Ethan Tobman

"Tobman" redirects here. For a similar surname, see Taubman.

Ethan Tobman (born May 30, 1979) is a Canadian film production designer and director.

Ethan Tobman
Born	(1979-05-30) 30 May 1979 (age 46) Montreal, Canada
Occupation	Production designer Director
Awards	Canadian Screen Award for Best Art Direction/Production Design

Biography

Tobman was born on May 30, 1979 in Montreal.^[1] He directed the short film Remote, which screened at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.^[2][3] The Hollywood Reporter positively reviewed Tobman's production design for the 2014 film That Awkward Moment.^[4]

He served as production designer for the 2015 Canadian-Irish film Room, for which he and Mary Kirkland won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design.^[5] In designing the eponymous Room set at Pinewood Toronto Studios,^[6] he set out with the idea "that every square inch of Room needed to have a backstory."^[7] Tobman also proposed an "inverted Rubik's Cube" for a set, with removable parts.^[6] Tobman subsequently worked on Felix van Groeningen's 2018 Beautiful Boy. Using the house from the TV series Big Little Lies for a set, he made numerous alterations including to the counters.^[8]

Tobman has also served as a production designer for music videos, including "Formation" and "Lemonade" by Beyoncé.^[9][10] In 2014, for the music video "The Writing's on the Wall" by the U.S. band OK Go, he was tasked with helping create a number of perspective illusions.^[11] He served as creative director and production designer for Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour concert tour and its related concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.^[12]

Tobman has been the recipient of three Art Directors Guild Awards: "Black Is King," directed by Beyoncé (2020);^[13] "All Too Well: The Short Film," by Taylor Swift (2021);^[14] and "I Can See You," by Taylor Swift (2023).^[15] He has also been nominated for three MTV Music Video Awards for Art Direction: "Not Afraid," by Eminem (2010);^[16] "Willow," by Taylor Swift (2020);^[17] and "Fortnight," by Taylor Swift (2024).^[18]

Tobman won the Juno Award for Video of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2024, for his music video for Allison Russell's "Demons."^[19] In the same year, the Prism Prize named Tobman as the recipient of its Special Achievement Award.^[20]

Filmography

Films

• The F Word (2013)^[2]
• That Awkward Moment (2014) ^[4]
• Room (2015)^[2]
• Wilson (2017)^[2]
• Kin (2018)
• Beautiful Boy (2018)^[8]
• The Report (2019)
• Free Guy (2021)
• All Too Well: The Short Film (2021)
• The Menu (2022)
• Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023)
• Madame Web (2024)

Visual albums

• Beyoncé: Lemonade by Beyoncé (2016)^[10]
• Black Is King by Beyoncé (2020)

Music videos

• "The Writing's on the Wall" by OK Go (2014)^[11]
• "Formation" by Beyoncé (2016)^[9]
• "The Man" by Taylor Swift (2019)
• "Cardigan" by Taylor Swift (2020)^[21]
• "Anti-Hero" by Taylor Swift (2022)
• "Bejeweled" by Taylor Swift (2022)
• "Lavender Haze" by Taylor Swift (2022)
• "Karma" by Taylor Swift ft. Ice Spice (2022)
• "I Can See You" by Taylor Swift (2023)
• "Fortnight" by Taylor Swift (2024)