Phillip Barker has been called a renaissance man in the world of Canadian filmmaking. Barker, who is both a Toronto-based independent filmmaker and accomplished art director/production designer, has received a lot of attention for his prowess in both areas. He is also an accomplished artist.

For the Shopper’s Drug Mart spot ‘Opera Diva,’ directed by The Partners’ Film Company’s Floria Sigismondi, Barker’s obsessive attention to detail in creating the commercial’s sets and overall look earned him top marks for art direction from this year’s Top Spots judges.

‘Opera Diva’ is set in a theatre, which was a bit of a gift horse for Barker – anyone who has followed his career knows he knows his way around a theatre. Among Barker’s art direction and production design film credits is Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter, for which he received a best art direction Genie nomination. His collaboration with Egoyan bled over into the world of live theatre when he served as stage designer for Egoyan’s 1996 opera Salome. On Salome, Barker was also able to show off his skill as a filmmaker, designing and directing film, video and kinetic slide projection elements for the production.

His work in stage design gave him a good idea of what he would be in for on ‘Opera Diva.’ The spot has two main sets – the dressing room, where the Diva is preparing herself for a performance, throwing little fits as any good prima donna should, and the stage, where she later proves her total lack of talent.

The theatre portion of the spot was shot at Toronto’s Wintergarden theatre, which gave Barker a bit of a head start on his designs, given the classic but clean look of the old theatre. He says he was very specific in his work, making sure every detail was exploited to its fullest – from the backdrop onstage to the pulleys and electric boxes offstage.

The dressing room portion of the spot was arguably more detailed and difficult to put together than the actually stage sequence. Shrouded in soft, warm light, the diva prepares for her performance in a very authentic-looking dressing room, which was actually erected in a studio. Barker’s job was to make sure it was a place fit for a diva, while still retaining some of the ‘old theatre’ look called for by the director. He had water pipes and a fireplace installed (although neither features prominently in the ad). He even went so far as to get a number of signed 8 x 10 photographs and Polaroids to scatter about the mirror and dressing area.

Every detail was taken into consideration to make the spot look as authentic as it does.

Barker says putting so much thought and effort into designing and art directing a spot is not something he is accustomed to, but he wanted to make sure it was as close to perfect as possible out of respect for commercial diva Sigismondi.

‘I went the extra mile because of Floria,’ says Barker. ‘There is a level of detail there that I would work into my feature films, when I do feature films, because the camera sees so much more when it is projected. I just wanted to [put a higher level of detailed effort] into it for the heck of it, so when Floria and I were standing on the set it looked good to the eye.’

Barker says going the extra mile was very important to him in this particular case, taking something which could have been very bland and standard and making it so completely believable television audiences would never question the authenticity of the settings.

‘It wasn’t a demanding job, it’s just that I put demands on myself and the crew by wanting it to be more detailed and layered,’ says Barker.

Another of Barker’s achievements of late is the short film Soul Cages, which he wrote and directed. The 23-minute film has been a hit with festival audiences, winning the audience choice award at Local Heroes Film Festival last year and the best Canadian short film prize at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax last month. *