amycaincostumes

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Final Evaluation

When I started the unit I had absolutely no experience in designing or supervising for film, having previously done strictly theatre and dance.  While there are, of course, similarities between the different specialties, they all come with their own unique challenges and opportunities for growth. 

During this unit I put together a theoretical design based off of a painting from a given selection, and had to come up with the story, research the time period and context, and design for a main character with fabric swatches included.  This project was unique and challenging in that I normally work from an already existing script, or from a choreographed piece.  The theoretical design portion allowed me the freedom and control of creating the entire world of my chosen character.  I enjoyed creating a story around Picasso’s Portrait of Bibi la Purée, and being in control of how he would come to life.

Bunny had us assist another designer on their film as well as design our own film because it was such a tight shooting schedule.  It was a useful experience for everyone to have a chance to assist, and helpful to the main designers.  I assisted Carlota on her film In the Hall, which filmed only 5 days after the pitch was chosen.  It was in this experience I found out what it was like to work on set for films, and learned that while I enjoy designing and assistant designing, supervising for film is not something that I would excel at.

I did, however, thoroughly enjoy the process of designing for my assigned film, The Woman Whose Daughters Were Shits.  The entire production team was very good at communicating and sharing ideas during the pre-production process.  The practical part of the design happened toward the very end due to lack of a cast until less than a week before shooting.  I enjoyed the “heightened reality” style of the film, and was able to source costume pieces from the actors, production members, and charity shops, which kept me under budget.  I think the vibrant color scheme will really pop on screen, and the stylized nature of the film will really come across well.

Some of my work was a bit out of order, finishing my film bible after the shoot, etc. However, given the tight timeline, I think that I managed my time effectively, and this is reflected in my time table.  The one thing that I did not really excel at was keeping up with the blog.  It has always been a difficult thing for me to do, and while I even had it scheduled in, there were times when I forgot to get it done right away.  I think I also combined entries into longer ones instead of several short ones, but all of the information is there at any rate.  Overall I think I did well in this unit, and enjoyed the work.

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Again, somehow I have completely lost the ability to figure out how to turn documents into pictures, but all of my sources are listed in this image for both Part 1 (a and b) and Part 2 of my IP course.

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Learning Costume Plot Pro

Bunny Winter gave a group tutorial to the Paintings as Inspiration designers on how to use the computer program Costume Plot Pro.  This software is used on the professional level of costume design and supervision.  It contains multiple categorized tabs where you can input any and all data / information you have about the project (script), the actors, the characters' costumes, the shooting schedule, etc. as possible.  You can then print off each category separately to be used in a film or tv file.

I enjoyed learning how to use the program, and definitely think that it is a useful tool.  Keeping all of the information centralized under one master file, and yet able to print off any specific page is really helpful.  It will keep everything organized and easily locatable. 

Following the tutorial, I used the software to generate most of the paperwork necessary for the film file on my project, The Woman Whose Daughters Were Shits.

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IP Theoretical Design Basic Plot / Storyline

I chose Pablo Picasso's Portrait of Bibi la Puree as my inspiration because of the subject.  He is a jester figure, but holds so much complexity.  While his color palette is light and colorful, implying comedy and lightness, but the blurred, non realistic style of the painting, along with the subject's expression suggest something deeper.

Inspired by this charismatic figure, I would make a short film called "The Tramp"

It would open on an elderly "Tramp" clown character, dressed shabbily, but in the style of men's 1910's fashion.  He would enter the circus tent and perform a modest and tragically comedic clown act.  The crowd would be nondescript, unseen, or silhouetted / blurred. 

As he takes several bows, soaking in the enthusiastic applause from his audience, it would cut to the same man, dressed similarly, but in contemporary clothes, without any makeup on, but scruffy and dirty.  He is bowing to anything and everything on the sidewalk- pigeons, the street lamp, etc.  He then shuffles on down the street and the film would end.

I liked the idea of having a comedic character that was also complex- so having him be a "tramp" clown, and then have it revealed that he is in fact a real life tramp / homeless person gives that effect.  From a costume perspective it would be fun and detailed, and also relatively easy to procure through charity shops, etc.

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Shooting the Film

Our shoot day was Monday, May 12th, on location at an film acquaintance's house in Charminster.

I checked and double checked that all costume pieces were present the night before, and ironed the appropriate pieces- mostly blouses- so that they would be camera ready the next day.

Monday 12/5/14

8:45- Lucy, my assistant, picked me and the costumes up from my apartment and drove us to the shoot location

9:00- We arrived at the house and arranged the costumes by character, handing them to their respective actor

9:10-11:30 - The actors got into costume, had their makeup done, and I helped style the girls and set their hair.  We took continuity notes and photos, and waited for the film crew to be ready to start shooting (proposed start shoot time 10:00 am).

11:30-2:00 - The actors worked with the film crew to get their scenes shot successfully, with many tech rehearsals to make sure they could get what they needed in only one take per shot.  Before takes they would call for final checks, so we could look over the girls' costumes for continuity.

2:00-2:30 - Lunch

2:30-3:30 - Change over for crew.  We flipped from dining room to living room, and had to relocate all the supplies from the living room that had been the morning's green room.  Costumes got relocated to the hallway, and the green room then became the dining room.  The crew then had to re-set up their equipment in the living room.

3:30-7:15 - Filming the second set of scenes.  During that time the actors playing the daughters had to receive a "mannequin" makeup look, making them look shiny and doll like, but their costumes stayed the same.  Sarah, the mother, changed outfits, and continuity shots of her were taken.

7:15 - Wrap.  We finished filming and packed up the costumes and location kit.  I gave the proper receipt to the producer, and am currently storing the rest of the costumes with me until I go back in to AUB.

This was a very long day of shooting.  Thankfully, having assisted Carlota, I anticipated the fact that there would be several hours of 'down time' in which we did not actively have things to do.  I understand that our work is mainly in the beginning, then checking before shots, and facilitating costume changes when necessary.  From a costume perspective, this shoot was extremely successful and went smoothly without complaint.  The only hiccup being that I forgot to buy sheer tights for Sarah, and Antonia ended up needing a pair as well (as we hadn't decided on her wearing a skirt until that morning), so Lucy ran to the store and bought them in the morning. 

Over all I think that the girls looked fantastic, and they will really 'pop' on screen.

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Here are screen shots of my updated Work Plan.  Somehow I have forgotten how to correctly save these as images and upload them onto the blog without all the unnecessary parts.  Regardless, this is my updated work plan for the remainder of the unit.

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Weekly Reflection: Realizing my Design

Last week I met with my four actresses and held fittings with each of them.  They thankfully all owned at least 1 item that was within each of their specific and individual color palettes, which left me with the task of filling in the gaps. 

Sarah, who played the mother, was easiest, as her palette was all neutrals.  She brought in a grey skirt and cream blouse that we used, and I found a brown wool skirt and a terrycloth dressing gown from the Costume Store that were the right size for her. 

Kirstie, one of the daughters, was assigned Teal blue.  She thankfully already owned a pair of shorts and a cardigan in that color scheme, so I found a shirt and a pair of tights to go with her items.

Ruby, one of the daughters, was assigned Lime green.  While she brought in several things to show me, two items, a mint green blouse with a peter pan collar, and her white slip on shoes truly fit into her palette, so I had to source bottoms and a cardigan for her.

Antonia, one of the daughters, was assigned Fuschia purple.  She thankfully owned a blouse in this color that fit her character's personality, but nothing else.  I needed to find bottoms, a cardigan, and shoes for her to wear.

Shopping for this film was easy in so much that I knew what things I needed to target, and the options were limited way down to fit the specifics of the chosen color palettes.  It also proved frustrating, as it seems the shades of purple I was looking for were practically nowhere to be found, and even though I had a very nice budget, I just barely was able to keep within it.  On saturday my assistant Lucy and I went to Primark, H&M, and several charity shops on the Winton high street that I had scoped out the day before for possibilities.  I brought those items to the pre-light rehearsal on Sunday for the actors to try on, and everything came together really well.

While I am not entirely used to having such a short time period in which to design and source costumes, I really enjoyed the challenge.  It helped me to think practically and take advantage of every resource available, including other production team members' closets, to make the design come to life.  I am extremely pleased with the result, and think that the look of the film will achieve that Heightened Reality / Fairytale quality we were going for.

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I have created a Pinterest board for my style project.  We were given a choice of 8 images to design from, and I chose Pablo Picasso's Portrait of Bibi la Puree.  From this painting I have created an idea for my theoretical project.  The main character will be a circus tramp from the early 1900s, performing his act.  At the end of the film the scene would change and the audience would see that he is really just a homeless man in present day, doing his routine for pigeons, etc, on the street.

For this project I have been collecting images of famous circus tramps, like Emmett Kelly, Mark Anthony, and Otto Griebling.  I've included other performers of the time like Charlie Chaplin in his tramp character.  I have begun collecting photographs of homeless people used in art galleries, etc, in order to capture their appearance and expressions. I have also begun researching circus culture of 1910, and what their costumes looked like.

Having all of these images in one place, like a pinterest board, has been extremely helpful.  It allows for easy access to a wide variety of inspiration and research images, as well as gives instant links to source websites and databases.  It also helps me keep the idea organized in my head, as I can pick through and edit which images I keep in the gallery of images.

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I created a Pinterest board to collect inspiration and research images for my short film, Wig Stall (working title).  This board is filled with examples of "southern prep" fashion and makeup, 1950s house wives, mannequins, and movie stills from Edward Scissorhands, The Stepford Wives (2004), and Disney's Cinderella.  These films were given as reference from the director Amber, as examples of "heightened reality."  

After discussing the costume and overall design with the director and production designer, we agreed that the daughters would wear this "southern prep" style because it is clean, conservative, trendy, and innocent looking; which is in direct contrast to their wicked personalities.  The mother is less concerned with style and will be wearing cozy, neutral colors to help her blend into the background by comparison.

I have transferred the images that I found to be the most inspiring or the closest to the ideal as possible into my sketchbook so that I can have a tactile version of my research.

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Weekly Reflection- Assisting Carlota

I chose to assist Carlota on her short film "In the Hall."  This was one of the first films to be shot, and we had 6 days to get cast members and find costumes for their characters.  Luckily, we were able to source costumes from actors as well as rent items from the Costume Store in order to successfully costume the film.  Having such a condensed time frame was stressful, but we were able to pull everything together.

I attended meetings, helped choose items from the Costume Store, and attended fittings with one of the actors.  On set April 30th, we arrived at the Hotel Miramar at 7am, and quickly prepared the costumes, including ironing, starching, and shoe polishing.  The actors arrived at 8, and we quickly had them change and go to makeup.  Before each take Carlota had a chance to do "last looks" and make sure everything was in order.  I made sure all of our equipment was used and put back properly, and helped Carlota make some day-of accessory decisions in consultation with the director.

While I was familiar with most of the assisting process, having worked on several theatre productions in the wardrobe department, this was my first experience with working on a film set, and working such a tight schedule.  It was my first time being around a film crew and all of the necessary equipment.  I hadn't realized before that day how much time shooting takes, and how time consuming even small adjustments are in order to get multiple angles of the same scene.  

Having this experience before working my own film was invaluable.  It helps me understand everyone else's role on the set, and will help me be as prepared and ready for my shoot as possible.  There are details, like obtaining location kits, that I am now aware of, and can make sure that the actors are as comfortable as possible when they're not shooting.

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My simple work plan / schedule blocked out for the IP project: Paintings as Inspiration.  Specifics will not be known until after this is due.

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My Learning Agreement for my Independent Study Project

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Obligatory Introduction Post

This is where I'll be doing planning / inspiration and also reflection and process for my independent project for AUB.