DREAMING BIG

“In the case of [the practical sets for]

Dreamland, that was up in a blimp hangar, which is near Bedford. And so we approached it first as a conceptual design issue. It was something like almost 200ft wide, by about 700 or 800ft long. And we had about 180ft vertically there.

“So it was slightly narrow for what we could have been doing, but we really designed the concept of the boulevard and the coliseum to fit within that.

“The calculation for what’s built is based upon a cone of view from where the camera’s going to be. We spent a lot of time working both with visual effects and with Ben Davis, the director of photography, on that, and what exactly we felt made sense to build. It was still an amazinglooking set to walk into, and everything down at your eye level is built.

“We had preparations for a lot of background elements so that when it came to the postproduction phase, Tim had a wide selection of elements that he could put into the background. And knowing Tim, he was very selective. He likes simple shapes that read well.

“We actually designed a lot more than what’s probably going to be in the background

[on screen]. And that’s completely expected, to make sure we had enough tools to work with. And what I see in the trailer is Tim’s trademark, clear, almost two-dimensional treatment of the elements of the design, so that there’s no clutter; there’s not too much complication. There’s just no mistaking a Tim Burton film, in terms of the look and feel that’s put across. And this is definitely going to be in his oeuvre.”

Dumbo opens on 29 march.