Alfred Sole (Production Designer)
Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and comments. (September 16, 2005)
MI.net: Have you guys changed the look any as the season progressed? Or you found something that worked so you go, "Oh, let's do that more."
Alfred: It kind of evolved that way.
MI.net: Can you think of an example?
Alfred: It's kind of the darker side of things. Things aren't lit totally. Things fall off. Just trying to stay ahead of the curve in terms of what's happening in the world of cinematography and what's out there. I think it's really important. And the wardrobe is great. There's a really good team here. The nice thing about Rob is that he allows everyone to be creative. We all check in with each other. It's a nice team here.
MI.net: So what do you find most fulfilling about this job? You've worked so many others. What separates this from previous experiences?
Alfred: I think the writing for me, because I don't know what she's doing next. I'm on a show where I don't really know where she's going until I get the script. We have an idea, you know. We get an episode: "Oh, she's here. Oh, she's here." I like that.
MI.net: Which gives you a new challenge to do.
Alfred: Yeah. Exactly. I don't get bored. It's not like I'm in the same sets over and over again. We're always building something.
In this episode we are doing a dance, I found this really cool stuff that just came out. It's like paper but it's three-dimensional. I don't know how to describe it. This guy came up with this process. It looks like a hologram but not like what you've seen before. And it takes the light, and it's paper, it takes the light and refracts it so it's all over the place. It's really cool. I was ordering lights from this rock music video place, they do a lot of music videos, and he was telling me about it. And so we went on the website together. It's really cool stuff. And not expensive. So I'm doing this wall-to-wall...it's almost like being in a prism. I'm using it as much as I can, as much as I can afford. It's really nice stuff, so I'm looking forward to the dance.
[Editor's note: Is it wrong that I'm more excited about this upcoming dance than I was about my own high school dances?]
MI.net: It will be really cool to see what it looks like. And you said you did music videos. Were you in charge when they shot her singing that song in the karaoke bar?
Alfred: Do you mean the set?
MI.net: And the camera.
Alfred: Not the camera. All the lights behind her on the stage.
MI.net: That's one of the things the fans weren't too crazy about. Not the sets, just the way that was shot.
Alfred: Her singing?
MI.net: Not her singing, but the rapid-cut editing.
Alfred: Oh, no, that's the director.
MI.net: I was wondering if you had any input.
Alfred: I have no say in the cutting and that kind of stuff. We're doing another scene in a karoke bar.
MI.net: More singing?
Alfred: More singing. Actually she doesn't sing. Someone else sings. We changed that place too. It's now a coffee shop/karoke bar/restaurant. It's got a whole new look this year. It's no longer underground.
MI.net: It was underground?
Alfred: Sorta. Last time it was in the basement. We're still in the basement, but we're not "under" underground. A new look.
MI.net: One particular scene was in "Return of the Kane" when Logan was getting the belt out of the closet. Did you help determine the shot?
Alfred: I didn't determine the shot, but I built the closet. We shot that on stage. The only thing I remember, I wanted a big painting of the father behind Logan. I wanted his big portrait as if he was looking down on Logan. And I remember the wall was black back there. They didn't light it. So when he slides open the closet door, I remember it being black. I was disappointed because I had this big blowup of Logan's dad. I thought cinematically it would be nice if he was in the room while he was picking the belt that he was going to be beaten with. We built that closet. Why, you didn't like?
MI.net: No, it was a great shot.
Alfred: They didn't show enough of it. I had all these shoes. It's like a very wealthy man's closet.
MI.net: They showed some of it. They were panning over. You get the belts, and the shoes. It was just a really cool shot.
Alfred: I just wish they didn't take the picture down.
MI.net: They used pictures later with the movie posters. Was that their face in the poolhouse, on the curtains?
Alfred: Yes. You noticed that! I had that printed on fabric.
MI.net: It was kind of weird looking. "Wait...yeah, Aaron would put his face on his own curtain."
Alfred: Only because I went to some movie star's house and I saw that.
MI.net: So that was based on a real idea?
Alfred: Yeah.
MI.net: That's a little freaky.
Alfred: It's very freaky. That's an ego thing. Someone with lots of money and doesn't know what to do with it.
[Editor's note: Names, Alfred, names. We need some friggin' names!]
MI.net: These are some standard questions that we ask everybody. Can you describe your coworkers in a couple of words?
Alfred: Fun. Fun and talented. That's really important. They're really talented.
MI.net: Do you interact much with the cast?
Alfred: You know, the art department is always two steps ahead of everyone. So we don't spend time like the crew, who shoots when the cast's there. We're getting ready for the next day. We visit. We all know each other, but we don't spend the whole day on the set the way other departments do. When they are shooting the one, I'm out working on the next one. Or the set dressers are getting the next one ready. We don't hang out all day long like the makeup people, and the hair people, and electrics. We're on the fringe.
MI.net: You're the weird art department.
Alfred: We're the fringe people.
MI.net: Like in other businesses, you have the regular people, then you have the art department.
Alfred: I don't know any gossip. I don't know what's going on. I don't get any juicy gossip at all.
MI.net: Nothing.
Alfred: Nothing. We're never there.
MI.net: You just hang out with your fellow artists.
Alfred: We kind of hang out with the construction people, and the set dressers.
MI.net: Where do you spend most of your day?
Alfred: I spend a lot of the day planning for the next day. Or planning for the next episode. So that's where most of my time is spent. Getting ready. Ultimately, we have to make sure when they get on the set in the morning, it's all ready for them to shoot. I spend a lot of time in the van scouting. Like I said, I don't spend a lot of time on the set.
MI.net: When they use the sets, do you do a final walk-through before they start filming?
Alfred: Yeah, we open the set with the director in the morning or whenever they start the set. We're there to make sure he's happy. And then we leave. So we open the sets. Sometimes if I don't go, my set decorator will go, and he'll open the set. Then we sign off. And then we give the set to the director. Then he just goes, does his thing, knowing that he's got everything that he needs from the art department and is ready to go.
MI.net: Who's your favorite Backup? The original dog or the new dog?
Alfred: I didn't know there was a new dog.
MI.net: There's the pilot white dog and then there is the one you see later. The big brown dog.
Alfred: Oh. I think I like the pilot dog. But the new dog is sweeter. I understand that the new dog knows more tricks, that's why he's there.
MI.net: Oh, he knows tricks?
Alfred: I think the problem they had with the other dog was he wouldn't do....You know, it's always animals and film. I think the new Backup will respond more to orders than the old Backup. I don't know why they switched, but I think they had lots of problems. I'm not sure.
MI.net: Rob mentioned that the trainer for the original dog didn't train the dog very well. Like, it wouldn't move.
Alfred: Then I heard it snapped at somebody too. If I remember correctly. I know somebody snapped at something. I think it was that dog, but I could be wrong. I know we shot in a kennel and there's other dogs. That was the problem, I think, the dog wasn't a good actor.
MI.net: Cute dog, but couldn't act. How much taller are you than Kristen Bell, who's 5'1"?
Alfred: I'm only 5'8". I'm not too tall.
MI.net: I think the tallest person is Rick that we've interviewed.
Alfred: Rick is the tallest person, I think, on the crew.
MI.net: He's 6'6".
Alfred: He's tall. He's really tall.
MI.net: Have you seen Rob's Maui Wowie photo? It's photo of him in a hula skirt.
Alfred: [extremely-interested voice] No, I haven't seen that. Where is that? Is it on the Internet?
MI.net: I found a link with it, and we have it in Rick's interview and in Diane's interview. It's on the end of Rick's interview, on the last page.
Alfred: I was really impressed when I first got on the show, because we were going to all the schools and scouting, every library....I didn't know Rob had written all these novels.
MI.net: Yeah, he started as a writer.
[Editor's note: Rob Thomas: Author. TV writer. Hula-wearing-wanna-be porn star.]
Alfred: I didn't know until we started scouting, because every time we scouted a library, the librarians knew him. They were surprised to see him. All his books were in the schools. He knows kids, I mean, he really does. I'm pretty impressed with him. And I always like his dialogue. I think his dialogue is great. Some of those one-liners she says are really....
MI.net: I think that's one of the great things about the show. All the quippy one-liners.
Alfred: I assumed from what I'm hearing, that the show is getting more popular too, which is good.
MI.net: We hope so. Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith recently posted on their sites, just raved about the show. No one asked them to do it, but they just did it on their own. Hopefully that will attract some new fans.
Alfred: Yes. Look what happened to him. His series is now a movie from the fans on the Internet.
MI.net: Are you a fan of Joss Whedon?
Alfred: Yeah, I am.
MI.net: Are you going to see Serenity too?
Alfred: Uh-huh.
MI.net: That's going to be a busy week. Veronica Mars starts Wednesday, then Serenity opens Friday. Do you watch the show?
Alfred: Yes, whenever I can. It's nice to separate yourself and say...when I watch a show I can somehow separate myself from the show. It's nice to do that.
MI.net: Are you critical of yourself or can you watch it and be okay?
Alfred: I don't watch the dailies. Because when I look at the dailies, I see all the things that I've could have done better, and it drives me crazy. So I don't look at dailies unless I have to. I mean, I like to check in, now and then, just in terms of the quality of the work. Because we are moving so quickly, and you don't get the chance to go back, I don't watch every single daily. I'll get too upset. "I could've, should've, would've." But when I watch it at home, I get caught up in the show. For some odd reason, I'm able to do that. I see stuff that bothers me, but I don't spend time dwelling on my stuff. I get more interested in her, and what's she's doing because I like the character so much.
MI.net: Kristen does a really great job and so do the writers.
Alfred: She's dynamite. I think she is an incredible actress. I think she really is. She's watchable, you know. You're really interested in what she has to say.
MI.net: I think that's all the questions.
Alfred: Well, great, because I have to go. I have to go downstairs and do something for the director. Thank you very much. I hope I was interesting and not boring.
MI.net: No, it was great.
And that concludes our interview with the guy in responsible for the look of the show. Thanks, Alfred, for taking the time to do this interview. We can't wait until the new season starts. It's going to be fun to see all these sets that you guys have created/revamped. Forget about "Who's at the door?"; we want to see who's at the karaoke bar!