Sometimes what you hear about a famous movie prop doesn’t give you the full story.
This is the real story behind the design of the Vid Phōn, the video phone booth in Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner, that Harrison Ford’s character Decker, uses to call Rachael (Sean Young).
The Vid Phōn Hero prop. Now in the collection of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. Syd Mead is given sole credit for the design on the signage at the Academy display but the prop was completely redesigned by Tom Southwell during pre-production.
Syd Mead did a lot of concept illustration work for the film that contributed to the futuristic look. But as is true for a lot of concept artwork, the execution of it can become problematic when it comes to translating it into a 3D ‘shootable’ reality.
Tom Southwell, who is a Production Designer in his own right, (Disturbia, The Salton Sea) was the production illustrator on Blade Runner, as well as many other films, and designed all of the graphics for the movie. He was also called upon to design hero props for the film that not only had to work but be ‘shootable’ as well.
In the Art Department on Blade Runner. L to R – Production designer Larry Paull, Production Illusrator Tom Southwell, Art Director David Snyder.
This weekend, on February 28, Tom will be awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as an Illustrator and Production Designer at the Art Directors Guild Awards Banquet in Los Angeles.
Tom’s original sketch and final logo for the Spinner CarSome of Tom’s other graphics for the film.
When recreating a period set from the 1800’s in particular, it’s difficult to really replicate the designs of the period because current wood moulding and millwork don’t allow for what was a common practice by designers and architects; true proportional design.
A moulding catalogue of today looks very different from the original moulding catalogues of the 1800’s. Not only because they contained a larger variety of profiles, but there was a large selection of different sizes for almost every profile that they offered.
The cover of the 1874 Universal Moulding Book. One of the first millwork catalogues for wood moulding.
The oldest moulding catalogue that I own is the Universal Moulding Book from 1874. This catalogue shows over 650 moulding profiles in full size. It isn’t the first version. I know this because the catalogue states that 46 profiles have been phased out from a previous catalogue.
Here is a page of a profile known as a Quirked Greek Ogee and Bevel, a popular profile in the mid 19th century. Notice that there are 17 different sizes.
Why so many sizes?
Originally moulding or architectural enrichment wasn’t an afterthought. The mouldings were designed to be used in proportion to the openings that they surrounded.
In America, and England, before the Industrial Revolution, wood mouldings were made by hand. (plaster ornament was as well). With a set of planes called Hollows and Rounds, an infinite variety of moulding profiles could be created. A set of planes were designed to created 1/6th diameter arcs in increments of 1/16th inch.
My working set of hollows and rounds
Various pattern books of the period laid out the formulas for creating the mouldings according to the width of the openings. In his 1827 version of Builder’s Companion, Asher Benjamin wrote that for a door or window, the proper proportion would be found by dividing the opening into eight parts and giving one to the width of the moulding, He noted that this formula would provide a different width for different widths of doors and windows, but said that it wasn’t good to have different widths of architraves in the same room.
Obviously he wasn’t around to comment on this house interior……….
1839 New Orleans 4-bay townhouse
The pocket door opening in the photo is 6′ wide while the window width is about 3′ wide. You probably don’t notice that the architraves and the corner blocks are different sizes. The casing aound the doos is about 6″ in width while the window casing is less than 5″. The casing that frames the doors would look too large around the windows while the window casing width would be too diminished by the pocket door opening width.
Because the casing widths conform to the opening sizes, they look similar enough in size for their differences to be hard to recognize. The fact that they have proportional details within the overal common profile helps as well.
When the factory-made millworker begain to replace the on-site handmade moulding, they settled on a series of profile sizes that would fit most situations based on common door and window opening sizes.
This variety of sizes began to diminish into the 20th century until around 1940, when most catalogues began to offer only a few or even just one size of each profile.
A page from the 1939 Stock Millwork Catalogue
When you have a design that requires moulding profiles that aren’t available, (which is a common problem with 19th century Victorian designs), and you aren’t able to create a built-up moulding from available profiles, you may have to have a set of custom knifes made.
If you order enough linear feet of the mould, some shops will waive the knife fee as it adds to their selection of profiles. Be sure you look into custom knifes before you discount it as being too expensive. The job is also done by CNC now rather than hand-grinding. so the actual operation is not a bid deal.
It can be tricky to identify or specify a particular wood if you’re not very knowledgable about working with it. There are hundreds of different species available and even though a small number of those are in common usage in the construction trade, narrowing it down to the ideal look you want can be frustrating.
For many years a Production Designer was able to just hand a Scenic Painter a photograph and the artist would “grain” the surface to match any kind of wood they wanted. With the loss of painters who are trained in “graining”, it has become more common to find a laminated material which matches their choice or to use actual wood veneer that matches the reference.
One website that I’ve found recently is a very good starting point to locate a match to a reference photo you might have or select a wood species based on your preferences of shade, color, or grain.
The Wood Database was created by Eric Meier in 2007 and now includes images and data for over 600 different wood species. You can search by name, type, location, appearance, and several other catagories.
Each species entry has a color photo of the wood showing grain pattern (depending on the cut orientation) as well as the scientific data as to hardness and shrinkage rates.
The information is also available in hardback book form, which can be ordered from the site, which features the data on over 350 wood types, including large color images of each species.
Another good reference is a book called What Wood Is That? by Herbert Edlin. The book explains basic wood characteristics and details 40 common wood types. It also includes 40 actual wood samples so that you can see a real-life sample of the types outlined.
The actual wood samples that are in What Wood Is That?
For larger wood samples to look at, I’d suggest getting a set of veneer samples like the ones below. You can find sets like the one below from various venders on Amazon. Be sure that you get a set that have labels attached for easy identification. With these, you have a piece large enough ( they are usually about 6″ x 12″) to be able to try different stains, finishes, or age to your liking.
If you are in the Los Angeles area at the end of February, The Southern California chapter of the ICAA (Institute of Classical Architecture and Art) is presenting a lecture entitled “Authenticity & Historic Design in Architectural Millwork” on February 26, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.
The presenter will be Brent Hull, a nationally recognized expert on historic design and architectural authenticity. He will present information and inspiration from his new book “The Design and Manufacturing of Historic Millwork From 1740-1950” published by Wiley & Sons. 2025.
Hull is an award-winning master builder and expert in historically accurate architectural millwork and mouldings. For over thirty years his craftsmanship has enhanced nationally registered properties and homes across the country. Hull honed his expertise at Boston’s North Bennet Street School where he trained in the art of traditional building and historic preservation prior to founding Hull Millwork & Hull Homes in Fort Worth, Texas.
He has authored five books on historic millwork and architectural design including his most recent work, which is a follow-up to his previous book, “Historic Millwork”, published in 2003. His current book includes moulding of the mid-18th century and early 19th century periods, which weren’t covered in the earlier volume.
He will be talking about the stylistic and functional shifts that accompanied the transition from pre-industrial hand-crafted techniques to mechanized production. Hull provides a framework for identifying period-specific profiles and understanding the design logic that shaped moulding development across two centuries of American building tradition. Participants will gain practical knowledge for making informed specification decisions for restoration and classical new build projects.
If you aren’t familiar with the ICAA, they are a great resource for connecting with architects and artists who are interested in and trained in the classical arts tradition, both in restoration work and new construction that honors the early periods. They have active chapters all over the country.
Brent will be giving his presentation iat several other chapters around the country so you might check the ICAA calendar if you don’t live on the west coast.
Here is the link to the main ICAA page to find out more about the organization and learn about events in other parts of the country:
The Designer's Assistant 