Art Director (Film, Television or Stage)

The​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ art director (film, television, or stage) according to the ANZSCO Code: 212311 is the person who takes the lead creatively in defining the overall visual impression that a production gives. Their main objective is to plan, organize and have control over all the artistic elements so as to make the director's vision and the themes of the script understandable to the audience. To achieve this, the director comes up with the overall look, style, and feeling using such things as color, light, decoration, costumes, and props.

The role involves the art director delving into the scripts and discussing the concepts with the director as well as the producers in order to figure out not only the visual requirements but also to give a background of the story. After that, the art director supervises the actual work of turning these ideas into reality by leading the creative team members who may include set designers, graphic artists, set makers, costume designers, and makeup artists. The art director is the one who decides most of the visual elements and therefore is in charge of approving all the pieces, designs, and layouts so as to be sure of the standards and the quality as well as the uniformity.

Besides the creative elements, the art director is also involved in the executive aspects of the company. They are the ones who draft, monitor, and keep the budget and the timetable of the art department, sort out the activities with other departments (for example, lighting and sound), and are the ones who ensure that the project is still on its way and within the given financial limits. If this is the case, then they may be involved in preparing drawings or a scale model of the sets and checking the locations for shooting. This versatile position requires the person to have latent power of creativity, the ability to lead efficiently, the skill to solve problems easily, and be painstakingly accurate in order to achieve the goal of giving the audience a visual immersion that is both deep and of a high impact. The exercise is mostly done on the spot or at the studio, the hours are long and irregular, and one can only be paid per project or per ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌contract