Obedience
Shot in November 2020, Obedience is a short film based upon the true story of the Milgram Experiments in the early 60's.
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Role: Production Designer
On This short I had a lot of involvement in construction of the set, as well as figuring out the multiple challenges that come with building replicas of machines and set pieces from the 60's.
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In the beginning of this project, the first thing on our list to cover was the whole aesthetic of the film. The director, Tim, was very specific about the feeling of the film, and wanted the colors to represent an industrial style, but also give off the sense of uncomfort.
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To start, we looked at several dark and muted colors from the 50’s to see what could fit the aesthetic we were going for. After all that was set and done we went into the construction of the space and the idea of what we wanted each room to look like. This film is based on a true story, so we wanted each space to feel authentic and real, but also have our own small modern spin.
Developing the Rooms
We had several specific elements we needed in the rooms to create the authenticity to the original spaces.
Things such as a giant two way mirror, which we created a handle system to switch in and out the mirror and a sheet of glass.
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Large worn and rusted piping to show that these experiements were created in an old basement like the original rooms at Linsly Chittenden Hall at Yale University in 1961.
We built 3 rooms in a church which we constructed on a layer of marble viynl flooring.
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We also have other big elements that need to be included in this build, like an exact replica Volt Machine from the original Milgram Experiments. This machine used actual electrical wiring connected to every switch, that then connects to a major house battery.
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All Tables, Chairs, and light fixtures were all hand painted by myself. I used a line of spray paints, satin finish, and acrylic paints to create everything you see here.
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As for the rust, I used 3 different colors of burnt orange, dark brown, and black mixed with some sawdust. The dust would give the correct amount of bumps for for the rust look, and then I would do another round of paint on top to set it in. This was a different technique I used than usually just using the film rust spray paint
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