Currently, I am writing a chapter for an international book The Designer’s Story: Filmmaking from the Perspective of the Production Designer which will be published by the University of Westminster. In my chapter, I discuss archetypal narrative spaces in film: the private space, the transit space, the labyrinthine space, and the space of power. The book is scheduled for publication in fall 2026.

Production Design – From Process to Expression

We look at it, but seldom see it: Production Design. Liselotte Justesen is one of the contributors to this book by Naja Aggerholm, Jakob Ion Wille, and Kim Toft Hansen.

When we watch films, TV series, video games, and other audiovisual media, we often remember the story, but only in rare cases the environment, universe, and visual expression that surround the narrative. All of this surrounding environment is collectively called “production design.”

Production design builds worlds and is thus everywhere depicted in the imagery, but it is often unconsciously registered as background and seen as excessive.

This book presents and introduces a new analytical model to understand and examine production design both as a creative design process and as a visual expression. The book is based on interviews with a number of prominent Danish production designers, providing deep insight into their work and access to their research and work materials. It demonstrates how a close interaction between academic media studies and the media industry can help strengthen and renew the work with production design.

The book is aimed at students and researchers in film and media studies working with production design at an academic-analytical or practical-artistic level.