CONFERENCE 2025 
Scene & Unseen: The Invisible Art of Production DesignUniversity of Westminster, Regent Street Campus, London W1B 2HW  |  23-24 October 2025
Conference registration includes:•    Full access to all conference sessions and panels
•    Morning and afternoon refreshments
•    Lunch provided
•    Evening drinks reception
•    Complimentary ticket to opening screening and conversation with James Chinlund at Regent Street Cinema


Date  
Programme
Venue

Wednesday October 22nd, 7.30pm
Conference launch in collaboration with the British Film Designers Guild

 Screening: The Fountain (2006)Panel discussion: In Conversation with James Chinlund, Production DesignerModerated by Jamie Lapsley and Sarah Mursal
Regent Street Cinema307 Regent Street
London W1B 2HW


Registered conference attendees

Book tickets here


Thursday October 23rd
Conference Day One
University of Westminster
Regent Street Campus
9.30am  
Coffee and registration
Fyvie Hall

10am
Conference Welcome and openingJane Barnwell and Jo Briscoe (PD-REN co-founders)

Fyvie Hall
10.20am
Light Bulb Moments - Where Do Ideas Come From?  A reflection on the Teaching of Production Design over 40 YearsEli Bø, The Norwegian Film School, in conversation with Moira Tait, NFTS, The National Film and Television School, UK

Fyvie Hall

11.15am
Pedagogical Approaches
Expanding the Language of Film – Jette Lehmann and Sofia Stål, National Film School of Denmark
‘Wokking-It’ – Ben Simpson, Leeds Arts University
A Global Framework for Teaching PD – Noelle Thomas, DePaul University, USA and Kerry Bradley, Nottingham Trent University
Development of Visual Scripts: Visualising Narrative Time – Siri Langdalen, University of Inland Norway and the Norwegian Film School

Fyvie Hall
1pm
Lunch
Posters and displays available to view

Fyvie Hall & Regent Street Foyer
2pm
Making the Production Designer Visible
Not Just Great Directors: writing Production Designers Back into Soviet Film History – Ian Christie, Birkbeck Institute, London
Designing for High Definition TV 1936-39 – John Wyver, University of Westminster
The British Film Institute Collection –  Miriam Phelan, Curator of Screencraft, and Kay Eldridge, Assistant Curator, BFI

Fyvie Hall
3pm
Coffee

NOOR previs demonstration
Will Htay

Fyvie Hall
4pm
Immersion
Intersection of VP and Design Practice – Jørgen Strangebye Larsen, Norwegian Film School
The Spatialisation of Film Narrative Through PD in Immersive Cinema – Jayne Sayer, University of Salford
The Art of The Hollywood Backdrop – Karen Maness, University of Texas
Working with a Visual Artist on a VP Project – Richard Whitby, Ravensbourne University

Fyvie Hall
5.30pm
Education and Publication on Production DesignJane Barnwell, University of Westminster  

Fyvie Hall
6pm
Networking Drinks
Regent Street Foyer


Friday October 24th
Conference Day Two
University of Westminster
Regent Street Campus

9.30am  
Coffee
Fyvie Hall

10am
VP: Tying Worlds TogetherDanny Brown (Totom Construction) and Production Designer Russell De Rozario discuss the use of Virtual Production across projects, including The Cleaner, Hijack and Haunting of the Queen Mary. Together, they will explore how VP technology ties together the Art Department, Construction, and Design to create immersive environments for the screen.

Fyvie Hall
11am
Our Teams
The Role of Graphic Design in Production Design: What do Spanish Graphic Designers Think about their Art? – Andoni Iturbe, University of the Basque Country
We’re Only as Good as Our Team – May Davies, UK PD

Fyvie Hall
11.30am
Space and Story
Formalist Visibility, Conspicuous Realism and Louder Production Design – Geraint D’Arcy, University of East Anglia
Provoking Narrative through Spatial Possibility – Jo Briscoe, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne
Corridors of (Warp) Power: A love Letter to the Connecting Spaces in Star Trek – Jon Rowlands, University of Lincoln
Liminal spaces: Production Design as Memory Embodiment in The Father – María Del Rincón Yohn, Universidad de Navarra

Fyvie Hall

1pm
Lunch
Posters and displays available to view

Fyvie Hall & Regent Street Foyer

2pm
Poster Presentations Presenters include Gage Williams, University of Utah; Maria Kavalioti, Aristotle University; Elena Trencheva and Boyana Buchvarova, NATFA; Signe Gerda Landfald, Norwegian Film School; Abigail Stephenson, University of South Wales; Nathan Evans, AFTRS

Fyvie Hall & Regent Street Foyer

3pm
Future Directions Co-Creating Tomorrow’s World, The Art for Futures Lab – Angelica Boehm, Filmuniversitat Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF
Sustainability project ZERO – Sebastian Soukup and Petra Maria Wirth, Internationale Filmschule Köln
Taming AI: How to create and maintain authorship – Mani Martinez, ESCAC Escola Superior De Cinema Audiovisuals De Catalunya

Fyvie Hall

4.15pm
Workshop – AI as Co-Visionary: Imagining the FilmEU Campus of the Future Boyana Buchvarova and Elena Trencheva, National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts (NATFA)

Fyvie Hall
5.15pm
Conference Close & What Next?Upcoming publications
    Perspectives on Production Design (2026) – Jane Barnwell and Jo Briscoe
    Teaching Production Design in the 21st Century (2026) - Maria Andronikou
Launch of full PD-REN website – Jo Briscoe

Fyvie Hall



6pm
Optional: Social Drinks Join BFDG members for networking drinks


With thanks to our 
Conference Organising Committee
Jane Barnwell, Jo Briscoe, Natalie Beak, Boyana Buchvarova, Maria Kavalioti and May Davies
Gratefully assisted by contributors from across our wider community