the question I am asked most frequently is "what exactly does an Art Director do?" 

the answer is pretty much everything, or at least - a good art director should have a working knowledge of pretty much anything; or at very least have had practical experience in all the departments on set and a firm background in some sort of design and production art. 

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That and they should try to have seen every film ever made.

 

As an art director I consider myself and my department responsible for every visual element that isn't an actual actor. 

 

What I tell my classes is that an Art Director and Production Designer are responsible for the secondary and tertiary narratives as told by the spaces that the characters inhabit.

 

My work is all about the psychology of space and fictional archeology. 

 

Basically one needs to be a excellent story teller. 

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