Image by Jasin Boland)
Every object – big or small – that appears in a film or TV scene has been placed there by someone like Lisa Brennan.
Known throughout the industry as “Blitz”, Lisa learned her craft on small productions more than three decades ago and her long list of credits includes blockbusters such as The Pacific, Mortal Kombat and The Matrix.
As a set decorator, Lisa places furniture, artwork and other decorative items, creating the world in which the character exists.
When working as prop (property) master she deals with the placing of objects an actor holds.
Lisa’s been part of the Docklands family since we opened our doors in 2004, working here more recently for the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man (scheduled for release December 2024) and Sony Pictures’ Beneath the Storm (scheduled for release 2025).
After graduating in Fine Arts in Adelaide I travelled and worked overseas for a couple of years, before deciding I wanted to get into the film industry. At the time I was working for (clothing retailer) Sportsgirl in Adelaide as a window dresser.
A friend of my sister was a makeup artist who gave me some contacts to ring in Sydney and that’s how I landed (as art department assistant) on a film called Cappuccino. It was 1988.
I worked for nothing on that job. The standby props guy organized a meat raffle to pay my rent for the month and I thought I’ve found my tribe!
What’s the knack behind using set decoration to tell a story?
The thing I do is work out the demographics of the character. Are they working class, middle class or wealthy? And where would they buy the furniture from? It is Walmart or somewhere upscale or is it antiques? Then I proceed to purchase the big items. Once you’ve got the furniture you can work out where your layering is going to be. You might have a desk, then you might put some sort of a decorative shelf on the top and end up layering that. That will have books and photos that add more of the personal items. I always get a look book together or a mood board and go through that with the designer.
What’s your go-to place for finding furniture and other items?
Say if we’re doing mid-America, I jump on the internet and look at interiors. And then sit down with the (production) designer and say this is what I’m thinking. We’ll discuss colours because it depends what they’re going to paint the walls and then we go from there.
A lot of things come from (facebook) marketplace. But it can be annoying, if you put together a spreadsheet of all the furniture you want – say a couch and chairs – by the time you get an answer on that, those pieces you wanted to buy on marketplace are gone. So I like using antique shops where things stay around a lot longer. That’s one thing about Melbourne – it’s still got those shops. And I tend to hire from shops more than say the younger generation do – they might just use marketplace.
Your work has taken you all over Australia?
In the 1990s I got into TV commercials in Sydney. Then I got taken up to Queensland to do an American TV series called Time Trax at the (Gold Coast Studios). Then in the late 90s I moved back to Sydney to do The Matrix as set decorator. As soon as I read The Matrix script I knew it was going to be big. As a sci-fi fan, I love (author) William Gibson and it was very similar to his books. The first film had a 60s vintage look – though mid-century furniture was not as popular then as it is now and people were putting it out in the rubbish. We’d go around and find things on the kerbside or in auctions. I think we created Oracle’s apartment on a budget of around $10,000.
You seem to be drawn back to Docklands Studios time and again?
My first film here was Ghost Rider. My main memory for that is of going to Melbourne cemetery where they built a caretaker’s cottage, using a mould to make it look like bluestone. It was built in three weeks, it was just so quick.
I’ve loved being here at Docklands Studios. I’ve worked here for The Pacific, I, Frankenstein, Childhood’s End, Winchester, Better Man and just recently the Sony project. In Melbourne it’s very easy to film and you’re so near the city, you’re so near the freeways.
Do you have a favourite project of all-time?
I would have to say one of them was The Pacific (HBO series, filmed at Docklands Studios 2007-08). I was assistant and then prop master. The scripts were beautifully written, and the background stories were amazing.
Anything to do with war is quite tricky – there’s slight changes that happen during the battles. And a lot hasn’t survived so we had to make a lot of things, like props that were sent to the soldiers from home. For example, one of the main characters stole a Japanese officer’s trunk and we had to make the trunk and everything inside. That was lovely to research because I love history.
Your CV also covers so many international projects?
I like working overseas, it’s just a different thing and I’m hoping there’s another one coming up. A designer called Hugh Bateup took me to Amman in Jordan and we did Messiah. I’ve also worked in France, the UK, New Zealand and China. I did a Matrix movie in Berlin although that was interrupted by COVID.
You’ve worked with so many directors, do you have a favourite?
Well, I have to say Michael Gracey who I did Better Man with as set decorator. He was amazing. His energy – he wanted to know everything and always took a great interest in the art department and set decoration.
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