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All rights reserved on ALL content, including photographs and text. THIS MATERIAL IS FOR THE SOLE USE OF SETDECOR MAGAZINE and the SDSA. Reproduction or use of the material in any way or by any means for any purpose without permission from the Set Decorators Society of America is strictly prohibited.
(Click to enlarge)
ER, Set Decorator Tim Colohan
(Click to enlarge)
ER, Set Decorator Tim Colohan
(Click to enlarge)
ER, Set Decorator Tim Colohan
| ER
Written by: Eric Althoff
All Photos have been reprinted with permission from SET DECOR Magazine (Fall 2003)
The triage center could be real. In fact, it is real. The one and only
illusion-buster is a poster that hangs on a nearby wall displaying a
grid-lined map of downtown Chicago. It's not because I'm keenly aware
that I'm actually standing in a sound stage some 2000 miles away from
the Windy City, nor the inherent temperature differential in those 2000
miles, but the fact that the phone number at the bottom of the map
boasts that most fictitious of all prefixes, 555.
Welcome to the
world of ER, a world so real that it has gripped TV viewers for nearly
a decade. And meet its set decorator, Tim Colohan, who has been with
the multiple award-winning show since the beginning of Season Six
(1999-2000).
In an eerie and unfortunate irony, Colohan came aboard ER
because
of an illness affecting his colleague, Michael Claypool, who soon died
of cancer. "It was Ivo Cristante (the production designer) who asked me
to temporarily step in while Michael underwent chemotherapy," Colohan
said. "I saw myself as a stand-in at first, holding down the fort. I
didn't think it would end up being my job and my crew." Now in his
fourth season as ER's resident doctor of dress, Colohan looks back at
the show's past, as well as at its future, and what each has brought to
his career.
"The decoration per se has not changed too much, but the
logistics
and scale have," Colohan said, noting that the scope of each show has
likewise increased with time. "There are at least four to five
storylines in one episode, because of the pacing of the show. So
sometimes now, in just the teaser, you'll see four or five sets. The
bulk of the show may reside in the ER after that, but we'll have needed
all of the sets for just that one episode."
Colohan stressed
that the longer the show has gone on, the more the budget of the show
has expanded to include storylines outside of the physical ER itself.
"We've gone from being on one stage to five stages. The show has grown
to 26 standing sets, with anything from 10-14 swing sets for each
episode." Luckily, Colohan's great crew, headed by Lead Tobey Bays and
supported by Buyer Dorit Oberman, have honed the skills of "emergency"
set dressing.
"Over time, the show develops its own visual language,"
Colohan
added, "and the producers have always wanted that to become as rich and
dense as possible. So we have increased the layers on the sets. In TV,
you normally don't have time to do that."
ER's world is fully
immersible, as evidenced by the fact that the style of shooting
incorporates a full 360-degree viewpoint. "In terms of the technology
affecting our work," Colohan said, "the steadicam and seeing the
environment in 360 degrees are vital to the show. And the introduction
of Hi-Def TV has meant that we've got to pay attention to more detail."
ER has just aired its 200th episode and is now the most nominated one-hour drama in the history of the Emmys.
Congratulations to the entire ER crew. |
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Hot Off The Set!;)
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