In the realm of cinema, everyone is a storyteller, some with words, others with meticulously crafted sets that bring scripts to life. Whether it is Donald Burt and Grant Major, or Dan Hennah and Claire Kaufman, every single one of these production designers and set decorators had penned their tale. A tale that has not only breathed life into the stories but also placed the spotlight on the actor, and film as a whole.
One such woman who has been involved in this line of work for the past three decades, and whose artistry continues to enchant and elevate cinematic storytelling is Tina Jones. “During my childhood, I was very much outside the whole time playing often on my own or with friends and we would have imaginary kingdoms that we created like, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Alice in Wonderland, all those sort of fantasy novels were important to me as a child, so I sort of lived in this other world,” Tina told Homecrux in an interview.
Who would have thought a young girl’s love for fantasy and fairytales would land her a career, where she would have the opportunity to shape the visual narratives of beloved shows and films like Game of Thrones, Aladdin, King Arthur, and many more projects that linger in the hearts of audiences.
Tina’s passion, wisdom, and indomitable spirit as a set decorator have come to the fore in more than 30 films and television series combined. But her journey that is defined by decorating sets for dragon and dungeon fantasies began with her love for dioramas.
“What I used to love seeing as a child were these funny sorts of dioramas that you would find in fairgrounds, and they were usually little boxes and you dropped your coin in, and then this little sort of robots or puppets acted out a little scene, and then it would stop and you’d put another coin in and they would do it. And, I used to be fascinated by watching this environment in a box. And so when I grew up, I knew, I wanted to work in the creative arts,” she says.
The early influence of fairytales and fantasy novels was enough to lure Tina to pursue a career in fine arts. This led to her completing a fine art degree and then finishing her post-graduation in film and television course. Eventually, one of the London studios offered her a job that involved assisting a scenic painter.
“I was sort of high up on the scaffolding, on the outside of the set, and we were painting a London street, and I saw a lady in the window, and she was taking notes down, and pointing, and instructing all these people to hang curtains. And I said to the lady that I was assisting, what does that person do? And she said, oh, she’s the set decorator. And I’d never heard of it before.” Tina was left mesmerized.
A young girl in her early 20s, armed with this iota of information went to see Syd Cain (production designer) at Pinewood Studios with a portfolio. “It felt like I was a few years behind everybody and he gave me some incredibly valuable, information and said, why the hurry? You know, you can be in this industry until you’re in your 80s if you want to be but only if you’re good.” Tina took the piece of advice and spent eight years as an assistant art director and standby art director, before finally breaking big into the field of set decoration.
“I imagine it was an advantage for me, that I had never seen a set decorator work before, apart from this one lady. So I didn’t know what to do and just went about it in a very logical way with the help of a very experienced production buyer. I just made up my own rules and it always worked and I’ve always sort of stuck to them and I’ve since found a lot of my assistants have adopted that same method of working because for me it always worked,” she states.
Down the years, Tina served as a set decorator for Game of Thrones, which she won an Emmy for in 2012. Speaking on the challenging aspect of set design in the series, Tina shares, “I think the Ghost of Harrenhal was probably the most challenging one, and we eventually won an Emmy for it. I just thought it looked fabulous. But again, it’s that culmination of all the other departments coming together. The costumes were amazing, the lighting was fabulous, and the camera work was stupendous.”
It’s been 35 years since Tina has sort of been in the industry, and if she has a little regret it’s only about not being physically present at the award-distributing ceremony of Emmy 2012. “I didn’t actually go on stage and collect the Emmy myself, so I’d love to go on stage and collect an award. I think out of everything, it would be a bit of a cliché for me to say, but next production is the best production.”
Tina here refers to Lord of the Rings Season 2, where she marshalled her biggest crew ever which involved 42 people in set decoration.“I think we have had the advantage of being able to look at season one, and usually, that’s why you find the second season will often be better because we’ve got a lot of things to look at in terms of props.”
Speaking on the huge success, the Game of Thrones and Aladdin got over the years, Tina shares, “I always think that when I’m decorating a set, I have to pull in the viewer. And the first step is to allow the actors to be able to move within that environment and find it believable. You don’t want them coming in and seeing a fabric bedspread that looks like you’ve just gone out and bought it from Marks and Spencer, they have to sort of feel they’ve been in that environment. So, that’s when I went off to India and we got a lot of stuff from Morocco and a lot of fabrics from India.”
Transitioning from her global experiences to more personal ones, Tina would be celebrating her Christmas with her loved ones this year. Living in the countryside, she brings nature indoors, embracing the traditional Victorian style with evergreen, holly, and greenery. The Christmas tree poised at her home tells a story of her travels, adorned with baubles collected from around the world, each holding memories of places visited and people met.
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