Set-Designing Woman (Week 6, Day 1)

It takes a person with a creative eye and an artistic touch to be a decorator. It takes a person with those talents—and the willingness to tear down what they’ve created at a moment’s notice—to be the set designer for a movie.

Like many of the volunteers on the crew, Sheila McBride’s first moviemaking experience came on FACING THE GIANTS. While that experience was beneficial, it didn’t fully prepare her for her responsibilities this time around.

“There are so many more details with FIREPROOF,” Sheila says. “We didn’t have a whole lot of set dressing to do in FACING THE GIANTS. Other than Grant Taylor’s office and their house, it was mainly football scenes.”

FIREPROOF has given Sheila and her volunteer team the opportunity to decorate a newly built house that serves as Caleb and Catherine Holt’s home, an outdoor wedding scene, fire stations, a hospital, a faux restaurant in the hospital, and even the interior of a house that burns down.

“That one was fun because we didn’t have to take anything out when they were done shooting,” Sheila says. Like with most of the set décor, the items in that house were donated.

“A furniture store let us use all the furniture in Caleb and Catherine’s house. A rental place donated all of the wedding items,” Sheila says. “It’s been amazing to see how much stuff people allowed us to use.”

As FIREPROOF begins the final week of filming, Sheila is looking forward to August 2008 when the movie is scheduled to open in theatres nationwide.

“I’m ready for it to be done so we can see it. Seeing the set on the screen is totally different from when you’re doing it,” she says. “I still can’t believe I get to do this.”