Welcome to the multiverse of stairwells in Carol's apartment complex! Well, not really, but one of our goals after I was promoted to art director was revisiting and polishing up some stuff from earlier episodes - especially episode 1, since it would be viewers' first impression of our world. One of these things was this stairwell Carol walks through to exit her apartment. The original background (not pictured) looked great and was completely serviceable, but we really wanted to push the world-building and disconnect between Carol and this communal space where people seemed to perpetually be partying. My job was to help figure out how we could SHOW that thorough colour - not just tell it, and as you can see, there was a LOT of discussion and potential solutions. Personally, I think part of an art director's job is being a liaison between their team of artists and everyone else: translating other stakeholders' words/abstract ideas into concrete, visual direction. Sometimes all this means is handing off a brief to an artist, but other times it requires more: actively listening to stakeholders, creating multiple (sometimes many!) solutions that meet their goals/vision, helping guide them to the solution they feel best meets that goal (not just telling them), and then whatever direction results from that dialogue can be handed off to the artist(s). Anyways, thanks for looking, and watch Carol and the End of the World on Netflix! Showrunner: Dan Guterman
