The Art of Influence — Production Designer Cedric Gibbons and Set Decorator Edwin B. Willis

The Art of Influence — Production Designer Cedric Gibbons and Set Decorator Edwin B. Willis

I’m proud of this one. If you want a production design class that’s visual, concise, and practical, this is it. I built the masterclass after a deep dive into the films shaped by Production Designer Cedric Gibbons and Set Decorator Edwin B. Willis—the partnership that wrote much of classic Hollywood’s visual grammar. From the world-circling lobby of Grand Hotel to Oz’s Emerald City, Versailles-level excess in Marie Antoinette, the gas-lit paranoia of Gaslight, the cozy Americana of Meet Me in St. Louis, and the painterly dream of An American in Paris—this is a field guide to how design drives story, with techniques you can use on your next build.

What you’ll learn

• How Gibbons & Willis built iconic worlds with materials, color logic, and architectural framing—and how to apply those moves to your own projects.

• A practical toolkit for visual storytelling: composition, period research, prop language, and the choreography between camera and set.

• Reverse-engineering a film’s “design spine” so references become actionable plans.

• Translating big-studio solutions into real-world budgets, crews, and schedules.

What’s inside

• 13 deep-dive segments analyzing key films (syllabus below).

• Tactics you can use immediately for production design and set decoration.

• Clear takeaways tailored to both narrative and commercial workflows.

Full syllabus (13 films)

• Our Dancing Daughters (1928)

• Grand Hotel (1932)

• The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

• Marie Antoinette (1938)

• The Wizard of Oz (1939) — free segment

• When Ladies Meet (1941)

• Mrs. Miniver (1942)

• Gaslight (1944)

• Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

• The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

• An American in Paris (1951)

• Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

• I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955)

Start with the free Wizard of Oz segment, then jump into the full masterclass when you’re ready.