About the Design
For the Women in Film Dallas Topaz Film Festival, I designed an immersive premiere environment for Finding Her Beat — a documentary celebrating the women and tradition of Japanese Taiko drumming.
The brief was to transform a raw studio shooting space into a complete, walk-through world that carried the film's spirit from the moment guests arrived. Drawing on the visual language of Taiko — bold red, black and white, paper lanterns, cherry blossoms and the comma-shaped tomoe drum crest — the room became a place to gather, sit and celebrate before the screening.
The Build
Custom art anchored the space: a hand-built red shimmer-tag photo wall lit by a "shine bright" neon, hanging lantern garlands in red, black and white, and diner-style café tables topped with a custom tomoe drum-crest graphic.
Hanging woven egg chairs and a screening theater dressed with festival banners completed the journey from lounge to lights-down. The result was a fully themed environment designed to be moved through, not just viewed.
Before & After
The same studio footprint — a bare green-screen cyclorama transformed into a fully themed, immersive premiere lounge.
The Environment
