Today we’d like to introduce you to Ritika Ramesh.
Ritika, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Born and raised in Mumbai, the city of the Hindi movie industry (Bollywood), I was always enticed by film and television. One of my best memories of my childhood was watching movies with my brother. I could watch any movie at any given point in time. So much so that when I was stressing about my board exams (high school finals) my mom took me out for a movie just a day before. But that was it. I did not have a dream of being a set designer all my life. It was a journey. A journey from not knowing what to do, to knowing what to do and then questioning myself if that’s what I wanted to do, to finally realizing “ohhhh THIS is what I want to do!”
I have always been lucky to be educated in environments that fostered creativity and taught me to think for myself. After completing my bachelor’s degree in Architecture and started to understand the true meaning of a space, I realized that working for the entertainment industry as a designer would enable me to blend my love between creating spaces architecturally while having a meaningful story behind them. After doing some research and talking to a few people in the industry, I decided to get a master’s degree in the field. Of course, I was questioned by many that why I would want to do something not very stable like architecture was, after investing five tedious years in it. But fortunately, I have very supportive parents who were always considerate of my choices and respected my decisions for myself.
I was one of the four students to be admitted to the program MFA in Applied Arts under the Design and Production branch and was awarded the Lillian Disney Scholarship. Nervous, excited, and thrilled. I packed my entire life in 3 suitcases and left home to start phase two of my life. After five months of theoretical training, I took up my first job as a Production Designer for an episode of an independent Web series. At the cost of sounding too cheesy, working on that project made me realize that THIS is what I want to do. I had found my calling.
Today I work as a freelance Production Designer/Art Director/Set Decorator in Los Angeles. I have worked on a bunch of short films and ad films in over two years along with amazing filmmakers who have enriched my way of work and developed my thinking as a designer.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Like I said earlier, I was very fortunate to have supportive parents. So, when the entire world was questioning my decision of changing my career path, they encouraged me to do whatever made me happy. For me, living 9000 miles away from my family was my biggest struggle. I was always pampered at home (which I still am whenever I go visit them.) So, living alone and trying to adult through life was hard. Moving from Mumbai to Los Angeles was a definite culture shock. I had to unlearn a lot of what I had learned for 22 years of my life.
The struggle for the first couple of months was mostly survival, but reality hit hard when summer came, and I had to look for jobs. Having had zero experience in the field, it was hard to bag any jobs. I did many assistant jobs on student films for free just to build my resume and get some onset experience. As weird as it sounded to me then, my primary job portal was Facebook. Even today that’s where I get most of my jobs from. That summer, I ended up working for Production Designer Krystyna Łoboda as an assistant for a feature film called ‘The Space Between’ by Rachel Winter (Academy Award Nominee). I learned about everything that goes into an efficient working in the art department. From designing to lifting heavy furniture, I did them all and I enjoyed every bit of it. She then took me on board as a Set Decorator for another project that she was a Production Designer for. It was the Pilot episode for a series called ‘Work/Friends’. My first ever big project as a Set Decorator which ended up winning at the 2019 Catalyst Content Festival, Best Pilot at the 2019 Cinequest Film and Creativity Festival and the Silver Telly Tv Entertainment along with being screened at multiple other festivals. I am very grateful for Krystyna for seeing the potential in me and giving me the experience, which opened doors for my future.
Working as a freelancer is never easy. Nothing is constant. Today is always different from yesterday and tomorrow. That comes as both a blessing and a curse. When there is work, you’re working for weeks at a stretch, but during downtime, it makes you feel like you’re doing nothing. It’s a kind of weird space to be in, but I’m trying to get in at par with it.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
As a Production Designer, there is something very rewarding and fulfilling in the work I do. It is insanely demanding but an exhilarating area of work. One of my favorite things to do is character analysis. In the real world, the spaces we inhabit speak volumes about us. Knowingly or unknowingly, we transform our everyday spaces into OUR own space. We can learn a lot about someone by walking through their apartment, what kind of books they read, what kind of movies they watch, what color is their house. Their house can give you an idea of what work they do, their passions, their emotions.
In short, a person’s house can be an indirect visualization of their character. I love how every story, every script, every scene has its beauty and a broad scope to envision and our job as filmmakers is to tell that very story creatively. Along with the director and the cinematographer, we decide the entire look of the show. After getting the script and having multiple discussions with the director, I make a mood board for the director to kind of get a visual idea of what I understood from his words. Going to the locations, designing for that space by making 2D plans and 3D models, prop shopping, construction drawings, etc. I use my architectural background as a backbone in understanding space and ergonomics and hence, I can visualize a space in my head to sort of get a very basic idea of what the given space would look like to support the scene.
I am a very hands-on worker. I love getting out there and getting my hands dirty. Apart from being a designer, I also work as a Scenic Artist which is painting sets for theatre and film. I was fortunate to work for the Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights for two consecutive years as a scenic artist for their mazes. So I’m known as the production designer who can also paint her own sets if and when needed. I completely believe in being the Jack of all Trades. I am always looking for opportunities that help me enhance my skills in various things that can help me excel in my field. Always looking to learn. Currently, I’m learning Procreate to improve my digital illustration skills and I am loving it!
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Every person I have worked with or interacted with has added artistic value to life. But I would like to mention a few names who trusted in me and my work even when I had very little experience. As I mentioned earlier, Krystyna Łoboda will always be the first person who I consider as a mentor and helped me make a path into the industry.
Secondly, I would like to thank Darcy Scanlin, for who I worked with has a design assistant for an upcoming Netflix feature film as well as for the red carpet of the SAG Awards 2020. She is also someone I look up to and has trusted me enough to assist her on important projects.
Third, I am very grateful to Vanessa Plaza Lazo who has always guided me and has taken me on multiple projects as an art director. And finally, thank you to every director/producer who has given me the opportunity to design for their films and bring in their vision to fruition.
Contact Info:
- Address: Santa Clarita
- Website: https://www.ritikarameshdesign.com/
- Phone: 3108192281
- Email: ritika.ramesh@outlook.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ritika.ramesh.3
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