Chic set design for heat

Tech scout time and we walked into a massive, glossy, all white warehouse deep in the Valley, currently home to an acrylic sculpture designer. This impressive space became the slick location for the music video for Heat.

Five sets would be shot across the warehouse, with room for at least five more. The main space alone was used for three separate scenes: two large choreographed routines, and a setup featuring Chris Brown and four dancers inside glass display boxes.

In many ways, the location was a dream blank canvas. In others, the sheer scale of it posed a challenge. The space needed to feel inhabited, yet still enjoy its vastness, and we had only a few days to get there.

A more structured series of side rooms was designated to become a high-end designer store. The glossy white floors and walls were the perfect starting point. I limited the palette to black and white, with hints of silver. I pulled together a deck of rental elements: a plexiglass bar from an event rental company, a couple of round risers, a circular metal shelving unit, and minimal clothing rails. Thinly framed rails, mannequins for the windows, structural elements, and circular metal-framed shelving created a stark, high-contrast environment.

There was some initial concern about whether these disparate pieces would read as a “designer store on Rodeo Drive.” I reassured the clients that once removed from their original context and placed inside our glossy white box, it would come together exactly as intended.

I collaborated with the wardrobe department and thrifted a select number of garments in the color palette and, with sparse placement - just a few garments per rail - the space clicked. Rodeo Drive, achieved.

There were several goosebump moments on this job. Matthew Cooke, a friend and colleague who brought me onto the project, shares that instinctive reaction when something moves beyond simply functioning or meeting the brief…when it starts to exist on its own terms. When you stop seeing the tape, glue, and frantic prep, and instead believe in the world that’s been created.

Once the lighting team added their overhead Astera light sequence and illuminated the glass cubicles housing the dancers, everything aligned. The light reflected across the glossy floors and pulled all the elements into cohesion.

Visually, the store became the standout success for me. The talent were able to fill the space and create lots of vignettes of action.