2016 Campaign Road Sets
The design philosophy behind the set was fueled by the gridlock in Congress and the failure of our government to work as it should.
For the political conventions that preceded the 2016 Presidential election, Trevor Noah hit the campaign trail for the first time as the host of The Daily Show. Jack Morton was again asked to design the road sets for the show as it traveled to Cleveland for the Republican National Convention (RNC) and Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention (DNC).
The design philosophy behind the set was fueled by the gridlock in Congress and the failure of our government to work as it should. During our early research, we were captivated by the sight of the Capitol dome ringed in renovation scaffolding. We were intrigued by that look of a work in mid-repair. We pushed the idea further to express the de-construction of our government, an attempt to fix what is broken.
The set was composed of large metal grids that held fragmented pieces of the White House facade, with a sweeping photographic panorama of the American landscape in the distance. The central focus was on Washington, the Capitol and the White House itself. The varied layers expressed both the breaking down and building up of the country, while functionally creating great depth on camera.
The set design had multiple projection screens allowing Trevor to sit or stand against them. When interviewing guests and correspondents, he sits at a rectangular platform with a sleek desk.
Trevor and his team had a dynamic, flexible, playing space as they tried to make sense of the insanity of the 2016 race to the White House.