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© Kirsten McTernan Photography & Design

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Working for camera

This was the newest part of process for me. I feel like I learnt a lot and that things I had already been considering were really hammered in. 

Lighting - White really brightens everything and sucks in the colour. I had a lot of contrasting bright whites and dark colours and I think that it made lighting hard. Should have dulled (tea stained?) the whites to make them less bright.

Stripes - think about how the camera will pick up patterns

Makeup - always go lighter than the skin, not too much powder. Olivia could have had way more blush and eye makeup

Dirtying down - MORE! I went subtle with the dirtying down and the camera didn't pick it up properly.

Continuity - Keep taking reference photos of hair and makeup. Make sure ties are the same length.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. This is because it was multiple continuous shots rather than multiple camera angles. 

Linen - I knew this would be annoying to work with! But god the creases.. I will think hard about whether or not I can face it next time I consider using it.

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Covid

Creating this performance during Covid was a weird experience. It meant even more planning and organisation as you couldn’t touch things for two days before fittings and deliveries were taking longer.

Fittings felt less comfortable and energetic as I had to rely on the actor dressing properly and keeping tidy. This meant less time for playing with the clothes. I did enjoy that it gave the actors a level of independence to chose the clothes they were most drawn to. This tactic was only really useful for someone who considers clothing important. Some actors just want to be handed something and told this is what they’re wearing.

I think that my design suffered in some parts due to Covid changing my attitude. I found myself being less of a perfectionist. I was giving the actor an independence with their costumes due to not being able to touch it.  

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Tech and Production

I felt weird sitting and watching, I felt like I should be doing something and helping. When actually it was my job to over see everything and delegate tasks to assistants. I found it hard to stay focused when sitting still. 

It was also weird during these times because I had to rely on the actors getting dressed properly and couldn't keep adjusting their costumes due to social distancing.

Keeping quiet - I found myself not saying much in meetings and during filming. I was worried that I would confuse a situation or waste time for everyone who was busy.

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Time management

Got everything in time. Feel pretty good about my time management for the most part.

Would have liked to have decided to make Oliva’s dress 1 or 2 weeks earlier.

Also the time it took in making decision and getting back to people eg. the markup was too long and frustrating. 

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Teamwork

As a team member, I worked well. But as a leader, I was not happy with my leadership style. I didn’t feel decisive enough. I spent too much time wanting to be liked. Also a control freak, I found it hard to leave my assistants alone. Next time I will spend more time organising and delegating. Its weird because last year I loved it and felt like it was a strong suit of mine

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Communication

Design communication - I developed how to communicate ideas through photoshop, mood boards, model box and drawings (somewhat)

I still need to learn how to share ideas and feel confident suggesting ideas. Found it hard to make my voice heard and share opinions. Spent too much time wanting to be polite.

I would have liked more communication with Jonathan in the designing stages - but can’t blame his business.

Ask for meetings with people sooner, rather than getting stressed out about talking to them - ask for help, don’t struggle through.

The communication between departments could have been stronger. I was not getting info that I needed. There were time when costume changes would change scene and I wouldn’t be told. So when trying to get the actor into the right costume I looked like I didn’t know what I was doing. Which I’m fine with as long as it doesn’t make the actor nervous/confused.

Stage managers wouldn’t let me know about easy to fix issues till it was too late - Maria’s shoes

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When we got into the space and saw the furniture in there with the lights on, I was happy with how Duke Orsino’s household turned out. I felt that I had clearly characterised it and it represented him well and gave a general idea of who he was. But for Olivia’s house hold, at first it felt empty and dull. It didn’t show off her wealth and extravagance or even the fact that she was in mourning.

Orsino’s household, worked well, felt enclosed and complete - especially when the lights were on it. I soon realised that Oliva’s household needed something in the middle of her space and that her household wasn’t picking up the light as nicely as Orsino’s. A rug was needed. I’m glad that I found two rugs for her as it feels like it makes the two house holds feel like two different types of rooms in a manor house. And shows the difference between the attitudes of Orsino and Oliva. Olivia being more conservative/uptight and Orsino being more relaxed.

I do regret that Olivia’s household does not lean into the fact that her house hold is in mourning... more lace everywhere and something to make it feel more sombre. My worry that stopped me from achieving this was that I didn’t want to make the space too dark. Especially as the people in the space were likely to be in black too.

© Kirsten McTernan Photography & Design

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Design Refection

Relooking through my design process I feel that I could have done more drawings and renderings in the initial process.. It always feels as if I’ve done more than I actually have. I did do initial designs and visual moments on photoshop, and then would develop them into something more, or delete them out of frustration. It would have been nice to save multiple so that I could have remembered my development. 

Initially, I wanted the design to go into a more organic less linear direction. Playing with more of an island feel to it. But with the brief that I was given it didn't work out that way. 

I was worried (and still am to an extent) that we kept too close to the Dogville style and simplifying it. I would try to develop it into something more, but Jonathan had his heart set on how we did it. Which I’m happy with, as it worked for the play. I am aware that it is not as innovative as I could have been - however I am confident that I fit the brief that was given to me at the start of the project.

As usual, the script work was something that I struggled with. The script leads the process and informs the design.

I need to keep referring to the signed off designs that everyone's working from. Its okay that designs change and develop. But I must not go off in a new random direction with out communicating that with director and assistants. 

I am not sure what ideas were mine and what were Jonathans. Sometimes I feel as if I’ve taken credit for an idea that wasn’t mine. But I guess they came from the development of both of our ideas.

I have found Costume so much easier than Set, especially in the production side of things. During designing, I got held up and too focused on little bits of the set and wanted to be happy with sections before going onto costume. I don’t think this was that useful, I should have just moved on when I was stuck. 

I should have given evidence of research into the period rather than just notes and pictures

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Costume hindsight's

Once we started filming and I just had to watch what was happening on stage and take it in. That was when the perfectionist came out - when it was to late..

To improve the costumes, I would have loved to make them way more detailed, give all the men sock suspenders, sleeve garters and maybe braces. And really leant into the 20s. 

I also think that Olivia could have had more bling. 

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These pair ended up being my favourite costumes. I think that the clothes leant into them being the comedic characters. I really enjoyed playing with the fit of the clothes. Making them fat, and the trousers too long and too short and accessorising them! 

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Feste 

This costume needed to be a base costume to then have two other costumes put on top. Jonathan and I spoke about this early on, but I think that we were on different pages for a bit. At one point, I was trying to make the student costume be able to morph into a Feste entertainers costume.. I enjoyed working this out and mixing the two periods. But when Jonathan saw it he thought it looked too planned and at that point it clicked in my head what he wanted. I had fun playing around with these looks. And making sure that they were easy to change into on stage to quickly morph into characters. I think that if this happens again, it will be important to not involve the actor too much into the confusion so that they don’t feel unconfident in the costume - this didn’t happen with James (the actor), but I could see how it could have done. 

Like the striped jumper. On the first day of tech I wasn’t sure. But as the days  went on, I thought that it really worked for a clown character.

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Olivia’s red dress. 

I’m not sure how I feel about the Red dress I chose for for Olivia’s dress. It felt a bit cheap, which is completely wrong for the character. It was super tough to find a red dress that wasn’t tacky or that didn’t have a modern shape to the silhouette. I think that my fall back here was time management and planning. We tried making a dress for Olivia, but there was not enough time or preparation so didn’t have the lavish detail that you find on 1920s dresses... instead she ended up looking like an American Politician. 

In refection I should have decided to make her dress 1 or 2 weeks earlier than I did in order to get the perfect dress.

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Antonio Costume Development... 

I really enjoyed the development of this costume. After discussing how the actor (Will) was wanting to play the character and the back story he was giving him, I realised that the direction I was going in was not compatible.  Will wanted to give his character a military background with a macho feel. Which was different to how I was presenting the character, as a bit softer and more as a civilian than a solider - still macho, just in a different way. This meant that I had to scrap my character design, make a quick mood board and get sourcing. This felt a bit directionless and I could see this in his first fitting. There was no clear era or style or fit and he just ended up looking like a video game character! I wasn’t too upset by this problem though, it gave me a boost in motivation because I just had to scrap it, rethink and start again. In our next fitting we both felt really positive about the direction of the character. Taking parts of what we both liked initially and finding new things. I think that the costume was successful in the end and was easy to read and served the character well. 

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The design concept

- The space is a forgotten rehearsal space for a production of Twelfth Night that was left because of the lockdown in early 2020. A student enters the space and action begins.

- Two marked out households. One for Duke Orsino’s household and one for Oliva’s households. The spaces are filled with a few pieces of furniture that characterise each marked out space, to go with their owners personalities . But working with a found object feel.

- The piece is loosely set in the 1920s because the grandeur of that time fits with the play. Some things can be taken out of era if they work stylistically. 

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------------------INTO PRODUCTION!!!!-------------------

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Costume Plot