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Real-Life Activities

Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution

You go to the director and demand money for more paint.

You need to make sure every scene conveys the right mood. Lime green paint just won't do.

You stomp into the director's office and tell her the problem. You tell her you must have the right paint, no matter what.

She tells you to calm down and find a compromise. Money is tight, so you need you to use your creativity, she says.

"I understand your concern, but losing your temper is not the solution," she tells you.

"It's very dangerous if you just kind of ignore everybody and go ahead and do your own thing," says set designer Scott Reid. "It's going to be a train wreck very early on."

Donna Wymore says she has to be prepared to allow everyone active participation when designing a set. A set designer's most valuable skill, she says, is flexibility.

"A lot of times we'll get a set that has very, very ugly wallpaper, for example. You want to say, 'This is the ugliest thing I've seen in my life!' But the client is falling all over it and you have to bite your tongue and go, 'Oh, that is lovely!' We have this old saying: 'I don't pick it. I just paint it,'" says Wymore.