Set Design

Coming from its theatrical predecessor, set design is an integral aspect of the mise-en-scene. Without sets, films would be limited in their ability to communicate a sense of location and place. Sets are often designed and built in studios, like Edison's Black Maria or Universal's back lot, but they can also be outside locations like Los Angeles or even Vancouver. Sets begin with the set designer making a scale model of the set. He/ She moves on to scale drawings, paint elevating and researches the props, textures etc. Many set designers use computer programs to create the models but some still hold to the old ways of doing all the work by hand. After the set designer finishes the models, the production manager evaluates the designs and organizes the build. The actual building of the sets is done by a team of scenic carpenters, headed by the master carpenter. So by the time the directer starts shooting, the process of scene creation has passed through many different hands (Wikipedia: Set construction).

Types of Design

There are many different types of sets. A few specific examples are presentational and representational. Presentational sets are used to aid in the presentation of information like a newsroom or talkshow set. Representational sets are meant to mimic real life as in a 'real' hotel room, kitchen or building (Joy of Sets).

Below is a clip about the making of a 2002 movie called Resident Evil.  It desplays several examples of how the set design was carefully constructed and explains a few tools in which they used to make this movie come to life on screen.

The Choice of Studio or On Location

Many directors choose to shoot on a set because they can control the environment and avoid the transportation costs of shipping equipment, crew and cast around remote areas (Wikipedia: Filming Location). Studio locations also give the director and set designer the ability to meet the set requirements of the script. Much like Steven Spielberg does in Jaws, he controls the action and the shots he can make by building part of his set and an animatronic shark, in a backlot in Los Angeles. On the other hand, filming on locations gives a director completely different choices than a studio back lot ever could. On location filming is often cheaper than building expansive sets on backlots and gives even more force to the illusion of reality than even the best studio set. Filming on location gives poorer countries, like the Czech Republic or Romania, much needed economic development by providing the accommodations such as room, food and builders for the filming. (Wikipedia: Filming Location). Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings is a good example of on location filming. Jackson built all his extremely detailed sets in New Zealand and used New Zealand's varying landscapes to fit to his script. The best example of choosing both location and studio would be The Battleship Potemkin. Eisenstein used the location of Odessa for his harbor and infamous step-scene. But it seemed like he exclusively used a studio to get the interior shots of the battleship, especially the shots of the officers quarters and the inlistedmen's bunks.

In addition to the factors of financing and practicality, the choice of shooting on a set or on location often reflects the aesthetic philosophies of the film.  In the case of the German Expressionist movement in cinema, a product of the artistic explosion of Germany's  Weimar Republic, elaborate film sets were often employed in place of actual locations.  This was due to the movement's collective interest in 

IDEA!!! the sets/locations of the beauty and the beast would have some GREAT examples of made sets vs on location filming.

Utz, Peter "Set Design" videoexpert.home.att.net The Joy of Sets. n.d. September 22, 2009.

"Filming Location" Wikipedia.org. n.d. September 20, 2009.

"Set Construction" Wikipedia.org. n.d. September 20, 2009.

Editing Note: Please add a video or something of people building a set, or drafting differing types of designs for sets and examples of the a studio set and location set.