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DeanCato

  • Production designer
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Dean Cato was a production designer for several TVNZ dramas, including Inside Straight, Roche, and The Fire-Raiser; he was art director on 1983 feature Strata. With Steve La Hood and James McLean, he established Story Inc in 1997. Dedicated to visitor-focused spatial narratives, the company designed museums, exhibitions, and pavilions for two World Expos. Cato now teaches at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts.

Biography

After an unsuccessful location scout around Timaru and the Wairarapa for 1986 kidult drama series The Fire-Raiser, Dean Cato was among the production team who decided on Upper Hutt instead. Shooting in those rural locations would have brought up the cost of accommodation, left them a long way from support, and required many special effects shots.

Screenography

Ake Ake: B Company Remembers
2001 Narrator Television
The Fire-Raiser (TV movie)
1986 Designer Television
Timothy - performed by The Chicks
1985 Production Designer Television
25 Years of Television - Part One
1985 Designer Television

“There's always a client, there's always an end user, there's a viewer, a visitor, call it what you will. But if we keep our visitors at the forefront of our minds, then we're going to have a successful project.”

— Dean Cato

Related images

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Designer Dean Cato on the Whitemans Valley set of The Fire-Raiser. The show was set in 1915 in the fictional, Nelson-like town of Jessop.
Photo courtesy of The Upper Hutt Library Heritage Collections, originally published in The Upper Hutt Leader, 19 August 1986