On a Monday morning the production designer hands over a sketch of a police station that needs to be ready on a stage in three weeks. By Tuesday the art director has the drawings with the construction crew, a list of furniture with the set decorator and a schedule that shows which wall gets painted on which day. In an advertising agency the same title means something else. There the art director is the person who, together with a writer, comes up with what an advert looks like in the first place. This page explains both.
What an art director does on a film
In film and TV, the art director is the right hand of the production designer. The designer decides what the world looks like. The art director makes sure it gets built on time and on budget. They turn sketches into technical drawings, brief the construction manager, plan the order in which sets are built and struck (taken down), and keep track of what the department spends. On bigger productions there is a supervising art director with several art directors under them, each responsible for a group of sets or a location.
What an art director does at an advertising agency
In advertising, the art director works in a creative team with a copywriter, under the creative director. The copywriter leads on words, the art director on images, but in practice they come up with ideas together. They make the scamps (rough sketches) and storyboards that sell the idea to the client. Once the client approves, the art director stays involved through the shoot and the edit, alongside the agency producer, to make sure the production company delivers what was sold. See how commercials are made.
Responsibilities
- On a film, turn the designer's sketches into drawings and plans the crews can build from
- On a film, schedule construction, painting and dressing so each set is ready before its shoot day
- On a film, manage the art department's spending and paperwork
- On a film, oversee sets on location, including permissions to alter a building
- At an agency, develop campaign ideas with a copywriter
- At an agency, make layouts, storyboards and visual references for client presentations
- At an agency, follow the idea through the shoot, edit and grade
How the role touches the budget
On a film the art director handles a lot of it in practice. They track timber, paint, hire and labour against the art department budget agreed by the production designer and the line producer, and raise purchase orders for materials. At an agency the art director does not hold the production budget, but the idea they create largely decides what the shoot will cost.
How people get into the role
In film, most art directors start as art department assistants or draughtspeople, often after studying architecture, design or theatre design. In advertising, art directors usually come from graphic design or advertising courses and start as juniors in a creative team, often paired with a junior copywriter.