Ben Smith
MA Mentor
Since 2012, Ben has served as Production Designer on a range of feature films and international television dramas. These include Netflix’s I Came By and Ridley Road, which was broadcast on BBC One and PBS in the US. Ben has also designed commercials for a wide variety of clients, ranging from Gucci to Burger King.
In addition to his broad experience as a designer, he gained extensive technical knowledge through his role as Art Director for films such as The Queen, Belle, Quartet and Made in Dagenham. These technical skills include traditional ‘pencil’ draughting for set construction as well as current industry design applications like SketchUp.
Film and drama projects have taken Ben to various countries in Europe, where he has collaborated with local crew and production companies. While working on season three of The Last Kingdom, he spent eight months in Hungary, which involved building Saxon forts and villages from tree trunks using traditional methods.
Ben’s progress into a design career began with an Art and Design foundation course, which led to a BA Hons in Film and Video Production and finally a postgraduate diploma in Design for Film and Television at Kingston University. After his diploma, he got his first break working as Junior Draughtsman for one of the visiting design lecturers on the British crime film Face.
