Decorating Pages: TV and Film Design TRON: Ares | Production Designer Darren Gilford on the Grid, Dillinger Red World, and Flynn’s Legacy
Jan 13, 2026
Darren Gilford, production designer known for TRON and large-scale VFX-driven builds, walks through the craft behind TRON: Ares. Hear about candy-apple red stainless surfaces, how CNC grain and paneling shape highlights, the engineering of LED-lit floors, and a Flynn grid inspired by Sid Mead. He also covers Unreal walkthroughs, massive stage builds, and the design thinking behind light cycles.
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Long Road Back To Tron
- Darren Gilford started on Tron early in his career and worked on multiple halted iterations before returning in 2023 with accumulated development work.
- He described long cycles: Legacy prep, a stalled Ascension, Star Wars interlude, then being invited back to a restarted Tron with prior assets in hand.
Design With VFX From Day One
- Integrate visual effects early and build art assets that can flow directly into the VFX pipeline.
- Darren emphasized a collaborative relationship with ILM/visual effects so art-department assets evolve seamlessly into digital backgrounds.
Making Physical Surfaces Read As Digital
- Representing the Grid required nontraditional surfaces because sets must read as 'inside a computer' rather than painted walls.
- Darren used stainless steel dye bond plus a transparent candy-apple red car wrap and adjusted CNC grain direction to control camera highlights and flares.