And the Oscar Goes to...

...Derek McLane

Who is that? You frown and ask! 

Well, he didn't actually get an Oscar Statue last night, so you probably won't recognize his name or his face.  But his work glittered and shone on stage for the full 2.5 hours.  He is the Scenic designer responsible for the beautiful stage set ups. 

Scenic design (also known as, stage design, set design or production design) is the creation of theatrical  as well as film or television scenery. One of the most difficult challenges in creating a scenic design is helping your audience to visualize and experience feelings that can trigger memories toward a particular setting. The beauty of a scenic design can produce the most unforgettable memories of life. Scenic art should provide an experience that engages your heart and mind. It takes you to a person, place or thing that can cause us to value it.

 A few times in the broadcast I found myself admiring the background more than the outfits that were parading onto the stage.  Derek created this amazingly, glamorous, set up with simple rows of lights. 

In an article in the  Huffington Post McLane is quoted as saying: "I like the fact that when you look at each one of these individual lamps, they just look like a sort of ordinary, industrial lamp that is, quite frankly, the last thing in the world that you would think of as warm. And yet, together as a pattern, they create something that I think is magical and beautiful."

In the wide shots it the light sculpture had the effect of being in a magical underground cave.

84th Academy Awards - Stage Design by Derek McLane

Magical Cave Photo source: Flickr

 In the tight shots, the lights sparkled in the background adding just the right amount of "Hollywood Glam" to every shot, without distracting from the main event.  

 

Derek McLane is a Tony winning, Broadway stage designer.  In an article for Broadway World, McLane related that the main inspiration for the half-moon shaped caged lighting sculpture that frames the gigantic stage of the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles came from an object d'art in his own home - a wall installation featuring dozens of antique lamps in cubbyholes backed by iodizing mirrors.

McLane related that the main inspiration for the half-moon shaped caged lighting sculpture that frames the gigantic stage of the theater came from an object d'art in his own home - a wall installation featuring dozens of antique lamps in cubbyholes backed by iodizing mirrors.

HELLO???  Sign me up for his next dinner party so I can check out HIS home!!! 

rendering of Academy Award stage