There is a lot to film set design but one part that's super important is the background and the gak that fills it. We're going to show how to think about your background, what the hell is gak, and tips and tricks to design sets and backgrounds that work for your shot.
There is a lot to film set design but one part that's super important is the set and background and the stuff that fills it. We're going to show how to think about your background, what the hell is gak, and tips and tricks to design sets and backgrounds that work for your shot.
And stick around as we have a special offer from our sponsor Pond5.
Welcome to pull my focus
Backgrounds are like audio in film and video: you only notice them when they’re off. They’re not meant to bring attention to themselves but hangout in the background and set the mood, location, and ambiance.
So getting them right is actually pretty important. And that’s where Gak comes in.
Gak is a film term used to describe nondescript dressing, equipment, props. Loosely means ‘stuff. We’re basically busying up the set and background in an ordered manner that fits the location and the shot.
Another way to describe it is by what it’s not, a Hero prop. If a script calls for a character to show a prop on camera, like a letter, that’s what we call a Hero. It has to look good, match the description in the script, because attention is being drawn to it. It may even need to be readable.
But gak, that’s in the background and is meant to fade into it. This letter as gak could be anything because it won’t be readable.
So where do we start figuring out how to fill up that empty set and background? Research.
Research
Sets are surfaces: horizontal tables, desks, floors, or vertical walls, doors, whiteboards, cork boards, and they need gak to add fullness to a shot, to be cluttered up to varying degrees.
But what’s the right kind of gak? That’s where design choices and research comes in.
A business office will have different gak compared to a police station or a new hip dot.com.
Outside of specific guidance from the set designer or director, you may need to do some research.
It may be as simple as a google search or more work like a phone call and visit to a real world location.
Let’s look at a common set, an office and its gak.
They may need binders, folders, staplers, lamps, calendars, posters, notices for the wall. But some may be specific to the location. Notice the NYPD blue police department calendar on the Law and Order set.
What about the time period? Wolf of Wall Street is set in 1987. No LCD monitors and lots of manila folders in folder racks. Lots of them.
You can start to see getting the set gak right it can be a lot of work and require some thought. And the amount of gak you need may be a lot more than you think.
By the way, after watching this episode, you’re going to start noticing gak in every show and movie you watch from now on. Sorry. But it’s for the best.
If the set is for a specific character it may need to reflect their personality and that may require a discussion with the director or set designer. If you wear both hats, then ask yourself what is the feeling you want to give that fits this character?
Are they neat or cluttered? Boring and lively? What are their interests that may be reflected in their environment?
Here’s a tip. Look at your space and notice all the stuff in it you have forgotten is there, because it’s blended into your background. What kind of stuff like that will you need to add to your set?
Stuff on Stuff
It’s crazy but all that gak that isn’t readable still needs to be detailed. We need to put stuff on and in stuff.
Fill out a calendar. Labels on binders and folders. Picture in a picture frame. Stickies and notes on paper material. Paper in the manila folders and binders.
Some of that gak is going to be text. So what do you write?
Text
There’s two types of text in gak: readable, like big title text on a board, the year on a calendar and then unreadable text like small notes, body text in a letter. This copy needs to “read” as text but is unreadable and can be anything.
Many set dressers have some fun when writing in their own text.
But what if it’s a lot of text or needs to be layed out like in this letter? Graphic designers and layout artists use what’s called dummy text that they “greek in” for body text. You can find it online and note, it’s not greek, it’s actually latin and has been used since the 1500’s to test layout text. It’s also referred to as lorem ipsum text.
Other body text filler you may run into may be the menu in a restaurant or a printed out notice on the wall.
But what about potentially readable text? That’s where some research may need to be done. For example, a white board in an office may have accounting terms or refer to some business topic from a past meeting.
While a whiteboard in a police detectives office may be very different
Some movies even hire content experts so they can get the math or other potentially readable text right just in case viewers freeze frame and study it.
Rights
For the images and copy you use in your gak, you can’t just use anything you find. You have to use material you have the rights cleared for. It’s best if possible to create your own like these shots of our actors for this picture frame. If you really want to use a copyrighted image, you need to find the original creator of it and get their permission to use it. We call that clearing the rights.
If not, stock images are your friend. Use commercial royalty free images.
Here’s a still from the 1999 movie Bowfinger where Steve Martin plays a movie producer. That piece of gak right there is a cartoon from the magazine I published back then, Filmcrew. The production company contacted me to get my permission which I was overjoyed to say yes to and sign.
Stacking
A lot of gak is about filling a space in a believable way to the viewer. One way is to stack items. I need a stack of letters in a office scene. Print out one, put it on top of an empty stack of paper. Viewer now believes they’re all letters.
Do they same with money. You can get stacks of blank paper cut to money size at your local copy shop. Put a real $20 or $100 bill on the top and boom, stacks of money.
Photos
If you need to print an image that’s meant to be a photo, print it on matte or semi-gloss photo paper. The colors will really pop and give the feeling of a photographic print vs plain printer paper.
Time Period
Research the time period so you don’t add anything that didn’t happen in that time. Note that recent history can be tougher because viewers know it better than older time periods. They may know that that didn’t happen in Feb but in Aug of that year.
So that’s the wonderful world of gak. Thanks for watching and don’t forget to check out our other videos for lessons, tips, and tricks on making great video.