Provoking Narrative through Spatial Possibility

<p dir="ltr">This paper examines production design as a catalyst for narrative creation, focusing on a specific case study of (the perhaps unimaginatively but purposefully ambiguously titled) <i>The Set Project</i>. The paper was presented at <i>Scene & Unseen: The Invisible Art of Production Design</i> conference at the University of Westminster, Regent Street Campus on October 24, 2025.</p><p dir="ltr">Rather than responding to a pre-existing script, this case study offered a specifically designed set as a narrative provocation to student groups to then develop and film stories in response to the dramatic potentiality inherent in the space.</p><p dir="ltr">As a production designer, the challenge of imagining a space that offered narrative possibility rather than one that was responsive to scripted story upended my typical linear, industrial design process, and instead provoked me to consider temporal ambiguity, liminal space and visual metaphor to create a setting ripe with dramatic potential. The space demanded creative and dramatic impetus rather than being an expositional or descriptive consequence of narrative.</p><p dir="ltr">This world-first approach to drama mirrors Alex McDowell’s world building theories, and sought to shift the traditional film production paradigm, positioning the production design as an active creator of story rather than merely an interpreter of written narratives. The challenges inherent in the project reveal many lessons in educating all filmmakers to be responsive to the dramatic possibilities of space and location.</p>