OnlineHost: Copyright 1995 America Online, Inc. OnlineHost: Good evening! Tonight, OMNI Online is pleased to take you behind the scenes of TV's "Babylon 5" with costume designer Ann Bruice and production designer John Iacovelli. Ann Bruice began her costume design career in regional theatre, designing numerous productions for South Coast Repertory. OnlineHost: She received 1991 and 1992 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for her work on that company's production of "You Can't Take It With You." She has also designed several productions for the Mark Taper Forum and the Los Angeles Theatre Center. OnlineHost: Besides "Babylon 5," her film and television work includes "Perfect Date," an ABC Afterschool Special; "Siringo," a TV movie; and HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS, for which she served as assistant designer. OnlineHost: John Iacovelli designed "Twilight of the Golds" on Broadway, and he has designed more than 100 productions at theatres across the nation, including five productions for the Mark Taper Forum and nine for the Los Angeles Theatre Center. He won the 1991 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for his design of "Heartbreak House" for South Coast Repertory. OnlineHost: In addition, he was the design consultant for Walt Disney Imagineering on the Florida attractions of The Tower of Terror and the Backstage Studio Tour. Welcome, Ann and John! AnnBatB5: Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here. JohnIatB5: Hi! Great to be here! ErinM: It's great to have you here! Before we begin taking audience questions, could you explain a bit about your jobs on B5? Ann, will you start us off? AnnBatB5: I'm responsible for conceiving and drawing designs for all costumes for the regular cast human and alien that appear on Babylon 5. I choose fabrics, I attend all fittings. I make all decisions on detail, and keep an eye on the costumes appear on camera. ErinM: Thanks, Ann! Your turn, John. :) JohnIatB5: I'm responsible for the visual look of the show in relation to whenever live actors are on set and I collaborate with the producers and the wizards at Foundation Imaging on the look of CG in relation to our sets. Right now we have about 65 sets that rotate depending on scripts and my department is responsible for creating these worlds that consist of everything from kitchen sinks to futuristic devices for information and weapons, etc. ErinM: Thanks, John! We have our first question from the audience... Question: What changes can we expect in the look/feel of the show in season 3 (without giving anything away, of course)? JohnIatB5: Several new sets and a new and improved med-bay and an upgraded Zocalo plus some sweet surprises in store. We are considering all of our sets just as we did at the beginning of the second season. ErinM: We've lost Ann Bruice for the moment. I'm sure she'll get signed right back on. Until she does, John, can you eleborate at all on that last question without giving away any more secrets? JohnIatB5: And this means that becasue our show is in analog time we can improve our sets just as people would improve their surroundings today. ErinM: Welcome back, Ann! The question is still the one about changes in the look/feel of the show in season 3. AnnBatB5: We are introducing a new recurring character which involves a new design for us. In the first episode, we are revealing a new set that we think will be our most spectacular set to date. Delenn and Lennier have additional new looks to accomodate some new and varied activities. We are also continuing to define new background alien races and delinate between groups of aliens G'Kar's look is changing somewhat this season as is Londo's to again facilitate continuing character changes. In the broad specturm we continue to try to refine and enhance both day players and recurring cast members' looks, as well as all of our background extras. OnlineHost: For those newcomers in the audience: OMNI Online is pleased to take you behind the scenes of TV's "Babylon 5" with costume designer Ann Bruice and production designer John Iacovelli. If you have any questions about how the auditorium works, please feel free to contact our usher, OMNI Muse, by instant message. JohnIatB5: We are going to greater pains to make the quarters feel more lived in and less like hotel rooms. ErinM: Another question from the audience... Question: Ms. Bruice, I love your contribution to the show...it wouldn't be the same. How do you decide which style fits each character? It seems that you design the clothes to reflect the character. AnnBatB5: I take my inspiration from Joe who always is available to discuss with me the background, history, pyschological makeup of each character as they evolve. Wetry to make sense of not just interesting looks, but looks that tie and understanding of past, present, and future to specific characters and their individual needs. Question: Question for John Iacovelli: Considering your background with the NASA Hydroponic module and Pavilion of the future, how much of the B5 design is plausible real science as opposed to necessary for the plot but not well grounded in science? JohnIatB5: The most important thing in the design of the sets is to fulfill the dramatic function of the scenes. Now sometimes we have to bend science to our liking and sometimes we get great inspiration from scientific phenomena, but as Joe says, you guys are out there watching us so we try to do things that have a foundation in hard science. Question: Which species of alien poses the greatest challenges when it comes to wardrobe and/or makeup? AnnBatB5: Probably the Narns. Because the look that has been designed for G'Kar is so complex and layered that any other Narn appearing in the series has to similarly evoke the same strength and complexity, while allowing G'Kar to remain the strongest Narn figure we see. Question: Is designing for B5 similar or totally dissimilar to anything either of you has done before? JohnIatB5: It's not similar to anything because we produce the show in an unorthodox way. One of the things we've always told Joe is to simply tell the story and we will do whatever we can to fulfill the story's needs which means that instead of one new set per episode sometimes we have more than five. So we need to be as flexible as possible because we can't make Joe write for only the sets that we have and Babylon 5 is a big place. We want to show it off a bit. Now we don't have laundromat sets like "SeaQuest," but there probably is one on B5. AnnBatB5: In many ways it's been a similar project in that I research and discuss and evolve designs based on character development. The main difference has been the speed and scope of each continuing episode. We have seven days to prepare an episode and that's very different from the six weeks I used to get on a theatre production. Joe and John Copeland are also surprisingly more accessible to me as advisors than other producers and directors have been to me in the past, which makes the rapid pace manageable. It's also different in that the world is so entirely eclectic and that there are fewer rules about period and line and shape and texture that have to be adhered to. JohnIatB5: What Ann says goes for me, too, and I base a lot of the look of the show on research and in a curious way the legacy of over sci-fi design from the history of sci-fi, a rich history book. Question: Will the uniforms be changing for the 3rd season and how will they be changing? AnnBatB5: If I tell you Joe will have to kill both you and me. Question: Ann: what sorts of materials do you use most? Natural fibers or synthetic? Which do youQuestion prefer? PS -- love your work on B5!!! AnnBatB5: I prefer and always use whenever possible natural fibers. Particularly we use a great deal of silk, brocades and other prints along with wools, leathers and some rayons. My love for combining fabrics in interesting ways and finessing details, trims and fastenings etc. keep this world a constant delight. Question: I noticed that during the 2nd season, Londo's quarters and clothes have been getting more opulent as he rises in influence. Can you tell us what you've been doing to create this impression? JohnIatB5: Last season we painted a portrait, and this season his quarters have had many upgrades, including a lot of gifts he's been getting from people wishing favors. AnnBatB5: Londo has evolved in my mind from a buffoonish character to one who has become more serious and darker. His look has changed to accommodate this development in his character. The silhouette has remained the same but the colors of fabric have changed noticably, he no longer wears a purple coat, rather one of dark navy, and this season you'll notice that even his colorful vests are gone. JohnIatB5: The tone of the set and the set dressing has gotten more serious -- more like Peter the Great rather than Liberace. Question: Ms. Bruice, I especially loved the costume designs for Deathwalker and Ambassador G'Kar. Am I nuts, or is there a recurring 'eye' motif on his uniform? AnnBatB5: Very good, there is an eye motif in G'Kars. Question: Do you ask the actors what they would like to have in their characters' quarters to make them more personal? JohnIatB5: For example, things like laundry lying out, dishes in the sink, books and papers lying out, plus more photos of family and friends. Question: John - is there any particular inspiration for the look of Bab5? JohnIatB5: I like everything. I wanted the future to seem more like the present and not like a sterile, vacu-formed spaceship. I felt if people are really living here, there would be a certain amount of clutter and selective chaos. Question: Question for Ann Bruice: When making costumes for aliens, how do you work with the make-up people...is it coordinated or do the make-up effects come first and then the costumes are designed to fit the look? AnnBatB5: Often we try to coordinate the sensibilities of the aliens. I try to work with Optic Nerve to ensure that the head meets the body in some sensible way. We talk about similiar qualities textures and colors and the flow of the total being. Truthfully, often the look of the prosthetic comes somewhat earlier and from that I have understanding what direction to go. ErinM: Folks, I've been informed that one of the B5 newsletters said that Jerry Doyle would be attending tonight's conference. I'm afraid that he's not scheduled to attend. But we'll see what we can do to schedule him for a future conference. :) As a matter of fact, B5 producer John Copeland tells me that Jerry is out of town shooting an episode for another series tonight. Back to the audience questions for John Iacovelli and Ann Bruice... Question: Mr. Iacovelli, How much of what we see on the screen is a physical set, and how much of it is CGI? JohnIatB5: It depends on the shot. For example, in the Zen Garden the only real set that exists is the set that is immediately behind the actors. The rest of it is CG, and we do this in the docking bay a lot ,and I think that we use this kind of virtual set better than any other show. I dare you to find all of the CG sets because we integrate them so well. AnnBatB5: John, you're being modest. We do it more and better than any other show. ErinM: By the way, the other series that Jerry Doyle will be appearing on as a guest star is "Renegades." Question: John: Babylon 5 looks great, apparently on a budget that is a fraction of "that other SF show". How do you do it? JohnIatB5: We're smarter. Actully we have many modular set pieces and we often repaint and use the same pieces over again. This helps to stretch our budget. Question: Will we see any ceremonial dress from any homeworlds? AnnBatB5: You see ceremonial dress already. Minbari celebrations, particularly religious Centuari celebrations, have included opulent orgiastic looks. Narn ceremonial dress includes G'Kar's prayer robe and talus while practicing the faith of G'Quan. Other ceremonial dress has been used with the ambassadors of the non-aligned worlds in the council. So G'Kar, Delenn, and Londo have always had special looks only worn for council meetings and ceremonies. And for that matter, the Earth Alliance has dress uniforms worn for special occasions. We will continue to introduce other looks for alien cultures as the opportunity present themselves in the scripts. ErinM: Folks, we've got time for just one more question for John and Ann tonight... Question: Are u involved in any theatrical prouctions currently - and if not, do u miss not working in the theatre? Is that where your heart belongs? JohnIatB5: I just recently completed some designs over the summer, and I am currently working on a show at South Coast Rep, but it's now more for love than for money, and my theatrical roots help me stay current in the sense that I don't design the way a typical television designer designs. AnnBatB5: This is the most theatrical project I've ever worked on, and for now this is where my heart belongs. However, I recently designed a production of "Blythe Spirit" with Jean Stapleton at South Coast Rep which was a delight. I find it difficult to balance the two and for now have chosen to do only B5. ErinM: I'd like to thank Ann Bruice and John Iacovelli from "Babylon 5" for giving us a glimpse behind the scenes of the show. Thanks for being our guests tonight! The complete transcript of this conference will be available tomorrow in teh OMNI Online Conference Logs Library. To get there, go to keyword: OMNI, click on File Libraries in the scrollbox and then click on Conference Logs. I'd like to thank Ann and John, our wonderful usher, OMNI Muse, and all of you for attending. Good night! JohnIatB5: Thanks, this was fun. Keep watching! AnnBatB5: It has been a real pleasure. Thanks for asking. OnlineHost: Copyright 1995 America Online, Inc. Transmitted: 10/15/95 3:36 AM