At this Sunday's Academy Awards, five pairs of production designers and set decorators will compete for the Production Design award. The nominees are Arrival, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Hail Caesar!, La La Land and Passengers.
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt in Passengers
Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures
Production designer Tom Walsh is past president of the Art Directors Guild and produced the Art Directors Guild Awards ceremony which took place earlier this month. He explains what makes these films stand out, and how the passage of the studio system -- "an advanced university for craft" -- has made it harder for production designers to learn on the job.