Broken Frontier

In an event organized by the Art Directors Guild, fans attending Comic-Con this year in San Diego will for the first time be able to interact with Production Designers who are masters of design for sci-fi/fantasy films. Production Designers bring to life the physical look of movies and TV shows that are genres from the Comic-Con world. A panel of leading film Production Designers will be answering questions and revealing how they create other worlds and environments on Friday, July 27, (Room 30AB, Convention Center, 3:30-5:00pm).

They include Alex McDowell, who is flying in for the event from Vancouver where he is in pre-production on the much-anticipated Watchmen, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. His past credits include Minority Report, The Terminal and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory .

Ruth Ammon, who is the production designer on the hit NBC-TV series "Heroes," has also worked on "Without a Trace" and numerous other movies and television shows.

James D. Bissell was Production Designer on the recent 300 from Warner Bros. The Spiderwick Chronicles is currently in post-production. His work on the 2005 Good Night, and Good Luck received an Oscar nomination. He designed Steven Spielberg's classic E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial .

Lawrence G. Paull's stunning Oscar nominated work on the seminal Blade Runner (1982) is still regarded as the benchmark for sci-fi production. His other work includes Back to the Future and Escape from L.A.

Moderating the panel will be John Muto, who designed Terminator 2 / 3-D as well as Species and Home Alone .