Diego Peralta
The production design department of any title works hard in order to turn what’s written on the page into a reality. This includes the building of sets, staging, and ensuring that the spaces are safe enough for actors to use. Before the cameras can start rolling, the spaces that will be used for the production need to be ready to welcome the filmmaking team.
Kelly Hogan is the production designer behind Wizards Beyond Waverly Place. The sequel series brings back Justin Russo (David Henrie) for another adventure that involves talented kids trying to become the best wizard they can be. Kelly cares deeply about the legacy of the first show, using her creativity to fill the sequel with real world magic.
Kelly pointed out that Glenda Rovello was the production designer who was on board during the first steps of the project, turning the series into more of a collaborative effort: “The pilot for Wizards Beyond Waverly Place was designed by Glenda Rovello. I came in to shoot the series after her. It was her first, then a collaboration, and then I took over. She initially took plenty of notes from the color palette of the original, making sure that everything was friendly. There’s a lot of pattern and textures. It felt like a warm family home, for sure. She did a lot of that in the main home. She did the living room, the kitchen, the boy’s bedroom, and the parents bedroom.”
Later on, Kelly worked on expanding the world of the new Russo generation: “When I took over, I took over the backyard, and the school, and Billie’s bedroom. And everywhere else that we’ve been (in). Making it familiar was definitely on top of mind. We used similar color palettes and made sure that there were no literal sharp edges. We made it to look like a family lived there.” the artist explained.
Wizards Beyond takes audiences back to the lair in which Justin and his siblings took their first steps into the world of magic. The production design team found a way to breathe new life into the Russo’s base of operation: “The beauty of Wizards, our set decorator (Emily Dawson-Trent) is wonderfully talented person and she’s also just very kind, and creative, and wonderful. The beauty of working on something that involves magic is that it is very eclectic set. You can pull from all sorts of things. There’s a lot of herbs, as if they were doing spells. There’s a lot of crystals and mystical objects in there.
It is about quantity, but it’s also about the quality of the objects. She very specifically chose (these objects), she did a lot of objects. A lot of this is going back to the original. There are a lot of items on that set that were on the original, too. We also replicated some things. It’s more about going into the prop house and stores and asking if there’s something that a wizard could use. Is this something that would go into a spell? At one point, we made a huge cauldron, because the lair called for one. It was custom sized, and the kids could actually jump into it. It’s really fun working on this series.”
One of the most important sets of Wizards Beyond was the high school. Although it looks harmless on the screen, there needs to be a lot of planning behind-the-scenes to make the space functional: “You know a Disney high school when you see it. It’s aspirational. It’s brighter and more colorful than your typical school. I went to my nephew’s school and took pictures of the decoration, because it was good research (for the show)! I think people are making schools more fun. The floor in the Wizards Beyond school has a path with color tiles. In my mind, that was a nod to The Wizard of Oz.
The biggest thing about the school is the layout. With Disney shows, you usually have a lot of background actors. You need a lot of places for foot traffic to flow. We made the shape of that set in a way where people had a place to go that wasn’t a dead end. There was a real staircase. We had a secretary’s office and a principal’s office that you could go into. There were lots of doors and openings because the show has a lot of sheananigans and you need to give the kids and Justin places to run!
Usually, in any Disney show, it’s a good idea to make the lockers big enough for a person to get inside them (laughs). There’s usually some sort of situation that involves someone being inside of a locker. You have to make space so actors don’t feel like they’re stuck inside. You never want anyone to feel claustrophobic or unsafe. There’s a lot of thought that needs to go into these things.”
As expected, the original Wizards of Waverly Place was a major inspiration for what audiences can see in Wizards Beyond: “For Billie’s bedroom, I took a ton of inspiration from Alex’s (Selena Gomez) bedroom from the original. Alex’s bedroom had a lot of textures. It wasn’t cluttered, but it was definitely a teenage girl’s room. It had a touch of magic. You felt as if anything in that room could become a magical object. I used that in Billie’s room, too.”
Wizards of Waverly Place wasn’t the only magical story that inspired the look of Wizards Beyond: “There are many shows that involve magic. Everyone is familiar with Harry Potter. I grew up with Sabrina the Teenage Witch. They use magic and visual effects in a similar way (to Wizards Beyond Waverly Place) in that show. That was fun to rewatch and see how they did things. That was the 90’s! That wasn’t even made now, when we can do more. I’ve done a few Disney shows. I know the style, but I like to keep it evolving. I don’t want it to feel like we’re stuck in a period of time.”
The series shrunk down Justin for an entire episode. The production design team had to figure out how to have David Henrie interact different objects around him and make it look realistic: “Typically, when Justin is small, he’s shot up against a blue or a green screen. He would then be inserted digitally into the environment. What was really fun about that episode is that we did build life-size tiny furniture.
Billie finds a diorama made by another student. She brings it to Justin, and it’s a popsicle stick made to look like a desk. What we did in order to shoot David in the green screen was to replicate the popsicle stick in human size. It was very fun to design the popsicle stick table. We used wood and shaped it in that particular way. It looked like the little one. We took the image of David and we shrunk it in post-production.”
Kelly has worked on several Disney shows, slowly becoming a veteran for the company. She doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon: “I’ve been having the time of my life working on these shows. I started with Raven’s Home when she moved back to San Francisco. I did Seasons 5 and 6. Then I did Bunk’d Seasons 6 and 7, which we just won an Emmy for! Wizards Season 2 wrapped at the end of June, or early July. It hasn’t been that long.
I would absolutely love to keep working on Disney shows. I think these shows are the best. They’re very challenging and the most unique in terms of set design. We have bedrooms, and living rooms, but we also have magic. Not everyone gets to design an evil wizard lair, or a magical cave, or a dragon’s nest. I get to do so many wonderful things just in Wizards. Raven’s Home and Bunk’d were the same, every week there was something unique. I’d love to do it for as long as Disney will have me.”
The magic of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place would have never come to life without Kelly Hogan and the design team. The artist will be back in the second season of the series, where she could take audiences to locations they’ve never seen before.
This interview was edited for length and clarity purposes.
Comments
Loading…