John Chichester

John Chichester

Professor
Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts
Expertise: Production Design Feature Films; Production Design TV;
Office Location: Chapman Studios West 142
Phone: (714) 516-5451
Education:
San Francisco State University, Bachelor of Arts
New York University, Master of Fine Arts

Biography

If you have gone to the movies a couple of times in the last three decades you've seen John Chichester's work: his set designs on Get Him to the Greek or Star Trek: Nemesis; his art direction on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides or House Bunny; his production designs on the acclaimed dramatic TV series American Family or the gritty independent film Prey for Rock and Roll. Chichester’s professional career as a designer for motion pictures spans more than 30 years. Tropic Thunder and Team America are but two of his favorites. It's an exciting time for production design in filmmaking; the possibilities of production design are ever expanding and constantly being redefined by our society and technological innovation, and yet with this constant change, the basic approach will always remain the same: telling a good story in the best way possible. Chichester’s goals in teaching are to impart to the students the foundation of esthetic and practical knowledge to launch their professional careers in production design, and to enable them to make the bold strong design choices needed for today's films.

Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications

Designed and constructed a float for the South Pasadena 4th of July Independence Day parade, commemorating William Holden, Our Home Town Movie Star. 18 of his films over the corse of His career were showcased.
Nominated the life time achievement award of the Art Directors Guild ( IASTE Local #800) to design colleague Luis Hoyos. I presented the life time achievement award to Mr. Hoyos at the 27th annual Art Directors Guild awards show.
Nomination for an Art Directors Guild Outstanding Achievement Award in Production Design for my contributions to the paramount feature film: STAR TREK, INTO DARKNESS.