A charmingly quaint, Southern town, interweaved with modern artistic culture, different than the traditional urban aesthetic of tall buildings and concrete scenery typically associated with how you might imagine a city. Known as “The Hostess City of the South” due to its hospitality and appeal to tourism, Savannah is a long-standing city known throughout the country for its beautiful coastal landscapes, well-preserved architecture, and its rich, vibrant history.

A small and compact city developed on a symmetrical and flat grid of streets, interlaced with several park squares and flora, including large azalea bushes, palm trees, and tall live oak trees covered in Spanish moss that form a canopy of green over the streets and park squares and create an urban forest atmosphere. With a few exceptions, the buildings are relatively small at on average three stories high. The most common architectural styles are Colonial, Victorian, Federal, Georgian, Italianate, Regency, Romanesque, and Neoclassical. Pedestrians and bicyclists fill the streets, in addition to trolleys, pedicabs, and horse-drawn carriages.

This part of town is largely inhabited by college students, made up of townhouses or standalone houses squeezed tightly together with little to no yard space, particularly in the front of the lot. Many of the duplexes have been separated into two homes, ideal for maximizing space for college student tenants or vacation rentals. Additionally, some relatively large houses are also present. 

This part of town is moreso the living quarters of the city, thus tourism does not come back this way and therefore these neighborhoods are less kept than the metropolis and northern historic district – several small ghetto pockets reside within, no bigger than a few blocks or less.

The islands are similar to other southeast islands in the states – conservative, pricey, backwater, fishing towns, beach towns, marina’s and private home owned docks in the marsh land river. The islands have many newer developments but still offer several unique locations and scenery.

As opposed to traditional universities, arts and fine arts schools focus less on traditional core curriculums and more on art, media, and entertainment business-related studies.

This show will not focus on what is commonly seen in college settings, things like frat houses, college parties, college sports, lecture halls, university building halls, etc. College as a setting is instead a backdrop to help drive the story.

Art college curriculum focuses on teaching the skills and techniques for creating art and media instead of traditional school work such as essays, math quizzes, science experiments, etc. Instead, students are taught the arts related to their major and assigned art-based projects to be developed and made throughout the duration of the semester-long class. This often results in longer hours outside of class dedicated to crafting the assigned media, in place of doing traditional homework or studies. This may take place in the student’s homes, but otherwise a relevant studio, a computer lab, or in the case of our filmmaker characters, in the field/around the city on location of their film projects.

Classroom settings tend to be studio spaces with relevant equipment or computer labs versus traditional desk-filled rooms or lecture halls.

University-owned buildings tend to be filled with (professional) student art projects from paintings and photography hung on the walls, graphic vinyls and prints, sculpture decorations, interior designs, motion media displayed on screens, etc.

Study, leisure and traversing spaces across the campus are generally well designed and modern. Scenic styles include: art deco, art nouveau, arts and crafts, bauhaus, contemporary, modernism, and postmodern.

Illustrators, painters, graphic designers, interior designers, industrial designers, photographers, fashion designers, jewelry designers, motion media artists, filmmakers, models, actors, sound designers, musicians.

Commonly open-minded and progressive thinkers, these artists_

Art Exhibits, Shows: Usually formal or partially formal events artists host to showcase their work and socialize_

Coffee Shops: The stereotypical meeting place for many college students and artists alike – mom and pop cafes instead of corporate businesses.

Networking Events, Conferences: Generally formal or partially formal events focused on social networking. Artists often attend these events to discover new talent or potential partners for future projects, in addition to socializing, learning, etc.

Formal parties, soirees, costume or themed parties, etc.:

Different from a wild and drunken revelry, art and entertainment social gatherings tend to be more formal, even at the college level. Our characters may occasionally attend these events.

Again, different from keggers with plastic cups and beer cans all over the yard, these parties are more reserved or discreet, though may have communal drugs being passed about.

College student filmmaker sets are often a mix between professional and amateur. The school provides them with free, high-quality equipment rentals, however, the production art is generally paid for by the students producing the project and thus extremely low budget and quality.

Film sets: Lights, camera, action! Film sets outside of a studio are relatively cluttered behind the camera with c-stands, lights, diffusion flags, and reflectors, extension cords, equipment cases, sandbags, apple boxes, carts holding equipment, dolly equipment, and tracks, tables with various items on them, portable chairs, monitors, and of course cameras and tripods.

The film set itself can vary depending on the project and scene being shot at the time, but will often have plenty of production art assets to fill the composition of the camera and create immersion into the story/production setting. These sets will take place in various locations throughout the city and surrounding local region.

Sets inside a non-studio location can be cramped with several people and equipment squeezing in. Staging equipment and areas will be out of the room, and usually outside of the location. In the case of outdoor sets, more room is available for nearby staging areas, though generally not right next to the set to reduce noise. Staging areas may also be located blocks away from a set, and thus would not be seen when on set.

Low budget productions:

The equipment used on the character’s sets will be high quality as they are checked out for free from the school. Otherwise, most if not all production art assets are of medium to low quality, or sets may be relatively bare-bones and without much production art. In the case of our production, this will be demonstrated strategically tastefully to result in a high-quality production, utilizing comically cheap and low quality assets for the character’s productions at times.

This plays into how college filmmakers tend to not have much funding for their productions and pay out of pocket to produce school assignments, and furthermore puts their sets as the backdrop since the focus is on the filmmakers themselves and behind the scenes of their productions.

Film studios: Similar to fieldsets, but instead with green or white screen backdrops, easier power source accessibility and set structures including constructed walls, backdrops or stages that pass for real on the side facing the camera but may be entirely plywood and metal from behind.

Film set backlots: Backlots may include crew or equipment truck parking lots, staging areas for breaks, meals, or production administration operations, wardrobe change and makeup application spaces, etc. Since our story deals with student filmmakers, there will generally not be professional trailers but instead makeshift spaces for these kinds of operations.

This is where we will see more of a traditional college lifestyle – somewhat messy, chaotic or unorganized living areas, cheap or rundown furnishings, but in the case of our characters also well decorated with art of different kinds.

Four of the five main characters are roommates and thus their house is often the staging area for the rest of the episode which takes place on film sets. The living room and other common spaces will be seen most, with little focus on their individual rooms. Individual rooms will entail art assets fitting the character’s personality, whereas common spaces will have a mix of assets attributed to each character in addition to items universally fitting all of the roommates.

Living Room: This communal space is where the character’s plan and stage their endeavours that take place the rest of the episode. Like many college students, their pace is a bit messy, but not disgusting. Some clothes here or there, maybe a few things out of place – the messiest thing is the coffee table.

The show is intended to be constantly on the move and so various locations may be needed per episode. The following are some examples.

Asset rental / construction locations: Some episodes may have scenes set in the preproduction of their latest project and thus we may find our characters at the store buying props, at the school equipment cage checking out film equipment, at a tailor getting a wardrobe made, etc.

Film Equipment Rental House/Cage: Where film equipment is checked in and out. Generally there is lots of space for this process as inventory has to happen with checking items in and out, generally consisting of laying everything out on the floor. Trucks also need to get in the bay or nearby so items can be loaded/unloaded.

Audio Studios: