Team Marco

For this project, I was hired by Borough Five Films to conceptualize and produce some set designs as well as develop a working poster for the movie premiere of their film, Team Marco. After reading the screenplay thoroughly, I spoke with the Director of the film, Julio Vincent Gambuto and the Producer, Samuel Sandweiss to share with them my ideas before getting to work. Team Marco is about a 12 year old boy named Marco who is obsessed with his iPad and hardly leaves the house. However, when his grandmother dies and his grandfather moves in, Marco's life is turned upside-down.

For the set, I decided that the concept of technology and play were both major themes. The grandfather, always pleading that Marco gets off his iPad to play bocce with him. For this reason, I drew several robots as well as mechanical gear scattered playfully throughout a neutral color with the intent for it to be Marco’s bedroom wallpaper. While this wallpaper was loved by the production company, it didn’t get to be featured in the movie. Although, it did serve a great purpose for the next set design.

When Marco’s grandfather moves in, he is able to see all of his belongings. Of those items were several bocce ball trophies. This was a significant moment in the film. Photographed up against my wallpaper is the bocce trophy I built. While most bocce trophies have a small figurine with someone throwing a ball, I wanted this trophy to stand out, as did the moment of Marco acknowledging his grandfather’s achievements. At the bottom of the trophy is a gold charm of the Staten Island Ferry, where this movie was filmed. Through photographing the two of my set designs together I helped the team with developing concepts for their movie premiere poster.