Oct 19, 2020 · 1 hr 22 minDavid L. Snyder became obsessed with show business at H.C. Technical High School in his hometown of Buffalo, New York. Together with classmates Lance Sherman, Grover Washington, Jr. and Michael Di Figlia (who would soon become Michael Bennett, creator of Broadway's "A Chorus Line") staged the 1959 "Tech High Musical Revue."
After stumbling through life as a rock 'n' roll drummer, architectural designer, graphic designer and theatrical stage designer he began his Hollywood career as the assistant art director on the 50th Annual Academy Awards©. Following a year in 'live' television, David was soon recruited by Universal Studios and spent a year and a half art directing science fiction television series such as "Galactica 1980", "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", "The Incredible Hulk" and "Captain America".
David went on to design Taylor Hackford's feature directorial debut, "The Idolmaker" and soon returned to science-fiction as the art director on Ridley Scott's 1982 future-noir classic "Blade Runner". David received an Academy Award© nomination for Best Art Direction he shared with Lawrence G. Paull, the film's production designer. The film was also awarded the British Academy Award (BAFTA©) for Best Production Design/Art Direction.
Since that time he has designed nearly fifty feature films including "Into The Rainbow 3D", "The Whole Nine Yards", "The One", "Soldier", "Demolition Man", "Super Mario Bros.", "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" and Tim Burton's cult classic feature film directorial debut, "Pee-wee's Big Adventure". In 1994 he designed "Rainbow", the motion picture Industry's first live-action, digital to 35mm theatrical feature film starring & directed by Bob Hoskins.
Snyder has appeared as a guest speaker on the subject 'the art of motion picture design' at The 1st Annual Tokyo International Film Festival; The American Film Institute; The University of California at Los Angeles and the 45th Annual New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center. There, an academic panel discussion was followed by the U.S. premiere of "Blade Runner-The Final Cut", celebrating the film's 25th Anniversary. David next appeared with the cast & creative team for the world premiere of "Untitled" at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival; was invited by New York's Museum of Modern Art to introduce "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" at the 2009-10 Tim Burton Retrospective and he was a member of the "Blade Runner @ 30" panel at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con and a MAGI 3D seminar with "Blade Runner" and "Brainstorm" colleague Douglas Trumbull held at China Central Television / CCTV headquarters in Beijing, China in January 2015. Most recently David appeared at the 2017 Savannah Film Festival production design panel to speak on the subject of the art direction of "Blade Runner" etc.
Industry memberships include The Directors Guild of America, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences where he served on the Art Directors Branch Executive Committee for 4 years, The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences , and The Art Directors Guild
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