Production design is the task of creating the overall look of a film. As well as hands-on design, it can involve extensive background research, especially if the film demands a particular historical setting, or design features unique to the genre or story.
The production designer is usually responsible for overseeing the entire process, in collaboration with those in other chief roles, such as the director, producer and screenwriter. The production designer supervises those whose work may also be considered a part of production design, such as the director of photography, art director, costume designer, set designer and decorator, makeup and special effects artists, and prop master.
In the early days of film production, many artists and technicians fulfilled the role now given to the production designer. The role of art director emerged in the late 1910s, and in 1928, the Academy Awards established an Oscar category for Best Interior Decoration, which later became Best Art Direction.
Critics have long celebrated the German horror classic "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920) for its production design. Its visual style was influenced by the German Expressionism movement in art, and the film marked an important step outside the boundaries of realism.
In 1939, William Cameron Menzies was given unprecedented authority as production designer of "Gone with the Wind." Producer David O. Selznick declared Menzies "the final word ... and the arbiter of any differences of opinion" on all matters relating to the film's pioneering use of Technicolor.
Films to win the Academy Award for Best Art Direction have included "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1954), "Ben-Hur" (1959), "Star Wars" (1977) and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000).