Host Randy Strobl talks with Erika Pineiro about art department work for corporate and commercial work in the midwest. Erika owns Mad Props, and art department company and prop house in West Michigan.
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Episode Transcript
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Welcome to Alumni Live (00:03):
The Podcast.
These are conversations with GrandValley State University film and video
graduates about the industry, thefilm, video, major and alumni profiles.
Hello and welcome back to AlumniLive: The Podcast back by popular
demand, we're talking about artdepartments today in Grand Rapids.
(00:24):
We got Erika Rene Pineiro.
Erika, welcome to the podcast.
Hi, Randy.
So good to see you again.
Man, Good to see you too.
It's been probably since we wereat Grand Valley that we've talked.
And getting ready for this, I jumpedon your website, saw your work.
You are doing just awesome work.
Not surprising at all since, the stuffthat we made together at Grand Valley.
Give us a little introduction.
Who are you?
What are You working on?
(00:45):
Well, I'm Erika, as Randy said.
I'm a Production Designerin the Grand Rapids area.
I also own my owncompany called Mad Props.
It's a prop house essentially formedout necessity because the closest
prop house is a couple hundredmiles away in Chicago, or there
might be some small ones in Detroit.
You really can't do art departmentunless you have some resources
that t you can find easily.
(01:07):
All right.
So prop house.
What is a prop house?
So a prop house, essentiallyjust a building full of stuff.
Every production needs stuff.
A lot of times we're shooting inan empty house or somebody's house
that they're living in but we needto turn it into the character's
house, not the homeowner's house.
So you really have to rethink everythingabout the characters and like what would
(01:28):
the character have not what is available?
so it's nice to be able to have thingsranging from like medical items to normal
house items, but different colors of it.
Now, Where's all this stuff coming from?
Are you shopping?
Are you like, walking around,like, Oh, that's cool.
Are you making it?
A lot of all of these things.
So it kind of just started as Ihad some fun things and I'm like, I
have medieval looking handcuffs ora wolf head, weird things like that.
(01:53):
And I'm just like, people mightwant to use this for shoot, I
catalog it, have it on my websiteor just have photos of it in action.
Or a lot of times I'm just workingon shoots in the area and things that
I buy for shoots that the productiondoes not want to keep afterwards,
I'll keep in my inventory if it'ssomething that I think we'll use again.
So I feel like I'm justan organized hoarder.
I have a studio downtown Grand Rapids.
(02:13):
It's about 2,000 square feet and Ihave things in boxes and shelves.
To me it's organized, toother people it might not be.
So, that is my definition ofa prop house as of right now.
And I also build custom things.
I have a bunch of tools tobuild sets, and custom props.
So a lot of that is just stuff that I'velearned on the job, like learning how
(02:33):
to make a safe weapon or safe anything.
And not just safe things.
Like sometimes you just need toinvent things for the production.
Kind of have to be a Jackof all trades at Mad Props.
A lot of different tools in there.
That is so cool.
So it sounds like you're making weapons.
I'm hearing moose heads.
I'm hearing ordinary, likeoffice supplies on your website.
You've got everything.
When you're doing ajob, who's calling you?
(02:55):
What kinds of things are you making?
What mediums are you working in?
I work with a lot of theproduction companies in the area
mostly focusing on commercials.
It's different from narrative.
A feature film or a narrative production,so sometimes music videos are in that
category too, takes different skill sets.
So somebody calls you up, arethey describing a product, a story?
What point of the creativeprocess are you brought in?
(03:17):
A lot of times a production companysends me a one sentence email.
They're like, are youavailable on these dates?
And the answer is,
yes or no.
They don't tell me what it is yet.
Sometimes I want context, but mostof the time I'm like, yes, I'm
available or no, I'm not sadly.
And then communication ends or Irecommend somebody else to do the job.
But then from there, they usuallysend me the script and the script or
(03:39):
the idea or storyboards, depending onwhat part they're at in the process.
And a lot of times, especially lately,they'll ask me for a budget and how much
do I think I need to make this happen.
which It's great and terrifyingwhenever they ask me how much
money it takes, because then Ican say how many people I want.
I can say how much money I wantfor expenditures, and it's awesome.
But then sometimes they look atthe price tag and they're like,
(04:00):
Oh, and they get scared away.
And so I do appreciate it whenthey're like, this is our budget.
And then I let them knowhow I can make it work.
And I'm like, we can have this manypeople, we can have this quality of
items, we can rent these things insteadof buying these things, stuff like that.
So most of the times,we meet in the middle.
I suggest a range.
And then from there, once theyapprove of everything, I hire local
(04:22):
people to help me with the project,assuming the budget allows it.
And then I start the shopping process.
So whether it's me shopping for everythingor if I am able to have an assistant
buy stuff, I usually just delegatewhere to pick things up, where to shop.
And then the day before the production,we usually pack up the truck.
I'm saying we hoping that I havean assistant on every project.
Most of the time it is just me.
But I am trying to push forward to havingmore people, more hands, even if it's a
(04:46):
PA just someone to help me lift things.
And so I, or we pack the truckum, with all the props, make sure
they're not going to get damagedin transportation, pack my kit.
So that's essentially a toolbox fullof all the tools I think I'll need
on the shoot, but it's not limited tohammer, screwdriver, stuff like that.
I'll bring like gaff tape,command strips, fishing wire.
You never know whatyou'll need in the kit.
(05:06):
You have to plan ahead foranything that might happen.
So the kit's very important.
And
Then production happens.
So essentially you do everythingon the shoot, but that's
for someone else to decide.
And then you start theprocess over in reverse.
You repack the truck, you unloadit, then you have to return things.
Then you have to look at the budget andmake sure you're still in the guidelines.
(05:27):
And if you're not, you have to go backto the Producer and be like, hey, this
is how much money it ended up costing.
And then you send yourinvoice and then you are done.
So that is the life cyclein the art department.
How do you get to the point where peopleare sending you that one sentence email?
What took you from being a superhelpful, fun person on sets making art
(05:48):
departments at Grand Valley to owningyour own business, making great shows?
I mean, I could apply and applyto a thousand jobs, but I'll
never hear back from people.
But it's usually somebodyworks with me recommended me to
someone, and then they contact me.
I'm not in control.
I mean, I am.
I had to go out and make thoseconnections and work hard on set.
So people know that I'm a hardworker, they know I'm good at my job.
(06:11):
But it is kind of a funny situation.
I don't know if a single personhas ever looked at my resume.
I'll send my website to people just sothey can see examples of things I've done.
But it's really just like you meetpeople in the industry, you say yes to
things, especially for college students.
I said yes to every projectthat was presented to me, and
that's how I met so many people.
That's how I met you, Randy.
That's how I met, yourfriend, John Sessions.
(06:33):
We worked together on allthese free projects, got to
know how each other works.
That led to other connectionsyou literally never know who
you'll be working under next.
And that happens all thetime in the industry.
I was hired by a production from aProducer and I didn't recognize her name.
And then after working with her fora couple of weeks, she called me and
I saw on my phone, she was listed asher name and then PA, and I'm just
(06:55):
like, Oh my gosh, a year before shehired me and she was the Producer.
She was the ProductionAssistant assisting me.
She was great, she was a hardworker and obviously she moved
up quick in the industry.
So it's like, you can'tbe a jerk to anybody.
You have to like know everybody has valueand everybody could be your boss one day.
Yeah, and it sounds like that has paid offbecause like you said, you're not putting
(07:15):
out your resume, it's a network, right?
How did that network start?
Did that start as you werea student at Grand Valley?
Did it start before then?
When did you startbuilding those contacts?
So essentially right out of highschool, the summer before I
started at Grand Valley, I startedvolunteering on student projects.
And I had no idea how important that wouldbe for my career, but I took it seriously
then, I treated it like it was a real job,even though it was just like showing up
(07:38):
to student projects, not getting paid.
I didn't even go to thesame school as everybody.
Looking back, I've been doingthis for over 15 years and there's
so many people that I met on myfirst day, that I still work with.
The G & E crew, they haven'tchanged over that much.
A lot of the Producers and likeconnections led to other connections.
like, Obviously not everybody can,afford to take unlimited internships,
(08:00):
while I was going to school, I thinkI did a summer internship every year.
I was also working a part time job.
And then just everything I couldafford to do without depleting
my own life, I said yes to.
If I remember correctly, whenyou were starting out, you
weren't just doing art direction.
You were doing some acting,you were behind the camera,
right in front of the camera.
Tell us about how all ofthat kind of works together.
(08:21):
Even when you're in an artdepartment situation now, how are
you thinking about characters anddrawing upon those past experiences?
I feel like I took a weird route toget into the art department area.
I started as a makeup artist, butI really feel like there's so
many experiences that you needto have in the art department.
I honestly wish I had a bigger skillset.
(08:42):
Like every shoot I'mlearning something new.
This past week I had toessentially re landscape a house.
That was crazy.
. Just learn things, learn everythingyou can or meet people who are better
at things than you and know how tolike, pick their brain and or hire
them to do what they're good at.
Curiosity, I think, is something thathas really helped me in my career too.
(09:03):
And I think that's something GrandValley really taught me at least was to
really be curious about a lot of things.
I am really curious about.
shaping a character, right?
We know, there's a script, or a sentence,or a description, or storyboards, like
you said, how do you take that andturn that into what is seen on, screen?
You have to read the script, obviously,and really get to know the characters.
After my first read through of the script,I love to talk to the director and try
(09:26):
to pick their brain, like figure outanything they know about these characters.
Especially if it's based offof real life, but if it's not
there's more room for liberty.
Sometimes they'll just sayone word and I'm just like,
I will go with this one word.
Like this character's whimsy.
So what does this mean?
What kind of things wouldthey have in their drawers?
What kind of things wouldthey have in their pockets?
You really want everythingto be filled out.
(09:48):
Even if the character doesn'tgo in the closet, there
should be stuff in the closet.
There should be stuff in every drawer.
Can we do this for real for a second?
So a whimsical character, right?
You said fill in theirpockets, fill in the closet.
What are you going back to your prophouse and, building out with this.
Let's say it's a whimsy little oldlady and we're decorating her kitchen.
So she's probably going to have an apronwith acorns in the pocket, and some
(10:09):
rocks on the counter, some things thatmaybe she half washed and has drying
on the sink, something that was found,probably a lot of like wooden handmade
things for this whimsy character.
Not everything would have to be modern,but everything would have to like
flow together nicely in the house.
I would say whimsy could be onthe borderline of cluttered even.
(10:29):
It wouldn't be like sterile.
A doctor's house would look sterile.
Like everything would be clean,everything would be orderly, I'd
have a lot of square shapes in there.
But like this whimsy character,everything would be more organic
and round and free flowing.
So there would be lacecurtains on the window.
Like everything in the house needs toproject the personality of the character.
(10:50):
I could see everything that you werejust describing that is awesome.
I want to, I want to see that image now.
Along those lines, talking aboutcharacters and their style, does your
style make its way onto those images?
If we were to look at your body of work,do you feel like there's an Erika Rene
Pineiro touch that we would recognize?
I feel like I've neverlooked back at my own work.
I can recognize my stuff, a lot oftimes I do rent out my stuff, but
(11:12):
I can tell if I did it versus otherpeople, even if it's the same stuff,
and like a boring subject matter.
I like, to focus on wecall it proof of life.
You see an empty room, butwe're advertising for an
air purifier or something.
And so we want to show who livesin that house, even without
showing characters or anything.
Maybe we'll show a busy mom.
So we'll have a purse and maybesome files, or like notebooks or a
(11:35):
tablet coming out of her purse adish cloth on the counter just showing
like, Oh, it was just thrown down.
Or shoes by the door and justnot perfectly arranged, they
have to be scattered beautifully.
It sounds a little odd, but you haveto show that somebody lives there.
Yeah, and you have to be insidethese characters heads too.
That's so cool that you canlike imagine all that and think
about their physical life, thethings around them that they touch.
(11:57):
As you're setting the sceneswhat are some lessons that
you learned at Grand Valley?
Some things that professors thatsaid something profound to you.
Are there things that youdraw on from your, education?
I keep going back to one of theclasses that Kim Roberts had.
She did a whole class on , rigid shapescan be for like rigid characters.
And I kind of drew from thatwhenever I was talking about
like our whimsy character thatwe're just making up on the fly.
(12:19):
And it was just a really fun class.
She was showing us random objectsand saying how those made her feel.
And we usually all feel the samethings from different visualization.
So, you have to focus on that.
Does this make me feel confined?
Does this give me anxiety?
And sometimes you can usethat in the production.
So that was just a really goodlesson that I learned from Kim.
And then another thing that Idefinitely learned at Grand Valley
(12:41):
was working with people that youdon't think you'll work well with.
You get assigned a group and it'sjust like on a professional project,
you don't get to choose who's on crewwith you unless as a department head,
you get to hire the people under you.
You really have to learn how to work withdifficult personalities, and how to make
compromises with your vision and stuff.
Like if the director and I are not gettingalong, I have to remember he or she's
(13:01):
the Director, I'm making their vision.
And they also have to realizethat they did hire me for a
job and I'm good at this job.
I have to know how to stand my groundand also get the job done for everybody.
And that was just somethingthat really goes back to like
working on student projects.
Some people don't always pullthe weight of everybody else
and that's still true on sets.
You have to learn how to deal with thatand how to get the job done anyway.
(13:25):
I feel like I also had learned that atGrand Valley and, especially, not just
doing the classwork, but also thingsat Grand Valley Television, right?
You had helped us a lot with Jeff and MikeWrite a Comic Book, our little GVTV show.
Doing extracurricularstuff at Grand Valley.
Do you have any stories about that or howhas that helped you or time management?
Time management isalways the hardest part.
On productions, I reallyhave to work backwards.
(13:46):
It's really just like an assignmentbased work schedule still.
I know when the due date is,the production date, it's
kind of the same as in school.
And then if I'm bouncing betweena couple different projects, I
know how to stagger it, so I stillhave time to do all the projects.
So I have to do my homework.
I have to make sure all the shopping'sdone by a certain time, all the
online orders are done by a certaintime to be able to get to the day
(14:07):
before the shoot and pack the truck.
A lot of this time managementlike class assignments.
So it sounds like you're doingstuff at all hours, right?
Going shopping, doing productions.
How do you feel aboutyour work life balance?
Are you able to balance all that?
Do you feel like it could be better?
What advice do you have around worklife balance and managing that?
Work life balance could always be better.
I love it whenever I can treat it likea nine to five, or an eight to six.
(14:31):
I am trying to respect officehours, even if I'm not on set.
I'll go to my studio, I'll workon my computer during office
hours, respond to emails.
Even if I'm not specifically just atmy studio, I might be working on other
hobbies or something if I'm not on set.
But 6 PM I clock out, assuming Idon't have a crazy project coming up.
I do break my own rules all the time.
(14:51):
And I try not to work on weekends.
And I feel like it's okay to skip readingemails on weekends unless it's something
that I really think I need to get back to.
Cause I just feel like peoplein the industry need to respect
work life balance, even if Idon't do it myself all the time.
But then whenever it comes to likea big project, I'm probably getting
up at six, going to bed at midnight.
Working ever y single second I have onthis project and then falling asleep
(15:12):
exhausted just to wake up and do it again.
So I'm trying not to do thoseprojects or let the production know,
I'm like, Hey, I'm working 18 hoursa day to get this done in time.
We need more people.
If I can't get it done in time,it's because either the production
couldn't afford more people.
And so I'm like, I should becharging more for my time too, or
they just need to budget their timeand money better on the production.
(15:36):
Yeah.
and I think it takes work andit's something that I really
had to learn in my career too.
I've really learned in the lastcouple of years to, like you said,
make those boundaries, try tomake sure that we're protecting
our home time, things like that.
That's a great lesson.
Now you haven't justworked in Grand Rapids.
You've been out in the wider world, right?
Tell us about some of theseother cities you've worked in.
So after college I actuallydid an internship out in
(15:57):
Manhattan, and that was awesome.
It's kind of funny whenever Itell people where I intern though,
because I interned in a camera house.
I didn't take out the straight pathcause I started as a Makeup Artist
and then I did every single departmentthrough school and a little bit after
school, just to find myself backto pretty much the art department.
I was interning at this camera house.
I learned a lot.
(16:17):
I learned I don't care about cameras.
But it was really fun working out there.
It was a rental houseand production company.
And so I learned I really liked productioncoordinating, which led to Assistant
Directing, which led to just me beingbetter at time management probably and
pushing me back to the art department,knowing that it's not what I need to do.
And so it was just fun, seeingthe productions out in that
(16:38):
area, seeing how they're handled.
I remember setting up the cateringfor some shoots out there and seeing
what's expected out there versus atthat time it was mostly just like
student and small commercials inMichigan before heading out to New York.
It was just fun to seethat side of the world.
And then, actually from some of thoseconnections for my internship, I ended
up going back out a couple of years laterand I worked on a super bowl commercial.
(16:59):
At the time, it was the biggestproduction I'd ever worked on.
I think I might've brokeeven on this production.
I wasn't making a ton, but it wasworth it just to get the experience of
working on a super bowl ad in Manhattan.
I spent a whole daydriving a box truck around.
I went to every single borough togo to all the prop houses to pick up
like one thing from each prop house.
And it was just interesting seeingthat side of the industry I think
(17:21):
I had five or six things to pick upand it took me all 10 hours for that
day, just to drive the truck around.
And it was not my favorite day, butit was still like an eye opening day.
and like In Grand Rapids, a lot oftimes it's just me on the production.
Me, and then I'm pushing for an Assistant.
Sometimes I get a crew ofup to five, which is great.
But on this shoot, it's funny causethey kept saying how small of an art
(17:42):
department they had and how small ofa budget this was for a Super Bowl ad.
Oh, and I think we hadseven people on our crew.
The funniest part was we had twoProduction Designers on that, which
I don't know why they did that.
So two Production Designers, I thinkI was technically a scenic on that
one, and then we had a Carpenter whobuilt the sets and I painted the sets.
We had a buyer, but the reason why I hadto drive the truck around is because our
(18:04):
buyer didn't have a driver's license.
It's New York, nobody hastheir license out there.
So that's why the scenicwas driving the truck.
It was just really cool tosee that side of the industry.
And then another project out of state.
This one was another one of thebigger projects I've worked on.
It was called Angry Neighbors.
What is it on Amazon?
So I was pulled out to that movie asthe Prop Master, which was awesome.
(18:28):
And I think Prop Masteris my favorite job.
The Prop Master is in chargeof anything the actors touch.
If they're drinking a water bottle,if they're on a cell phone, if
they're wearing a wedding ring,if they're wearing glasses.
It's kind of funny cause it's likeglasses, rings, hats and everything,
it's the gray area between wardrobeand props, but it is technically props.
And so that's something I alwayshave to plan for, even though
(18:50):
wardrobe usually takes care of it.
And I never argue when they takecare of it cause they usually have
it figured out with the outfit.
But the fun thing about being a PropMaster is like, If I were setting up our
interview right now, I wouldn't have toset up anything in the back of the room.
Everything would already bethere by the art department.
And the Prop Masters actuallyon bigger sets, they're treated
as their own department.
(19:10):
So separate from the artdepartment, which is kind of crazy.
It's not something I expected coming fromMichigan where I'm the Production Designer
and the Prop Master and the Scenic andthe Set Builder all at the same time.
And so on that shoot, it was great.
I was always at the monitor with theProduction Designer, but she treated
me like I was not working under her.
I was working with her.
And then I would look through the scriptand be like, the location is outside.
(19:32):
They're just having a conversation.
What are they doing?
Then I bring a newspaper or abook or a tablet or iced tea.
Like there always has to besomething for the actors to have
in their hands to play with.
Cause it's like me, I'm always fidgeting.
Like I'm playing with a safety pin.
I don't know why.
But it helps the actors get intocharacter, if they have something
that their character would be doing.
And also people don't just sit.
(19:52):
People don't sit and stare at eachother and have a conversation.
People are always doing things.
How closely are you working withthe other collaborators there?
We're talking Actors.
we're talking Art Department, Directors.
Like in that scenario, if you bringa newspaper, does anybody say,
I don't think it's a newspaper.
Do you have options?
So in that situation, I'd probablyfirst go to the Production Designer
(20:13):
and be like, this is what I'm bringing.
And if he or she says yes or no, orthis doesn't fit the aesthetic, then
I swap it out for something else.
And then from there, I usually bringthe ideas to the Director and ask him
what he wants the character to be doing.
And then from there, sometimes theDirector's asks the Actor what they
think their character would be doing.
Sometimes they don't even care.
And so sometimes I just hand offthe things and they're good to go.
(20:36):
Other times there's awhole conversation with it.
And sometimes the Director's like,I don't think they'd be doing this,
but I think they'd be doing this.
And that's where we have to just runthrough the truck, find something
that's not breaking continuity.
And that's where you've gotlike extra things, right?
Like you're ready.
Like you said, predicting the future.
Yes, exactly.
And that's also where if you do wantto be on good terms with the Production
Designer and the Art Department, you'renot supposed to just take things from
the background and turn it into a prop.
(20:58):
You have a whole different budget forprops than you do for set dressing, but
it's something that happens I'm sure allthe time, especially on indie projects.
But you can't assume it's allowed.
Cause you don't want to break theircontinuity and then they have to
know that it was moved between scenesand if you're jumping around in the
scripts that makes everything harder.
So is there a trick toimagining the future like that?
Are you bringing a wildcard option orwhat's kind of the secret sauce of that?
(21:20):
Yes.
I like to bring in three options.
I usually bring what I think is best,then I'll bring a boring option,
yeah, and then a lot of times, ifI'm able to find a wild card, yeah,
I love to throw in a wild card.
And this also goes for setdecorating and stuff too.
I always try to bring things inthrees because if you just bring
one thing, the Director willalways want to see something else.
But if you bring three, knowing whichone thing that you want, they usually
(21:44):
can see that it is the best option, orsometimes we'll go with the wild card.
So never bring things that youhate, because sometimes the
Director just goes with the thingsthat you don't want on the shoot.
So zooming way out, lookingat your body of work.
If you go to your website,which is madpropsgr.
com, you've got a varietyof things you do, right?
So you've got props, but you'vealso got stylings, you've got set
(22:06):
design, you've got set construction.
How do your skills weave throughoutall those really different things?
What is the thread thatholds all that together?
It's really all just production design.
In a perfect world, I wouldn't haveto wear all the hats that I do here.
But, as the Production Designer,it's crazy how productions just
assume I can do everything.
Where it's like in LA or NewYork, they would hire someone
(22:28):
specific for each part of it.
So it's like, I'm even designinggraphics and stuff for shoots.
Graphic Designer is a whole position.
I have to learn how to do it all justbecause we're so limited in this area.
We don't have as many resources,so I have to figure out
how to make those resources.
Or again, like I said before, findpeople who are better at the things
than I am and hire them or buythings from them for the shoot.
(22:52):
Or if I really have to ask to borrowthings, but we don't like to do that.
So as we're talking, I'msensing just a lot of joy.
I mean, you've got a bigsmile on your face right now.
What are the things thatyou love about your work?
What keeps you going every day?
The pre production partis really exciting.
So it's like, I'm given thisvague concept, and I love
imagining how it could be.
Production is really fun too, seeingthings coming to life, but it's really
(23:14):
exciting in pre production just likeimagining what we can do and then
collaborating with the director.
I'm like, okay, that's not exactly whatI expected, but let's do this direction.
It's cool to see things coming to life.
Especially whenever you're building aset . It's fun to draw a picture and
know that eventually it will be built.
Eight year old Erika, was shethinking about art direction?
(23:35):
Was eight year old Erika's roomall decked out in art and things?
That's really funny.
So eight year old Erika paintedher room chroma key green,
of course,
without even knowing that'swhat I was going to do.
So I literally picked outthe paint from the store.
Then in high school, I got intoproduction realized I could
green screen in my own room.
Have you brought that to a character yet?
(23:55):
Have you had them havea chroma key green room?
No, I haven't.
It's just too offensive of a color.
Eight year old Erika didn't have the besteye, but she had a lot of imagination.
I was always making things.
It's like I was a kid.
I didn't have a job.
I couldn't buy things for people.
So I would make Christmaspresents every year.
I'd take toothpaste boxes or grahamcracker boxes and turn it inside
out and paint it to be a Clefairy orweird little animals that I just gift
(24:18):
to people and assume they want it.
And so I'm still making things.
think I'm a little bit better at it now.
It's probably not as cute though.
You said developing your eye,that's really interesting to me.
What do you mean developing your eye?
and what was that process like?
It's honestly just confidence.
Especially whenever I'm on set, I'llbe looking at the monitor and I'll
know something's not right sometimes.
And so it's just figuring out and alsolistening to the critiques the clients
(24:41):
have and just taking that to heart.
Learning that you don't want two things onthe same level, cause it just looks weird.
You want things to be likestaggered, or like the rule of
thirds and like rule of threes,like a lot of things go into threes.
And then just being confident enoughto be like, this isn't working.
And to know if something lookswrong in the scene or you see
a tag or you see an outlet.
To know that you're right by saying,we have to stop the shot, or fix it
(25:03):
hopefully before the shot even starts.
This episode is brought to you by theChuck Peterson Memorial fellowship.
The fellowship was established by ChuckPeterson's family and friends to assist
the upper-level students in the film andvideo program at GVSU who were working
on creative projects that support thenonprofit sector in their community.
Kyle Macciome, the 2020 recipient,of that fellowship describes the
(25:23):
benefits of the support he received
When going through this fellowship,there are three separate parts
of yourself that I think get toexperience a lot of development.
The first is as a student, becausethis is a learning process.
You get to learn how to work witha client on your own independently,
out in the world, away from theclassroom, like you would in
something like producing for clients.
And the second one would be as a videomaker, as a video producer, as someone
(25:46):
who has respect for the work thatthey're doing and wants to improve on
themselves and produce a final productthat can be used out in the real world.
And then the third onewould be as a citizen.
You know, you're not making video foran entertainment value or for some
kind of commercial purpose, it's for anon-profit it's for a direct benefit in
your community and being a citizen ofthat community, understanding how you
(26:07):
can directly impact and improve it, um,is a really valuable experience that
I think the fellowship teaches you tobe as, as a student, as a filmmaker
and as a citizen, all three of thosethings are directly a part of this
process that you get to learn and askyourself, how do I want to be seen?
And how do I want to actas these three roles?
For more information and to donateto the scholarship, visit the link in
(26:30):
the description now back to the show.
What advice do you havefor Grand Valley students?
I would say while you're astudent, take advantage of as
many opportunities as you can.
Even if you're not interested indifferent seminars, take the seminar on
sound, take the seminar on directing.
You need to learn everythingessentially, so you know what
goes into every single job.
(26:51):
I had no idea I wanted to do the artdepartment, but while I was at Grand
Valley, I took a seminar on makeup.
And that started me on this littlepath on this crazy little journey that
somehow went fully around the world, Ithink, and back to the Art Department.
But especially if you want todo the art department, focus on
the things that you love to do.
Take the art classes, take the musicclasses, become an expert in something
you're interested in, because youdon't know when you'll need that.
(27:14):
And then also, keep tabs on yourfriends on what they're good at.
How could you hire them onto projects?
Don't always assume everybody justwants to stop and do freelance work.
But a lot of people, especiallycollege students, do.
Especially the first coupleof years after school.
So always look to people who arebetter at things than you and learn
from them, or know that they're there.
Have you had some mentors who were,either ahead of you in your career
(27:37):
or people that had really helped youwith your eye or with your career?
A lot of people who've helpedme with my eye I would say are
clients that I've worked with.
There was one person that workedat one of my reoccurring jobs.
She was the Art Director of their company.
And just very difficult personality.
Nothing would please her.
And I actually loved working with her.
I was terrified at first, thefirst couple of days I worked with
(27:58):
her, I literally went home crying.
It was just horrible.
And realizing she couldn't be pleased.
But then I understood what itwas that she didn't like, and
I learned how to work with her.
Her pickiness made me pickier at my job.
She was very good at her job, andit made me really good at my job.
She couldn't always verbalize what itwas that wasn't right about the shot, but
it's right now I know what to look for.
(28:19):
I just feel like there's so many people.
I've been doing this for 15 years.
I'm usually the Department Head,but every opportunity I get to
work under somebody, I take it.
Like somebody who works in a differentcity, I'd love to just assist them
for the day, see what tricks they do,see how they do things differently.
It's been incredible.
Whenever I went out to Minnesota forAngry Neighbors, it was so cool to
work with the bigger art departmentand see the Production Designer and
(28:42):
follow her on social media and seethe things she's doing with her career.
And then ask people for advice especiallyas a student, whatever you're learning.
Nobody will see you as competition.
Which is a big thing in theart department, I think.
I think a lot of people are afraidto meet other Production Designers.
But I know I'm not good at everything,and, I know some people are better
at some things than I am, and I'mbetter at some things than they are.
(29:05):
So there's actually anotherDesigner that reached out to me,
I want to say five years ago.
She travels all over the worldactually, and for a short time
She was in Grand Rapids and shereached out to me for coffee and I
was like, oh my gosh competition.
We actually pass each other work.
Because it's like she's a finepainter, she was trained in oil
painting, she has beautiful artwork,and that's not something I'm good at.
(29:27):
And now every time I know somebody iscoming into town or is in town, I love
to reach out, see what they're goodat, see how we can work together, work
under them, or they can work under me.
It's been really good.
And it's a small enough town whereit's like, everybody knows each other.
we don't always get the opportunityto work together, but we need
to know how to use each other.
I did expect there to be competitors orsome kind of rivalries and edges, but it
(29:48):
does feel like people are shooting eachother jobs and we're really on the same
team and in this industry a lot of times.
And there's so much work in the area.
A lot of times I have to say no to jobs.
Every time I say no, I love togive them names of people who I
know, would be good at the job.
Yeah, it helps grow that networkand strengthen that network.
To compete with bigger cities.
Absolutely.
So my favorite question that I'm goingto ask, and I love this all the time
(30:10):
is, I just want you to brag aboutyourself, but I want you to do it in
particular in a special way, becauseI want a little brag and a big brag.
Specifically, a little prop or a pieceof art direction that you're really
proud of, and then of course, a bigbrag too, of best part of your career
so far, what you're really proud of.
I was building a movie theater set.
So we had the movie theater on theLED wall, and then we built the little
(30:32):
kiosk and filled it with popcorn.
We had to fill it with candy.
We can't use real candy, cause it'sbranded and we couldn't use brands
unless we had their permission.
And so I made some simple graphicsand I was working with John.
Whenever we're working on Atrophy,me and Hannah made Randy's
Fandies because we're fans of you.
Atrophy was a feature film thatyou had worked on independent
(30:53):
feature film in Michigan.
Independent feature film.
Don't look it up.
It's weird.
But anyway, I just remembered Randy'sFandies and I was trying to think
of something that rhymes with candy.
So, Randy's candy has popped up
For the audio listeners at home, this isa very visual thing here, but if we're
looking at Randy's Candies, can youjust point out the graphic design of it?
And, when you're creating somethinglike that, are you thinking
(31:13):
about the cameras, the shot?
What do you see when you see that, image?
So I made a simple design.
This was one of the projects whereI'm just was overwhelmed with a bunch
of stuff to make for the project.
And so I'm like, how can Imake this as easy as possible?
Cause like I had to massproduce candy boxes.
We didn't have the budget forme to send it to a printer.
We didn't have budget or time.
And so I was literally designingthis on my laptop, printing it.
(31:35):
I think I sent it to Staplesto get the highest quality.
I have the same font and thesame border around the candy box.
And then I changed the graphics,I have a melting ice cream cone,
I have macarons, I have Skittles,and then one's like a fireball.
So those were different flavorsof the candy, and then each
one I changed the color scheme.
Oh, and then I had a film strip aroundthe edge, just to make it simple.
(31:57):
So essentially it was copy and paste,change the colors and the graphic.
So I could mass producethese, print them, fold them,
put them in the display case.
But to come up with the graphic,I actually spent six hours, just
trying to see if there's a wayI could use AI to help my job.
And so I was using Chat GPT andI was like, show me candy boxes.
I actually didn't use anythingthat it sent me, I wasn't that good
(32:20):
at using it, but it was funny tosee the starting points from it.
I'm interested to see wherewe go with AI tools.
I don't think it'll replace any of us.
I think it should make ourlives easier in theory.
Unless we don't know how touse it well, but it was cool
just to get a starting point.
I'm like, okay, this iswhat all the boxes have.
Obviously I could havejust grabbed a real box.
I did that too.
And just format it similar to other boxes.
Cause I wanted thegraphics to look normal.
(32:43):
Which sounds like such a basic thingto want with graphic design, but
it's not the star of the production.
I'm not advertisingRandy's Candies on this.
I am showing a movie theater andI want something that looks real.
And so we don't want it tojust be like taped off or
painted over real candy boxes.
We want it to look seamless and normalwithout drawing the eye too much.
And I think those dida good job with that.
they were the right color scheme.
(33:04):
They weren't too vibrant.
And they looked real enough.
That's really cool.
and I do want you to bragabout yourself for a second.
What, do you think you'remost proud of in your career?
Honestly, I'm really proud ofhow different my body of work is.
Because if I chose what I didI don't know if I'd be able
to come up with as many ideas.
A project comes to me and I alreadysaid yes to it because I said I'm
(33:24):
available whether I want to do it or not.
And it's cool learningto love the project.
And then doing the best I can with it.
There was a really bigshoot a couple of years ago.
It was severely under budget.
They gave me such a lowbudget for such big asks.
Projects like that,I'm proud of surviving.
It was something for Target.
So it was a really big client and Ireally wanted to do a good job with it.
(33:46):
But also the asks were huge.
They wanted me to build four differentsets to be shot in, I think three days.
Essentially all the setshad to be standing at the
same time at Lowing studios.
So it's only, a 50 foot psych wall.
So 50 foot by 50 foot.
Designing on paper and then buildingthe sets were completely different.
Cause I'm like, Oh, we have all thisspace whenever I had it drawn out on
(34:08):
paper, but I'm like, things take up space.
And, yes, we had room for the wallsand room for the stands, but we
didn't have much room outside of that
. I essentially built like a little maze in there.
We had to walk around, take off a wallto, be able to get the angle that
we needed to shoot of the other set.
And honestly it was somuch work getting there.
This was one of those shoots thatI was up at 6:00 AM in bed at
midnight, working constantly tomake sure everything was ready.
(34:31):
I had a small team, could have beendouble the size, we also could have had
double the budget, but, at the end ofthe day we got it, we did it all safely.
We didn't all get enough sleep,but nothing bad happened from that.
I'm proud of being able topull together a team, I guess.
Erika Rene Paneiro,congratulations on your success.
Thanks for joining us hereon alumni live, the podcast.
Mad Props GR is the website and,I've been your host, Randy Strobl.
(34:52):
Thank you so much for listeningto Alumni Live: The Podcast.
Thank you for joining us for thisepisode of Alumni Live: The Podcast.
Subscribe to our podcast, to hear morefrom our alumni across the industry.
Check out Alumni Live onFacebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
For more conversations and networking.
Let us know what topics you wantto hear our alumni talk about.
(35:13):
The Grand Valley State UniversityFilm Video Alumni Network is here for
you, and we're glad that you're here.
Thank you for listening.
The Podcast.
These are conversations with GrandValley State University film and video
graduates about the industry, thefilm, video, major and alumni profiles.
Hello and welcome back to AlumniLive: The Podcast back by popular
demand, we're talking about artdepartments today in Grand Rapids.
(00:24):
We got Erika Rene Pineiro.
Erika, welcome to the podcast.
Hi, Randy.
So good to see you again.
Man, Good to see you too.
It's been probably since we wereat Grand Valley that we've talked.
And getting ready for this, I jumpedon your website, saw your work.
You are doing just awesome work.
Not surprising at all since, the stuffthat we made together at Grand Valley.
Give us a little introduction.
Who are you?
What are You working on?
(00:45):
Well, I'm Erika, as Randy said.
I'm a Production Designerin the Grand Rapids area.
I also own my owncompany called Mad Props.
It's a prop house essentially formedout necessity because the closest
prop house is a couple hundredmiles away in Chicago, or there
might be some small ones in Detroit.
You really can't do art departmentunless you have some resources
that t you can find easily.
(01:07):
All right.
So prop house.
What is a prop house?
So a prop house, essentiallyjust a building full of stuff.
Every production needs stuff.
A lot of times we're shooting inan empty house or somebody's house
that they're living in but we needto turn it into the character's
house, not the homeowner's house.
So you really have to rethink everythingabout the characters and like what would
(01:28):
the character have not what is available?
so it's nice to be able to have thingsranging from like medical items to normal
house items, but different colors of it.
Now, Where's all this stuff coming from?
Are you shopping?
Are you like, walking around,like, Oh, that's cool.
Are you making it?
A lot of all of these things.
So it kind of just started as Ihad some fun things and I'm like, I
have medieval looking handcuffs ora wolf head, weird things like that.
(01:53):
And I'm just like, people mightwant to use this for shoot, I
catalog it, have it on my websiteor just have photos of it in action.
Or a lot of times I'm just workingon shoots in the area and things that
I buy for shoots that the productiondoes not want to keep afterwards,
I'll keep in my inventory if it'ssomething that I think we'll use again.
So I feel like I'm justan organized hoarder.
I have a studio downtown Grand Rapids.
(02:13):
It's about 2,000 square feet and Ihave things in boxes and shelves.
To me it's organized, toother people it might not be.
So, that is my definition ofa prop house as of right now.
And I also build custom things.
I have a bunch of tools tobuild sets, and custom props.
So a lot of that is just stuff that I'velearned on the job, like learning how
(02:33):
to make a safe weapon or safe anything.
And not just safe things.
Like sometimes you just need toinvent things for the production.
Kind of have to be a Jackof all trades at Mad Props.
A lot of different tools in there.
That is so cool.
So it sounds like you're making weapons.
I'm hearing moose heads.
I'm hearing ordinary, likeoffice supplies on your website.
You've got everything.
When you're doing ajob, who's calling you?
(02:55):
What kinds of things are you making?
What mediums are you working in?
I work with a lot of theproduction companies in the area
mostly focusing on commercials.
It's different from narrative.
A feature film or a narrative production,so sometimes music videos are in that
category too, takes different skill sets.
So somebody calls you up, arethey describing a product, a story?
What point of the creativeprocess are you brought in?
(03:17):
A lot of times a production companysends me a one sentence email.
They're like, are youavailable on these dates?
And the answer is,
yes or no.
They don't tell me what it is yet.
Sometimes I want context, but mostof the time I'm like, yes, I'm
available or no, I'm not sadly.
And then communication ends or Irecommend somebody else to do the job.
But then from there, they usuallysend me the script and the script or
(03:39):
the idea or storyboards, depending onwhat part they're at in the process.
And a lot of times, especially lately,they'll ask me for a budget and how much
do I think I need to make this happen.
which It's great and terrifyingwhenever they ask me how much
money it takes, because then Ican say how many people I want.
I can say how much money I wantfor expenditures, and it's awesome.
But then sometimes they look atthe price tag and they're like,
(04:00):
Oh, and they get scared away.
And so I do appreciate it whenthey're like, this is our budget.
And then I let them knowhow I can make it work.
And I'm like, we can have this manypeople, we can have this quality of
items, we can rent these things insteadof buying these things, stuff like that.
So most of the times,we meet in the middle.
I suggest a range.
And then from there, once theyapprove of everything, I hire local
(04:22):
people to help me with the project,assuming the budget allows it.
And then I start the shopping process.
So whether it's me shopping for everythingor if I am able to have an assistant
buy stuff, I usually just delegatewhere to pick things up, where to shop.
And then the day before the production,we usually pack up the truck.
I'm saying we hoping that I havean assistant on every project.
Most of the time it is just me.
But I am trying to push forward to havingmore people, more hands, even if it's a
(04:46):
PA just someone to help me lift things.
And so I, or we pack the truckum, with all the props, make sure
they're not going to get damagedin transportation, pack my kit.
So that's essentially a toolbox fullof all the tools I think I'll need
on the shoot, but it's not limited tohammer, screwdriver, stuff like that.
I'll bring like gaff tape,command strips, fishing wire.
You never know whatyou'll need in the kit.
(05:06):
You have to plan ahead foranything that might happen.
So the kit's very important.
And
Then production happens.
So essentially you do everythingon the shoot, but that's
for someone else to decide.
And then you start theprocess over in reverse.
You repack the truck, you unloadit, then you have to return things.
Then you have to look at the budget andmake sure you're still in the guidelines.
(05:27):
And if you're not, you have to go backto the Producer and be like, hey, this
is how much money it ended up costing.
And then you send yourinvoice and then you are done.
So that is the life cyclein the art department.
How do you get to the point where peopleare sending you that one sentence email?
What took you from being a superhelpful, fun person on sets making art
(05:48):
departments at Grand Valley to owningyour own business, making great shows?
I mean, I could apply and applyto a thousand jobs, but I'll
never hear back from people.
But it's usually somebodyworks with me recommended me to
someone, and then they contact me.
I'm not in control.
I mean, I am.
I had to go out and make thoseconnections and work hard on set.
So people know that I'm a hardworker, they know I'm good at my job.
(06:11):
But it is kind of a funny situation.
I don't know if a single personhas ever looked at my resume.
I'll send my website to people just sothey can see examples of things I've done.
But it's really just like you meetpeople in the industry, you say yes to
things, especially for college students.
I said yes to every projectthat was presented to me, and
that's how I met so many people.
That's how I met you, Randy.
That's how I met, yourfriend, John Sessions.
(06:33):
We worked together on allthese free projects, got to
know how each other works.
That led to other connectionsyou literally never know who
you'll be working under next.
And that happens all thetime in the industry.
I was hired by a production from aProducer and I didn't recognize her name.
And then after working with her fora couple of weeks, she called me and
I saw on my phone, she was listed asher name and then PA, and I'm just
(06:55):
like, Oh my gosh, a year before shehired me and she was the Producer.
She was the ProductionAssistant assisting me.
She was great, she was a hardworker and obviously she moved
up quick in the industry.
So it's like, you can'tbe a jerk to anybody.
You have to like know everybody has valueand everybody could be your boss one day.
Yeah, and it sounds like that has paid offbecause like you said, you're not putting
(07:15):
out your resume, it's a network, right?
How did that network start?
Did that start as you werea student at Grand Valley?
Did it start before then?
When did you startbuilding those contacts?
So essentially right out of highschool, the summer before I
started at Grand Valley, I startedvolunteering on student projects.
And I had no idea how important that wouldbe for my career, but I took it seriously
then, I treated it like it was a real job,even though it was just like showing up
(07:38):
to student projects, not getting paid.
I didn't even go to thesame school as everybody.
Looking back, I've been doingthis for over 15 years and there's
so many people that I met on myfirst day, that I still work with.
The G & E crew, they haven'tchanged over that much.
A lot of the Producers and likeconnections led to other connections.
like, Obviously not everybody can,afford to take unlimited internships,
(08:00):
while I was going to school, I thinkI did a summer internship every year.
I was also working a part time job.
And then just everything I couldafford to do without depleting
my own life, I said yes to.
If I remember correctly, whenyou were starting out, you
weren't just doing art direction.
You were doing some acting,you were behind the camera,
right in front of the camera.
Tell us about how all ofthat kind of works together.
(08:21):
Even when you're in an artdepartment situation now, how are
you thinking about characters anddrawing upon those past experiences?
I feel like I took a weird route toget into the art department area.
I started as a makeup artist, butI really feel like there's so
many experiences that you needto have in the art department.
I honestly wish I had a bigger skillset.
(08:42):
Like every shoot I'mlearning something new.
This past week I had toessentially re landscape a house.
That was crazy.
. Just learn things, learn everythingyou can or meet people who are better
at things than you and know how tolike, pick their brain and or hire
them to do what they're good at.
Curiosity, I think, is something thathas really helped me in my career too.
(09:03):
And I think that's something GrandValley really taught me at least was to
really be curious about a lot of things.
I am really curious about.
shaping a character, right?
We know, there's a script, or a sentence,or a description, or storyboards, like
you said, how do you take that andturn that into what is seen on, screen?
You have to read the script, obviously,and really get to know the characters.
After my first read through of the script,I love to talk to the director and try
(09:26):
to pick their brain, like figure outanything they know about these characters.
Especially if it's based offof real life, but if it's not
there's more room for liberty.
Sometimes they'll just sayone word and I'm just like,
I will go with this one word.
Like this character's whimsy.
So what does this mean?
What kind of things wouldthey have in their drawers?
What kind of things wouldthey have in their pockets?
You really want everythingto be filled out.
(09:48):
Even if the character doesn'tgo in the closet, there
should be stuff in the closet.
There should be stuff in every drawer.
Can we do this for real for a second?
So a whimsical character, right?
You said fill in theirpockets, fill in the closet.
What are you going back to your prophouse and, building out with this.
Let's say it's a whimsy little oldlady and we're decorating her kitchen.
So she's probably going to have an apronwith acorns in the pocket, and some
(10:09):
rocks on the counter, some things thatmaybe she half washed and has drying
on the sink, something that was found,probably a lot of like wooden handmade
things for this whimsy character.
Not everything would have to be modern,but everything would have to like
flow together nicely in the house.
I would say whimsy could be onthe borderline of cluttered even.
(10:29):
It wouldn't be like sterile.
A doctor's house would look sterile.
Like everything would be clean,everything would be orderly, I'd
have a lot of square shapes in there.
But like this whimsy character,everything would be more organic
and round and free flowing.
So there would be lacecurtains on the window.
Like everything in the house needs toproject the personality of the character.
(10:50):
I could see everything that you werejust describing that is awesome.
I want to, I want to see that image now.
Along those lines, talking aboutcharacters and their style, does your
style make its way onto those images?
If we were to look at your body of work,do you feel like there's an Erika Rene
Pineiro touch that we would recognize?
I feel like I've neverlooked back at my own work.
I can recognize my stuff, a lot oftimes I do rent out my stuff, but
(11:12):
I can tell if I did it versus otherpeople, even if it's the same stuff,
and like a boring subject matter.
I like, to focus on wecall it proof of life.
You see an empty room, butwe're advertising for an
air purifier or something.
And so we want to show who livesin that house, even without
showing characters or anything.
Maybe we'll show a busy mom.
So we'll have a purse and maybesome files, or like notebooks or a
(11:35):
tablet coming out of her purse adish cloth on the counter just showing
like, Oh, it was just thrown down.
Or shoes by the door and justnot perfectly arranged, they
have to be scattered beautifully.
It sounds a little odd, but you haveto show that somebody lives there.
Yeah, and you have to be insidethese characters heads too.
That's so cool that you canlike imagine all that and think
about their physical life, thethings around them that they touch.
(11:57):
As you're setting the sceneswhat are some lessons that
you learned at Grand Valley?
Some things that professors thatsaid something profound to you.
Are there things that youdraw on from your, education?
I keep going back to one of theclasses that Kim Roberts had.
She did a whole class on , rigid shapescan be for like rigid characters.
And I kind of drew from thatwhenever I was talking about
like our whimsy character thatwe're just making up on the fly.
(12:19):
And it was just a really fun class.
She was showing us random objectsand saying how those made her feel.
And we usually all feel the samethings from different visualization.
So, you have to focus on that.
Does this make me feel confined?
Does this give me anxiety?
And sometimes you can usethat in the production.
So that was just a really goodlesson that I learned from Kim.
And then another thing that Idefinitely learned at Grand Valley
(12:41):
was working with people that youdon't think you'll work well with.
You get assigned a group and it'sjust like on a professional project,
you don't get to choose who's on crewwith you unless as a department head,
you get to hire the people under you.
You really have to learn how to work withdifficult personalities, and how to make
compromises with your vision and stuff.
Like if the director and I are not gettingalong, I have to remember he or she's
(13:01):
the Director, I'm making their vision.
And they also have to realizethat they did hire me for a
job and I'm good at this job.
I have to know how to stand my groundand also get the job done for everybody.
And that was just somethingthat really goes back to like
working on student projects.
Some people don't always pullthe weight of everybody else
and that's still true on sets.
You have to learn how to deal with thatand how to get the job done anyway.
(13:25):
I feel like I also had learned that atGrand Valley and, especially, not just
doing the classwork, but also thingsat Grand Valley Television, right?
You had helped us a lot with Jeff and MikeWrite a Comic Book, our little GVTV show.
Doing extracurricularstuff at Grand Valley.
Do you have any stories about that or howhas that helped you or time management?
Time management isalways the hardest part.
On productions, I reallyhave to work backwards.
(13:46):
It's really just like an assignmentbased work schedule still.
I know when the due date is,the production date, it's
kind of the same as in school.
And then if I'm bouncing betweena couple different projects, I
know how to stagger it, so I stillhave time to do all the projects.
So I have to do my homework.
I have to make sure all the shopping'sdone by a certain time, all the
online orders are done by a certaintime to be able to get to the day
(14:07):
before the shoot and pack the truck.
A lot of this time managementlike class assignments.
So it sounds like you're doingstuff at all hours, right?
Going shopping, doing productions.
How do you feel aboutyour work life balance?
Are you able to balance all that?
Do you feel like it could be better?
What advice do you have around worklife balance and managing that?
Work life balance could always be better.
I love it whenever I can treat it likea nine to five, or an eight to six.
(14:31):
I am trying to respect officehours, even if I'm not on set.
I'll go to my studio, I'll workon my computer during office
hours, respond to emails.
Even if I'm not specifically just atmy studio, I might be working on other
hobbies or something if I'm not on set.
But 6 PM I clock out, assuming Idon't have a crazy project coming up.
I do break my own rules all the time.
(14:51):
And I try not to work on weekends.
And I feel like it's okay to skip readingemails on weekends unless it's something
that I really think I need to get back to.
Cause I just feel like peoplein the industry need to respect
work life balance, even if Idon't do it myself all the time.
But then whenever it comes to likea big project, I'm probably getting
up at six, going to bed at midnight.
Working ever y single second I have onthis project and then falling asleep
(15:12):
exhausted just to wake up and do it again.
So I'm trying not to do thoseprojects or let the production know,
I'm like, Hey, I'm working 18 hoursa day to get this done in time.
We need more people.
If I can't get it done in time,it's because either the production
couldn't afford more people.
And so I'm like, I should becharging more for my time too, or
they just need to budget their timeand money better on the production.
(15:36):
Yeah.
and I think it takes work andit's something that I really
had to learn in my career too.
I've really learned in the lastcouple of years to, like you said,
make those boundaries, try tomake sure that we're protecting
our home time, things like that.
That's a great lesson.
Now you haven't justworked in Grand Rapids.
You've been out in the wider world, right?
Tell us about some of theseother cities you've worked in.
So after college I actuallydid an internship out in
(15:57):
Manhattan, and that was awesome.
It's kind of funny whenever Itell people where I intern though,
because I interned in a camera house.
I didn't take out the straight pathcause I started as a Makeup Artist
and then I did every single departmentthrough school and a little bit after
school, just to find myself backto pretty much the art department.
I was interning at this camera house.
I learned a lot.
(16:17):
I learned I don't care about cameras.
But it was really fun working out there.
It was a rental houseand production company.
And so I learned I really liked productioncoordinating, which led to Assistant
Directing, which led to just me beingbetter at time management probably and
pushing me back to the art department,knowing that it's not what I need to do.
And so it was just fun, seeingthe productions out in that
(16:38):
area, seeing how they're handled.
I remember setting up the cateringfor some shoots out there and seeing
what's expected out there versus atthat time it was mostly just like
student and small commercials inMichigan before heading out to New York.
It was just fun to seethat side of the world.
And then, actually from some of thoseconnections for my internship, I ended
up going back out a couple of years laterand I worked on a super bowl commercial.
(16:59):
At the time, it was the biggestproduction I'd ever worked on.
I think I might've brokeeven on this production.
I wasn't making a ton, but it wasworth it just to get the experience of
working on a super bowl ad in Manhattan.
I spent a whole daydriving a box truck around.
I went to every single borough togo to all the prop houses to pick up
like one thing from each prop house.
And it was just interesting seeingthat side of the industry I think
(17:21):
I had five or six things to pick upand it took me all 10 hours for that
day, just to drive the truck around.
And it was not my favorite day, butit was still like an eye opening day.
and like In Grand Rapids, a lot oftimes it's just me on the production.
Me, and then I'm pushing for an Assistant.
Sometimes I get a crew ofup to five, which is great.
But on this shoot, it's funny causethey kept saying how small of an art
(17:42):
department they had and how small ofa budget this was for a Super Bowl ad.
Oh, and I think we hadseven people on our crew.
The funniest part was we had twoProduction Designers on that, which
I don't know why they did that.
So two Production Designers, I thinkI was technically a scenic on that
one, and then we had a Carpenter whobuilt the sets and I painted the sets.
We had a buyer, but the reason why I hadto drive the truck around is because our
(18:04):
buyer didn't have a driver's license.
It's New York, nobody hastheir license out there.
So that's why the scenicwas driving the truck.
It was just really cool tosee that side of the industry.
And then another project out of state.
This one was another one of thebigger projects I've worked on.
It was called Angry Neighbors.
What is it on Amazon?
So I was pulled out to that movie asthe Prop Master, which was awesome.
(18:28):
And I think Prop Masteris my favorite job.
The Prop Master is in chargeof anything the actors touch.
If they're drinking a water bottle,if they're on a cell phone, if
they're wearing a wedding ring,if they're wearing glasses.
It's kind of funny cause it's likeglasses, rings, hats and everything,
it's the gray area between wardrobeand props, but it is technically props.
And so that's something I alwayshave to plan for, even though
(18:50):
wardrobe usually takes care of it.
And I never argue when they takecare of it cause they usually have
it figured out with the outfit.
But the fun thing about being a PropMaster is like, If I were setting up our
interview right now, I wouldn't have toset up anything in the back of the room.
Everything would already bethere by the art department.
And the Prop Masters actuallyon bigger sets, they're treated
as their own department.
(19:10):
So separate from the artdepartment, which is kind of crazy.
It's not something I expected coming fromMichigan where I'm the Production Designer
and the Prop Master and the Scenic andthe Set Builder all at the same time.
And so on that shoot, it was great.
I was always at the monitor with theProduction Designer, but she treated
me like I was not working under her.
I was working with her.
And then I would look through the scriptand be like, the location is outside.
(19:32):
They're just having a conversation.
What are they doing?
Then I bring a newspaper or abook or a tablet or iced tea.
Like there always has to besomething for the actors to have
in their hands to play with.
Cause it's like me, I'm always fidgeting.
Like I'm playing with a safety pin.
I don't know why.
But it helps the actors get intocharacter, if they have something
that their character would be doing.
And also people don't just sit.
(19:52):
People don't sit and stare at eachother and have a conversation.
People are always doing things.
How closely are you working withthe other collaborators there?
We're talking Actors.
we're talking Art Department, Directors.
Like in that scenario, if you bringa newspaper, does anybody say,
I don't think it's a newspaper.
Do you have options?
So in that situation, I'd probablyfirst go to the Production Designer
(20:13):
and be like, this is what I'm bringing.
And if he or she says yes or no, orthis doesn't fit the aesthetic, then
I swap it out for something else.
And then from there, I usually bringthe ideas to the Director and ask him
what he wants the character to be doing.
And then from there, sometimes theDirector's asks the Actor what they
think their character would be doing.
Sometimes they don't even care.
And so sometimes I just hand offthe things and they're good to go.
(20:36):
Other times there's awhole conversation with it.
And sometimes the Director's like,I don't think they'd be doing this,
but I think they'd be doing this.
And that's where we have to just runthrough the truck, find something
that's not breaking continuity.
And that's where you've gotlike extra things, right?
Like you're ready.
Like you said, predicting the future.
Yes, exactly.
And that's also where if you do wantto be on good terms with the Production
Designer and the Art Department, you'renot supposed to just take things from
the background and turn it into a prop.
(20:58):
You have a whole different budget forprops than you do for set dressing, but
it's something that happens I'm sure allthe time, especially on indie projects.
But you can't assume it's allowed.
Cause you don't want to break theircontinuity and then they have to
know that it was moved between scenesand if you're jumping around in the
scripts that makes everything harder.
So is there a trick toimagining the future like that?
Are you bringing a wildcard option orwhat's kind of the secret sauce of that?
(21:20):
Yes.
I like to bring in three options.
I usually bring what I think is best,then I'll bring a boring option,
yeah, and then a lot of times, ifI'm able to find a wild card, yeah,
I love to throw in a wild card.
And this also goes for setdecorating and stuff too.
I always try to bring things inthrees because if you just bring
one thing, the Director willalways want to see something else.
But if you bring three, knowing whichone thing that you want, they usually
(21:44):
can see that it is the best option, orsometimes we'll go with the wild card.
So never bring things that youhate, because sometimes the
Director just goes with the thingsthat you don't want on the shoot.
So zooming way out, lookingat your body of work.
If you go to your website,which is madpropsgr.
com, you've got a varietyof things you do, right?
So you've got props, but you'vealso got stylings, you've got set
(22:06):
design, you've got set construction.
How do your skills weave throughoutall those really different things?
What is the thread thatholds all that together?
It's really all just production design.
In a perfect world, I wouldn't haveto wear all the hats that I do here.
But, as the Production Designer,it's crazy how productions just
assume I can do everything.
Where it's like in LA or NewYork, they would hire someone
(22:28):
specific for each part of it.
So it's like, I'm even designinggraphics and stuff for shoots.
Graphic Designer is a whole position.
I have to learn how to do it all justbecause we're so limited in this area.
We don't have as many resources,so I have to figure out
how to make those resources.
Or again, like I said before, findpeople who are better at the things
than I am and hire them or buythings from them for the shoot.
(22:52):
Or if I really have to ask to borrowthings, but we don't like to do that.
So as we're talking, I'msensing just a lot of joy.
I mean, you've got a bigsmile on your face right now.
What are the things thatyou love about your work?
What keeps you going every day?
The pre production partis really exciting.
So it's like, I'm given thisvague concept, and I love
imagining how it could be.
Production is really fun too, seeingthings coming to life, but it's really
(23:14):
exciting in pre production just likeimagining what we can do and then
collaborating with the director.
I'm like, okay, that's not exactly whatI expected, but let's do this direction.
It's cool to see things coming to life.
Especially whenever you're building aset . It's fun to draw a picture and
know that eventually it will be built.
Eight year old Erika, was shethinking about art direction?
(23:35):
Was eight year old Erika's roomall decked out in art and things?
That's really funny.
So eight year old Erika paintedher room chroma key green,
of course,
without even knowing that'swhat I was going to do.
So I literally picked outthe paint from the store.
Then in high school, I got intoproduction realized I could
green screen in my own room.
Have you brought that to a character yet?
(23:55):
Have you had them havea chroma key green room?
No, I haven't.
It's just too offensive of a color.
Eight year old Erika didn't have the besteye, but she had a lot of imagination.
I was always making things.
It's like I was a kid.
I didn't have a job.
I couldn't buy things for people.
So I would make Christmaspresents every year.
I'd take toothpaste boxes or grahamcracker boxes and turn it inside
out and paint it to be a Clefairy orweird little animals that I just gift
(24:18):
to people and assume they want it.
And so I'm still making things.
think I'm a little bit better at it now.
It's probably not as cute though.
You said developing your eye,that's really interesting to me.
What do you mean developing your eye?
and what was that process like?
It's honestly just confidence.
Especially whenever I'm on set, I'llbe looking at the monitor and I'll
know something's not right sometimes.
And so it's just figuring out and alsolistening to the critiques the clients
(24:41):
have and just taking that to heart.
Learning that you don't want two things onthe same level, cause it just looks weird.
You want things to be likestaggered, or like the rule of
thirds and like rule of threes,like a lot of things go into threes.
And then just being confident enoughto be like, this isn't working.
And to know if something lookswrong in the scene or you see
a tag or you see an outlet.
To know that you're right by saying,we have to stop the shot, or fix it
(25:03):
hopefully before the shot even starts.
This episode is brought to you by theChuck Peterson Memorial fellowship.
The fellowship was established by ChuckPeterson's family and friends to assist
the upper-level students in the film andvideo program at GVSU who were working
on creative projects that support thenonprofit sector in their community.
Kyle Macciome, the 2020 recipient,of that fellowship describes the
(25:23):
benefits of the support he received
When going through this fellowship,there are three separate parts
of yourself that I think get toexperience a lot of development.
The first is as a student, becausethis is a learning process.
You get to learn how to work witha client on your own independently,
out in the world, away from theclassroom, like you would in
something like producing for clients.
And the second one would be as a videomaker, as a video producer, as someone
(25:46):
who has respect for the work thatthey're doing and wants to improve on
themselves and produce a final productthat can be used out in the real world.
And then the third onewould be as a citizen.
You know, you're not making video foran entertainment value or for some
kind of commercial purpose, it's for anon-profit it's for a direct benefit in
your community and being a citizen ofthat community, understanding how you
(26:07):
can directly impact and improve it, um,is a really valuable experience that
I think the fellowship teaches you tobe as, as a student, as a filmmaker
and as a citizen, all three of thosethings are directly a part of this
process that you get to learn and askyourself, how do I want to be seen?
And how do I want to actas these three roles?
For more information and to donateto the scholarship, visit the link in
(26:30):
the description now back to the show.
What advice do you havefor Grand Valley students?
I would say while you're astudent, take advantage of as
many opportunities as you can.
Even if you're not interested indifferent seminars, take the seminar on
sound, take the seminar on directing.
You need to learn everythingessentially, so you know what
goes into every single job.
(26:51):
I had no idea I wanted to do the artdepartment, but while I was at Grand
Valley, I took a seminar on makeup.
And that started me on this littlepath on this crazy little journey that
somehow went fully around the world, Ithink, and back to the Art Department.
But especially if you want todo the art department, focus on
the things that you love to do.
Take the art classes, take the musicclasses, become an expert in something
you're interested in, because youdon't know when you'll need that.
(27:14):
And then also, keep tabs on yourfriends on what they're good at.
How could you hire them onto projects?
Don't always assume everybody justwants to stop and do freelance work.
But a lot of people, especiallycollege students, do.
Especially the first coupleof years after school.
So always look to people who arebetter at things than you and learn
from them, or know that they're there.
Have you had some mentors who were,either ahead of you in your career
(27:37):
or people that had really helped youwith your eye or with your career?
A lot of people who've helpedme with my eye I would say are
clients that I've worked with.
There was one person that workedat one of my reoccurring jobs.
She was the Art Director of their company.
And just very difficult personality.
Nothing would please her.
And I actually loved working with her.
I was terrified at first, thefirst couple of days I worked with
(27:58):
her, I literally went home crying.
It was just horrible.
And realizing she couldn't be pleased.
But then I understood what itwas that she didn't like, and
I learned how to work with her.
Her pickiness made me pickier at my job.
She was very good at her job, andit made me really good at my job.
She couldn't always verbalize what itwas that wasn't right about the shot, but
it's right now I know what to look for.
(28:19):
I just feel like there's so many people.
I've been doing this for 15 years.
I'm usually the Department Head,but every opportunity I get to
work under somebody, I take it.
Like somebody who works in a differentcity, I'd love to just assist them
for the day, see what tricks they do,see how they do things differently.
It's been incredible.
Whenever I went out to Minnesota forAngry Neighbors, it was so cool to
work with the bigger art departmentand see the Production Designer and
(28:42):
follow her on social media and seethe things she's doing with her career.
And then ask people for advice especiallyas a student, whatever you're learning.
Nobody will see you as competition.
Which is a big thing in theart department, I think.
I think a lot of people are afraidto meet other Production Designers.
But I know I'm not good at everything,and, I know some people are better
at some things than I am, and I'mbetter at some things than they are.
(29:05):
So there's actually anotherDesigner that reached out to me,
I want to say five years ago.
She travels all over the worldactually, and for a short time
She was in Grand Rapids and shereached out to me for coffee and I
was like, oh my gosh competition.
We actually pass each other work.
Because it's like she's a finepainter, she was trained in oil
painting, she has beautiful artwork,and that's not something I'm good at.
(29:27):
And now every time I know somebody iscoming into town or is in town, I love
to reach out, see what they're goodat, see how we can work together, work
under them, or they can work under me.
It's been really good.
And it's a small enough town whereit's like, everybody knows each other.
we don't always get the opportunityto work together, but we need
to know how to use each other.
I did expect there to be competitors orsome kind of rivalries and edges, but it
(29:48):
does feel like people are shooting eachother jobs and we're really on the same
team and in this industry a lot of times.
And there's so much work in the area.
A lot of times I have to say no to jobs.
Every time I say no, I love togive them names of people who I
know, would be good at the job.
Yeah, it helps grow that networkand strengthen that network.
To compete with bigger cities.
Absolutely.
So my favorite question that I'm goingto ask, and I love this all the time
(30:10):
is, I just want you to brag aboutyourself, but I want you to do it in
particular in a special way, becauseI want a little brag and a big brag.
Specifically, a little prop or a pieceof art direction that you're really
proud of, and then of course, a bigbrag too, of best part of your career
so far, what you're really proud of.
I was building a movie theater set.
So we had the movie theater on theLED wall, and then we built the little
(30:32):
kiosk and filled it with popcorn.
We had to fill it with candy.
We can't use real candy, cause it'sbranded and we couldn't use brands
unless we had their permission.
And so I made some simple graphicsand I was working with John.
Whenever we're working on Atrophy,me and Hannah made Randy's
Fandies because we're fans of you.
Atrophy was a feature film thatyou had worked on independent
(30:53):
feature film in Michigan.
Independent feature film.
Don't look it up.
It's weird.
But anyway, I just remembered Randy'sFandies and I was trying to think
of something that rhymes with candy.
So, Randy's candy has popped up
For the audio listeners at home, this isa very visual thing here, but if we're
looking at Randy's Candies, can youjust point out the graphic design of it?
And, when you're creating somethinglike that, are you thinking
(31:13):
about the cameras, the shot?
What do you see when you see that, image?
So I made a simple design.
This was one of the projects whereI'm just was overwhelmed with a bunch
of stuff to make for the project.
And so I'm like, how can Imake this as easy as possible?
Cause like I had to massproduce candy boxes.
We didn't have the budget forme to send it to a printer.
We didn't have budget or time.
And so I was literally designingthis on my laptop, printing it.
(31:35):
I think I sent it to Staplesto get the highest quality.
I have the same font and thesame border around the candy box.
And then I changed the graphics,I have a melting ice cream cone,
I have macarons, I have Skittles,and then one's like a fireball.
So those were different flavorsof the candy, and then each
one I changed the color scheme.
Oh, and then I had a film strip aroundthe edge, just to make it simple.
(31:57):
So essentially it was copy and paste,change the colors and the graphic.
So I could mass producethese, print them, fold them,
put them in the display case.
But to come up with the graphic,I actually spent six hours, just
trying to see if there's a wayI could use AI to help my job.
And so I was using Chat GPT andI was like, show me candy boxes.
I actually didn't use anythingthat it sent me, I wasn't that good
(32:20):
at using it, but it was funny tosee the starting points from it.
I'm interested to see wherewe go with AI tools.
I don't think it'll replace any of us.
I think it should make ourlives easier in theory.
Unless we don't know how touse it well, but it was cool
just to get a starting point.
I'm like, okay, this iswhat all the boxes have.
Obviously I could havejust grabbed a real box.
I did that too.
And just format it similar to other boxes.
Cause I wanted thegraphics to look normal.
(32:43):
Which sounds like such a basic thingto want with graphic design, but
it's not the star of the production.
I'm not advertisingRandy's Candies on this.
I am showing a movie theater andI want something that looks real.
And so we don't want it tojust be like taped off or
painted over real candy boxes.
We want it to look seamless and normalwithout drawing the eye too much.
And I think those dida good job with that.
they were the right color scheme.
(33:04):
They weren't too vibrant.
And they looked real enough.
That's really cool.
and I do want you to bragabout yourself for a second.
What, do you think you'remost proud of in your career?
Honestly, I'm really proud ofhow different my body of work is.
Because if I chose what I didI don't know if I'd be able
to come up with as many ideas.
A project comes to me and I alreadysaid yes to it because I said I'm
(33:24):
available whether I want to do it or not.
And it's cool learningto love the project.
And then doing the best I can with it.
There was a really bigshoot a couple of years ago.
It was severely under budget.
They gave me such a lowbudget for such big asks.
Projects like that,I'm proud of surviving.
It was something for Target.
So it was a really big client and Ireally wanted to do a good job with it.
(33:46):
But also the asks were huge.
They wanted me to build four differentsets to be shot in, I think three days.
Essentially all the setshad to be standing at the
same time at Lowing studios.
So it's only, a 50 foot psych wall.
So 50 foot by 50 foot.
Designing on paper and then buildingthe sets were completely different.
Cause I'm like, Oh, we have all thisspace whenever I had it drawn out on
(34:08):
paper, but I'm like, things take up space.
And, yes, we had room for the wallsand room for the stands, but we
didn't have much room outside of that
. I essentially built like a little maze in there.
We had to walk around, take off a wallto, be able to get the angle that
we needed to shoot of the other set.
And honestly it was somuch work getting there.
This was one of those shoots thatI was up at 6:00 AM in bed at
midnight, working constantly tomake sure everything was ready.
(34:31):
I had a small team, could have beendouble the size, we also could have had
double the budget, but, at the end ofthe day we got it, we did it all safely.
We didn't all get enough sleep,but nothing bad happened from that.
I'm proud of being able topull together a team, I guess.
Erika Rene Paneiro,congratulations on your success.
Thanks for joining us hereon alumni live, the podcast.
Mad Props GR is the website and,I've been your host, Randy Strobl.
(34:52):
Thank you so much for listeningto Alumni Live: The Podcast.
Thank you for joining us for thisepisode of Alumni Live: The Podcast.
Subscribe to our podcast, to hear morefrom our alumni across the industry.
Check out Alumni Live onFacebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
For more conversations and networking.
Let us know what topics you wantto hear our alumni talk about.
(35:13):
The Grand Valley State UniversityFilm Video Alumni Network is here for
you, and we're glad that you're here.
Thank you for listening.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.