Getting tasked with designing graphics for the police intake and cell of a Staten Island police station represents something that I love about working in film. I have never in my life had cause to set foot in a police station. My only point of reference is what I've seen on television and in movies. Now I had a very limited amount of time to determine what belonged in the space, and what language you might find on signs in an actual police station.
I started by looking for stills from other television shows with police station sets that I felt had good production design, but that produced limited results as most of these background graphics tend to be out of focus. Then I started watching clips from reality police/prison television shows, but that came with similar limitations, as those are typically shot with a handheld camera that moves quickly to follow the action. Eventually I found my greatest success by visiting the Facebook pages of various actual Staten Island police stations, and scrolling through their photo albums. From there I could sometimes see things like bulletin boards in the background of shots, or jpegs of their flyer graphics. Between all three of these resources I was able to cobble together enough information in order to make a graphic package to dress the space.
Mock-ups of graphic placement, built from the set designer's renderings.
poster for the lobby
poster for the lobby
wayfinding to cover an existing sign
wayfinding to cover an existing sign
police intake cut vinyl graphic
Final graphic package for What We Do in the Shadow - Season 5 Episode 2 "A Night Out with the Guys"
