Chris Hardwick on The Fine Brothers Web Series ‘Celebrities React’ set design by Melissa Judson.
Original Set Design for Celebrities React, a special edition of the Award-Winning “React” web series created by YouTube sensations Benny and Rafi Fine of Fine Brothers Entertainment.
OBJECTIVE
Create a custom production design for new YouTube Web Series which features celebrities reacting to viral videos that appeals to viewers exclusively on the YouTube platform.
CHALLENGE
Design and build a set that is reminiscent of traditional Late Night Talk Shows and embodies the Celebrity/Hollywood theme of the show while staying consistent with the client’s current branding.
BACKGROUND
The show features celebrities reacting to viral videos on the internet. Celebrity guests who have appeared on the show include: Chris Hardwick of Nerdist & @midnight, James Vanderbeek, Nick Cannon, Pete Holmes, Tony Hawk, Sarah Hyland, Emily Osment, Aime Teegarden, Debby Ryan and Maria Menounos.
The Fine Brothers Channel Stats
Subscribers: 2.5 million
Views: 800 million
PROCESS
Discovery and Research: During this stage, I used a variety of research methods to gain insight on what types of Talk Show sets currently exist both in Television and New Media, what types of imagery could be used to represent Hollywood and what types of sets/background designs are currently resonating with viewers on the YouTube Platform.
Mockups: Based on my research, I created a series of several digital design mockups utilizing Hollywood imagery and worked with the client to refine the mockups until we landed on a design that satisfied the objective.
Digital Mockup by Melissa Judson for The Fine Brothers Web Series ‘Celebrities React’.
Materials Planning & Sourcing: Once the digital mockup was finalized, I created a plan for implementing the design. The plan included a list of materials, where to source the materials, materials budget and a step-by-step guide to assemble and create the set.
Materials planning for this set included custom color matching and extensive research to acquire specific, Hollywood themed props. Research included sourcing, documenting and cataloguing specific props before making final purchasing decisions.
Set Creation and Build: After acquiring all materials and special props, I followed my step-by-step guide to build the set by hand.
Mixing custom colors and painting the wall to match the digital mockup.
Using the mockup for reference, I drew out each city scape by hand on foam core.
I cut each city-scape out of foam core by hand with an Exacto knife.
Painting the city scape to match the digital mockup.
Arranging the wooden squares to be hand painted for the windows.
I hand-painted each wooden square to be used as windows in the foam core city-scape.
Close-up of the finished, painted and glued wooden squares as windows.
First layer of hand-painted wooden squares complete.
3 layers of hand-cut and hand-painted city scape complete.
I separated each layer of the city scape with toothpicks to create depth.
I mounted the completed 3-layer city scape to the wall using a bracketed shelf.
I “Greeked” the records and superglued them together to create a staggered look.
Close-up of popcorn prop and hand made film strips.
The completed set design, without professional lighting and camera effects.
Watch the series here!
About the Fine Brothers
(bio from Fine Bros YouTube Channel)
Fine Brothers Entertainment is a full service production company that has amassed 3 billion views online and over 15 million subscribers across their channels. Brothers Benny and Rafi Fine started by making feature films in high school that played in film festivals. Now we have a staff of over over 25, recently premiered a TV show on Nickelodeon, pilots for several other networks, have feature films to be released in 2015, won awards at the Daytime Emmys, Streamys, and Webbys, and have been featured in the biggest publications (Variety, NYT, Huff Po, Times, USAToday, 100s more).
Click to view Melissa Judson’s IMDB credit for Celebrities React Production Design
Aimee Teegarden on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Nick Cannon on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Chris Hardwick on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Tony Hawk on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Sarah Hyland on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Sarah Hyland on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Pete Holmes on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Pete Holmes on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Pete Holmes on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Nick Cannon on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Chris Hardwick on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Maria Menounos on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Maria Menounos on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
James Vanderbeek on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
James Vanderbeek on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Emily Osment on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Emily Osment on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Debby Ryan on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Debby Ryan on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Chris Hardwick on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Aimee Teegarden on the Celebrities React Set designed by Melissa Judson for the Fine Brothers.
Credit for production stills: Fine Brothers Entertainment