Saturday 24 February 2024 The World Builders
To close the British Library exhibition Fantasy: Realms of Imagination, this day of talks and discussions curated by Jo Paton Htay and Will Htay explores the creation of worlds within filmmaking and game-design. Bringing together leading production designers, game designers, costume designers, concept artists and illustrators, we look into their sources of inspiration in the fantasy genre and how it has influenced contemporary popular culture.
11:30 – 12:30
World Building In Games
A session from BAFTA highlighting its Young Game Designers initiative for 10-18s. Game design professionals and past YGD finalists discussed world building in games and how fantasy has inspired them.
13:15 – 14:15
The Architecture of Fantasy in Film: from Anna Karenina to Barbie
Sarah Greenwood, production designer, and Katie Spencer, set decorator, discuss the worlds they created for Anna Karenina (dir. Joe Wright) and its ‘design cousin’ Barbie (dir Greta Gerwig) and how each draws on specific historical and fantasy references. Sarah and Katie’s other films include Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, Beauty and the Beast and Cyrano. The conversation is moderated by Jane Barnwell, who makes, teaches and writes about film.
14:45 – 16:00
Fantasy, Science Fiction and AI
An exploration of the past and the future and the magical “what if…?". Leading storytellers and production designers look at how AI may change our way of imagining other worlds. Robbie Stamp is CEO of Bioss International, TedX speaker and the former CEO of The Digital Village h2g2.com which he co-founded with Douglas Adams, whose works inspired the site. Stamp was also the executive producer of the movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
16:30 – 17:45
The Influence of Fantasy Literature on Production Design
Insights into building worlds for film and TV with multi-award-winning TV and film production designer Deb Riley (The Matrix, Moulin Rouge, Game of Thrones), designer Will Htay (Star Wars, Antman & the Wasp: Quantumania) and film concept artist and illustrator Adam Brockbank (Harry Potter, Maleficent).
The World Builders talks were co-curated and produced by Jo Paton Htay and Will Htay.
Event page here
Influence of Fantasy Literature on Production design film here
Fantasy Science Fiction and AI here
From Anna Karenina to Barbie here
