Interview: Production Designer Ruth Ammon on the Pre and Post-Apocalyptic World of ‘Station Eleven’

The term “world-building” gets thrown around a lot these days. It’s the goal of filmmakers to transport the audience to  different places. To experience a reality that doesn’t exist outside of our minds. Of course, to achieve this, someone has to do the actual “building” part. Enter the Production Designer. As the head of the Art Department, it’s their responsibility to craft the visual style of the sets, the props, the costumes, the locations, the graphics, the color scheme, and on and on and on. Anything that is captured on camera first goes through the filter of the Production Designer.

To understand the influence a production designer has on a television show, look no further than Ruth Ammon. She was the Production Designer on Station Eleven and managed to create an entirely unique and fresh approach to the apocalypse. Gone is the bleak wasteland of Mad Max or The Road, and is instead replaced with a lush and verdant world full of new life and new possibilities.

How did she achieve such cohesive beauty to be captured on film? “I think it all starts with the script. And obviously, Emily St. John Mandel’s book had a feeling and a rhythm to it. The script informed what we were doing,” said Ruth.