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The Last Two Years of David Brachman is a feature-length digital film directed, written and produced by Marcos Casilli in pursuit of the Master of Fine Arts in Film & Digital Media from the University of Central Florida. This is a very personal film that presents a sometimes-humorous approach to the following question: what makes life worth living? The film was made on what is categorized as a microbudget, but following the studio production model for the most part. This thesis presents a critique of that combination, advocating for a "slow cinema" model instead.

This thesis documents my creative process as the Production Designer on the feature length micro budget film The Last Two Years of David Brachman, written and directed by Marc Casilli. The film is a dark comedy chronicling the life of David Brachman, a twenty-five year old with a stagnant life that is seemingly leading nowhere, as he pledges on his twenty-fifth birthday to change the path of his life in the next two years or commit suicide if he fails. The overall design concept of the film is rooted in realism, but allowed to contain elements that will remove the audience in order to lighten the load of the serious topic of death. With a nod to the 1950s family home and the nostalgia of decades past; David’s world is created to show drastic shifts from his inert, routine life at home to the outside working world in to which he thrusts himself. The world outside of David’s home is seen through a lens that exemplifies stereotypical social roles and thereby adds to his feelings of outcast and loneliness. Creating the versatile world of David Brachman presented challenges with the amount of locations, characters, and costumes changes; however, these challenges were further complicated by working on an overall micro budget of thirty-six thousand dollars, with approximately fifteen hundred dollars allocated to the art department and costuming. These challenges created a need for resourceful acquisition techniques and budgeting to ensure that the overall artistic vision was not sacrificed. Remaining true to the design aesthetic and the director’s vision, my staff and I were able to overcome budgetary challenges, staffing changes that occurred during filming, and shifts in the production dynamic that created a sometimes chaotic filming environment. The careful iv planning and organization of each design element and their execution ensured the successful creation of David’s world and a visual story to compliment the screenplay. Within this thesis I document my design process from my initial design proposal to the director through post production and final viewing of the completed film. Included here are specific details of my design process including script analysis, script breakdowns, location plots, budget tracking, stills from the film, a copy of the finished film, and all the paperwork generated in creating the film. A detailed journal of the filming process including obstacles I encountered as well as the solutions created throughout this process and a self evaluation and reflection on the final product of work are included.