is definitely a color story, and as I watched it in the premiere, I was like, “Yeah you can definitely feel that color story with the characters.”<\/p>\n As far as the stuff in the environments, we wanted to bring in that traditional beautiful color you see, and so many of the tribes are so colorful. They paint their faces, and they use nature to embellish them. It’s very beautiful. The Taron tribe and Dogon tribe are the tribes we used for the Jabari. They are master craftsmen with wood, and that’s something we took to use for the Jabari.\u00a0And then the costumes, Ruth<\/a> [E. Carter] did fabulous. They are so beautiful and vibrant.<\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> I’m not too familiar with a production designer’s actual workflow. You go on these trips, and you take all these photos, but then what do you do with all of that? Does your team build mood boards, or start illustrations, what is the production design process?<\/p>\n HB:<\/strong> Well I had a great team. There is a team of illustrators \u2014 about seven I believe. And then a team of set designers, doing all the drafting and making our illustrations into practical sets. Then I have a supervising art director, six art directors \u2014 and each art director has a set that they run with a coordinator and a foreman. That’s a lot about building schedules and materials.\u00a0Everything that you see, as far as finishes and such, I picked all those finishes. You know, how everything looked.<\/p>\n When I’m traveling, it’s hard work. When we were in South Africa, I still had the team in [Los Angeles]. So as I’m taking pictures, my assistant was sending everything back to L.A.<\/p>\n So we would scout for 12\u00a0or 13 hours, then I’d come back at the end of the day. By that time, it’s their morning. So we would have a meeting for an hour and a half to go over everything that was in their work for the day. So we still had some illustrations and concepts that we had to get done. So I would send back sketches and notes, revisions to all the illustrations and everything going on on the other sets.<\/p>\n Part of the research trips for me was finding the look for Warrior Falls, and that came from Oribi Gorge<\/a>. As I was taking pictures of the rocks at Oribi Gorge, I was sending them back to the art director,\u00a0Alex McCarroll<\/a>, so he could start modeling that rock. I think he was using Maya, Photoshop, and Illustrator.\u00a0Some of the illustrators were painters; some would use Photoshop and Illustrator; some worked in 3D.<\/p>\n So, I’d be working all night, then get up the next morning and scout all day to take pictures and notes. Marley would be getting stuff in from the team\u00a0as well as changes from the day before. She and I would go over everything and make all my notes and changes, then send more color concepts to them.<\/p>\n I wanted to go into this color for the rock. We were up on Golden Gate [Highlands National Park]<\/a> on this rock that had these beautiful black streaks in them. I really wanted to see that black in our Warrior Falls.<\/p>\n That trip, on top of 26 hotels and 17 airports, was pretty much 18-hour days every day. I still had the team in L.A. doing research and development, and I still had to keep all that stuff going so we could get it to the set designers and have them start drafting those. And as things were changing, we constantly had to update.<\/p>\n When Ryan [Coogler] arrived, we were having meetings as we were flying from one location to another. As I was getting notes from him, I was giving them to my assistant, and she was getting everything back to everybody in L.A. to make changes. On something like this, you can’t ever stop.<\/p>\n As we were seeing things, I’d see textures and take a picture of them, and then send them back with notes like “I love this texture for the Hall of Kings” or “Can we put these masks in the Hall of Kings or recreate them somehow?”.<\/p>\n Maybe the roads into town look like a dirt road, but there’s some vibranium that the cars can maglev on. So I’d sketch it up and share that with Ryan, and he’d say, “Yeah, that’s awesome.”<\/p>\n I took\u00a0pictures of\u00a0the Sentinel<\/a>, which is were we wanted the Jabari to live,\u00a0and while we were there, they were snowcapped. So I had the illustrator start dropping in buildings into the mountainside and add more snow. The snow is more packed, and less loose. So it’s not moving across the top of the mountain. We changed where the mountain was a couple of times, and we wound up doing some plates in Uganda.<\/p>\n So that’s sorta how the workflow goes. It was nonstop. The guys would tease me because every morning I would have all these meetings. So I would say “West Wing<\/a> me.” and we would just walk through the hall and they were putting stuff in front of me, “This. That. Yes. No. Ok. Next. What?”<\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> Where there any set pieces that changed drastically after your travels?<\/em><\/p>\n HB:<\/strong> The one that changed drastically after traveling was Warrior Falls. It changed a couple of times, but when I got to Oribi Gorge and looked up at the cliffside and rocks, it was so unique-looking.<\/p>\n Everything was on the horizontal. The rock was shaled, and it looked like it was stacked. You could just see shapes in it, and then you’d see where some of the shapes were in the architecture in the immediate area. That was really cool.<\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> Is there a particular set piece that you’re extra proud of?<\/em><\/p>\n HB:<\/strong> My favorite set was Shuri’s lab. That was the most technological set. I also loved Hall of Kings. I loved them all, but Shuri’s was probably my favorite because it was so high-tech. The fun of that was finding how to keep the story, history, and ancestry that would be indigenous to Wakanda into this high-tech space.<\/p>\n We had a great artist that does murals. His stuff is in the afro-punk festival, and he’s local to Atlanta. He came out and painted the core piece in that set. It’s beautiful. I was really pleased with that set.<\/p>\n MM:\u00a0<\/strong>What was it like making a magazine cover for Empire? I noticed you managed to sneak yourself in.<\/em><\/p>\n HB:<\/strong> Hahaha, it was a lot of fun. I did a couple of different ones, and that was the one they went with. They wanted a mood board of what would be in my office. Honestly, my office is just covered in pictures. So I thought, what if I made this collage that had to do with everything. It was fun to go through all the photos again. I wanted to have this feel of afrofuturism, and this overall feeling of what I thought Panther was.<\/p>\n It turned out fantastic. I actually have it here right next to me, and yeah, this is pretty cool.<\/p>\n MM:<\/strong> Anything else you’d like to share\u00a0about what you are up to these days?<\/em><\/p>\n HB:<\/strong> Look out at the Oscars. Dee Rees<\/a>, Rachel Morrison<\/a>, and I get a little something that will be on the Oscars that was a ton of fun. Plus, Rachel got herself an Oscar nomination [Best Cinematography \u2014\u00a0Mudbound<\/em><\/a>] , and we’re all very proud of her. Super awesome.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Paarl_Rock_Black_Panther_Poster.jpg\")
\nLeft:<\/strong> Paarl Rock in South Africa. Photo Credit: Hannah Beachler.\u00a0Right:<\/strong> Black Panther San Diego Comic Con poster via Marvel Studios.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Table-Mountain-Capetown-.jpg\")
\nHannah Beachler on the research trip at Table Mountain in Capetown, South Africa. Photo Credit: Ilt Jones.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black-Panther_Hannah-Beachler-at-Blyde-Canyon-South-Africa.jpg\")
\nHannah Beachler at Blyde Canyon in South Africa. Photo Credit: Ilt Jones.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Capetown-2016.jpg\")
\nSouth African research trip Capetown. Photo Credit: Hannah Beachler.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther-South-Korean-Casino-1.jpg\")
\nSet Decorator Jay Hart and Production Designer Hannah Beachler on Korean casino set. Photo Credit: Alex McCarroll.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_MLD-02936_C.jpg\")
\nSet of Black Panther. Photo Credit: Matt Kennedy.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Art_Wakanda.jpg\")
\nWakanda design\u00a0art\u00a0as seen in the Black Panther\u00a0Page to Screen Featurette\u00a0via Marvel Studios.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Mask.jpg\")
\nBlack Panther mask\u00a0as seen in the Black Panther trailer via Marvel Studios.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Art.jpg\")
\nProduction design\u00a0art\u00a0as seen in the Black Panther\u00a0Page to Screen Featurette, via Marvel Studios.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Warrior_Falls_Over.jpg\")
\nWarrior Falls as seen in the Black Panther trailer via Marvel Studios.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Warrior_Falls_Shoulder.jpg\")
\nWarrior Falls as seen in the Black Panther trailer via Marvel Studios.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Masks.jpg\")
\nMichael B. Jordan as seen in the Black Panther trailer via Marvel Studios.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Wakanda_Travel.jpg\")
\nWakanda\u00a0as seen in the Black Panther trailer via Marvel Studios.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Sentinel-Mountains-South-Africa.jpg\")
\nSouth African research trip at Sentinel Mountains. Photo Credit: Hannah Beachler.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Oribi-Gorge-Lake-Eland.jpg\")
\nHannah Beachler and filmmakers on South African research trip at Lake Eland in Oribi Gorge. Photo Credit: Hannah Beachler.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Warrior_Falls_Trailer.jpg\")
\nWarrior Falls as seen in the Black Panther trailer via Marvel Studios.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Shuris_Lab_Black_Panther.jpg\")
\nShuri’s Lab\u00a0as seen in the Black Panther trailer via Marvel Studios.<\/em><\/h6>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Hannah_Beachler_Empire.jpg\")
\nLeft:<\/strong> Black Panther cover via Empire Magazine. Right:<\/strong> Hannah Beachler on set Photo Credit: Ilt Jones.<\/em><\/h6>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Black_Panther_Crew.jpg\")