Christopher Glass (B.A. '96) is an accomplished production designer whose professional journey began as a storyboard artist and illustrator. In this Q&A, we explore how his experiences as a film and media major in Georgia State University’s School of Film, Media & Theatre shaped his creative vision and how his early career roles led to acclaimed work in film and television.

From storyboarding commercials to designing immersive cinematic worlds, Glass shares insights on collaboration, creative challenges and the power of practical filmmaking.

Question: You started as a storyboard artist and illustrator before becoming a production designer. How did those early roles shape the way you approach production design today?

Answer: I started in the film industry as a storyboard artist for commercials. Commercials in the early 2000s were a fantastic way to learn basic filmmaking principles. I would urge anyone who wants to work in film to study storyboards, regardless of drawing skill. They are pure film language. A good storyboard doesn’t need text to explain what is happening.

Working on “The Last Samurai” as a storyboard artist with director Ed Zwick was hugely influential for me. I got to interact with and see what the art, costume, lighting and camera departments were doing. It created a spark in me and led to my desire to create worlds and environments beyond just the drawings on the page.

I went from storyboarding commercials and movies to supervising teams of pre-vis artists on movies like “Spider-Man 3” and “Angels & Demons.” This led me to art direct visual FX for commercials and eventually to production design them. The last movie I storyboarded was “Oz: The Great and Powerful” with Sam Raimi, and I started working as a production designer full time.

When Jon Favreau  saw I was production designing VFX-heavy commercials, he asked me to do “The Jungle Book.”

My journey to production designing was unconventional. I knew film language well, but all of the practicalities of designing, budgeting and building sets were things I had to learn on the job. Coming from a storyboarding background did help me know what could actually be shot. I understood what would be seen with a particular lens and how a director would cover a scene or sequence. These skills help my design process.

Q: How did your time at Georgia State help shape your approach to visual storytelling?

A: GSU helped me tremendously. The film program introduced me to films I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. I think I knew the language of film inherently from watching movies endlessly as a kid, but GSU helped me put logic and words to what it is.

During my senior year, I decided to pursue an honors thesis in screenwriting. Learning the structure of a story and how film writers put ideas on the page is important for understanding any part of filmmaking.

I consider myself a designer who serves the story and characters. If you look at my films, you will see I have worked across a wide variety of genres and styles. I have designed a war movie, a children’s animated movie and, of course, “I Love Boosters.” They all look totally different. The designs are driven by the stories we wanted to tell and the characters that inhabit them.

Q: How did you approach creating the visual world of “I Love Boosters?”

A: For a movie like “I love Boosters,” there are initial conversations. Writer-director Boots Riley and I shared references from art, photography, real life and other movies. He starts moving and you have to catch the vibe and move with it. The reference phase of a production is like this dance. You need to be sure you are in sync. Luckily, Boots’ crazy unique style is something I vibe with very well. I love absurdist, surreal, all-handmade and practical movies as he does. We hit it off.

On this movie, I went straight into set design and pre-vis because we didn’t have much time. We needed to know quickly if things would fit into spaces or on stage. We also needed to check if we could move the camera in certain ways through the set.

Color is also a big thing in “I Love Boosters.” The palette was a huge collaboration between my department, costumes and camera/lighting. I worked closely with costume designer Shirley Kurata and cinematographer Natasha Braier. I would send them paint samples and they would send me back fabric samples or camera tests.

The whole movie was a continual collaborative process among all of us working on it. There isn’t one scene in the movie without some “magic trick” we had to pull off correctly.

Q: What piece of advice would you give to students who want to build a career behind the camera?

A: Look at a lot of storyboards. Read many scripts in script format. Make films using your iPhone or whatever you can get. Feed your crew.

Failure is essential to success. Success is fantastic, but I have learned more from failing. Make films for yourself first. There’s plenty of time later to make films for others. If you make something true to yourself, your audience will find you.

And don’t give up. Don’t let the tech industry make you think we are going extinct.