Maryelle St. Clare of Oompalala Set Dec + Props recently worked as the Art Director for a segment on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. The segment, “Someone Run Against Johnny Caldwell,” was about a former judge here in Georgia who is now a state senator. Maryelle, who has been working in the film & TV industry (mostly in the Art Department with a few forays into Camera, AD, and Makeup) for a couple of years was hired as the Art Director for this segment, and with very short notice was able to completely source and outfit four rooms of set dec: furniture, lighting, rugs, fully cleared artwork, greens, and window coverings. All the set dec was sourced from either Oompalala itself or from another one of the businesses and artists in the space: Absinthe Taxidermy, Presentime Rentals, Motif Zen, and Andrew Dunkleberger Studio all had items rented for the show.
Maryelle got the call to work this at 7:00 PM; talked to the DP and producer at 10:00 PM to discuss the look and feel needed; and had four rooms pulled and ready for the truck by 10:00 AM the next day. This is the advantage of hiring an art department person who owns a prop house AND has a number of other rental companies, artists, and artisans right there. Most of the big prop houses in Atlanta were already closed by the time Maryelle even got the call about it; and it would not have been possible to select, get approved, pull, and document the paperwork for four rooms by 10:00 the next morning, when most of the big houses don’t open until 7 or 8 AM. Please get in touch with Maryelle and Ooompalala for your set decoration needs! They have a lot of unusual and one-of-a-kind items you won’t find ANYWHERE else in Atlanta.
Here are a couple of screencaps from the segment. Everything you see was selected by Maryelle and dressed by her and her wonderful PA team (Rob Stockwell and Thien Vuong).
Some BTS stills – you can see how what the eye sees and what the camera sees are two entirely different things!
See the whole segment below.
