NMD Workshop: How to build – and use – an authentic Set Design

Featuring: Johanna Coelho, Director of Photography, and Nina Ruscio, Production Designer, The Pitt

About:
What does it take to create a world the audience can instantly believe in - whether the story unfolds in an ER, a five-star hotel, or a high-school classroom? How do you craft a visual universe that captures the audience, and provides a grounded, authentic frame for the story you’re telling? And how do you capture and convey this authenticity through the lens?

Director of Photography Johanna Coelho and Production Designer Nina Ruscio bring their hard‑earned insights from two intense seasons of the critically acclaimed The Pitt to this exclusive NMD Workshop. With sets packed full of patients, beds, medical props, lights, and a full cast and crew, they’ve learned what truly matters when chaos meets precision. In this hands‑on, two-hour workshop, they’ll share the methods, creative choices and shortcuts that make authenticity come alive on screen.

Who is this for: This workshop is designed for series creators, cinematographers, lighting and production designers, directors, and anyone who cares about how a story’s visual world is built.

Take-aways:

– How to approach the research phase - what matters most early in development

– How a production designer an D.o.P. interprets and meets the creator’s vision

– Designing for a whole season: Using The Pitt as a case study – what gets built, what gets adapted, and how set scale and layout shape the way you shoot.

– How to build your core team and establish a shared visual language - through moodboards, references, test shoots, sketches.

– Materials, texture, color: How surfaces and palettes support story, genre, and realism – and what to avoid.

– Lighting and authenticity: which lamps, cameras and lenses enhance realism

– Smart digital tools: Software and workflows that lift production quality without breaking the spell of authenticity.

– Design and camera in sync: Practical routines for collaboration between production design and cinematography in prep and on set.