The Shoot

Can't believe how quickly its been and gone! The shoot was a great experience and reassured me that film is something I want to pursue. 
It was clear on the day that our role was mainly pre production and everything that had been said about the Film project was true! There has been some waiting around and then all of a sudden a lot of work. The whole concept of 'The Situation Group' was a group of friends on film rather than actors so the atmosphere on set was great as everyone knew what there role was. The biggest lesson learnt was patience. I feel this is the key to working in film! Our job was mainly to keep up with continuity which I really enjoyed. I was expecting to have to drum into them that our role as Costume Designers is important and push to be heard but James was a great director as he always asked us our opinions and was open to suggestions which was a privilege I know I will rarely have in this job, so I really appreciated  how good he was. 

Overall, Ruby and I were really pleased with the outcome of the costumes, our hard work most definitely paid off when we were able to stand back and feel proud of the look we had achieved.
This project has really given me a confidence with working in film and has made me look forward to future experience! I also feel I have now made friends within the film course which will be great to expand next year when hopefully working on the grad films.

CozPlotProV

Today Ruby and I have been inputting all the info for our shoot which is tomorrow. I found it reletivly straight forward to get my head around having had a previous tutorial with Claire Collins. I think the programme is great but since we are only working on a 3 minute film we obviously did not need its full potential! 

Sourcing the Blazer

Today Ruby and I went to Boscombe charity shops to try and find a burgendy blazer that the boys had their hearts set on. Thankfully we found one that cost £10 which with our budget was not a problem. It is however a woman's size 12 but James was clear in saying that he wanted the blazers to be ill fitting anyway so we bought it! 

Second Meeting with Director and Producer

Today we brought James and Sam up to the Costume Store with us to show them what we got hold of. They absolutely loved what we had and the only thing missing that they would ideally like to have was a burgundy blazer. So tomorrows job is to go out sourcing!

Tutorial With Bunny

After meeting with James we went to see Bunny to tell her what James wants. As its fairly straight forward she told us to quirk it up as much as possible and keep to the colours.

First meeting with the Director

Meeting with the Director today, Ruby and I had a lot of questions for them, such as:

- Do you want to keep it Period?

- Do you need Footwear?

- What budget are we working with?

- Would you like to keep to the same colour palette?

- Would you like to keep the glasses in the painting?

- Red ties?

- Do you want to keep as close to the painting as possible?

- Will the Actors be playing the part of the Artist?

James was great and very clear about what he wanted and took the strain of us completely as he told us his take on the film.

 His answers:

- Actors will be fellow film students in his own close friendship group as he doesn't want the film to be 20 year olds playing 50 year olds. This will also be good for interaction as they already know each other.

- He would like to keep it contemporary with hints of its 60's origin.

- The photo should look as though his friends are meeting for graduation so smart/casual dress. 

- Keep to colour palette as much as possible.

- Actors will be able to provide alot of their own costume as he wants them to be as comfortable as possible

This is my Director James Davies

 This is my Producer Sam Osmond

Now that we have met with them I feel a lot better about the shoot and I'm really excited! I really approve of James' ideas and I think we have got a really good project ahead of us! Its a shame its going to quicky as Film is definitely something I am enjoying!

Costume Store

Bunny gave us the keys to the costume store to see what we could find. Luckily we were able to get 10 Blazers and a few trousers that were perfect for our painting. Here are some photos of what we got:

Results from the Film Pitch

I got 'The Situation Group' By Sylvia Sleigh which will be a collaborative project that I will do with Ruby Utley-Williams. 
Slightly mad today as our shoot is scheduled to be on Tuesday 24th April - one week from today! Luckily I was able to get hold of the directors number straight away and we have arranged to meet with him tomorrow morning to discuss costumes! 

Tutorial with Bunny

Today I met with the other filmies to hear the results from the Film Pitch. As it turns out there will now only be 7 films made and one will be a collaboration of two designers as there are 12 cast members. the ones that got picked are:


Francis Bacon
Girl with Dove
Dolly
Georges Seurat
Mondrian
The Situation Group
Memorial


Bunny then took note of our first, second and third choice. My choices were:
1. The Situation Group
2. Dolly
3. Mondrian


So heres hoping I get one of those!

FIlm Pitch

LONG DAY!
Had the Film Pitch in studio 2 today and it was really good to see what people came up with! Some of the ideas were really interesting and I was really impressed with what was pitched in such a short space of time. Having spoken to Bunny about the previous years pitches I was surprised that there were only 14 but we then thought that a lot more effort had gone into these ideas.
None of the costumes sounded impossible and most people had considered budget and time so that was comforting! I thought that the eight of us doing costume for film would all have favourites but we seem pretty neutral on all of them which is really good! Dates and groups are still yet to be confirmed which is stressful but until then all I can do is prepare as much as possible and look forward to finding out!


Here are some of the paintings people chose:

 Mondrian (surprised at this but was a really well thought out pitch!)

 Georges Seurat (Would go hand in hand with my styling which might be nice)

Kees van Dongen - 1912 Portrait of Dolly - (my favourite pitch, really nice story!)

Francis Bacon (one of my least favourites as it involved a ringleader, not a problem but not favourable!)

Visit to the Courtauld

Today was our first day back at Uni and our visit to the Courtauld Gallery in London. It was also our first meeting with the second year film students which at first was an obvious divide but we soon blended in! It was really nice to see some of the paintings we could potentially be working with and get an idea of the types of costumes we might have to source. 

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1881-2 by Edouard Manet

This was one of my favourite paintings in the Gallery. I was imaging potential stories myself
and I think this would make a really interesting story whatever direction it was taken in.
It was also really nice to see Mondrian in real life! I must have look at his work a hundred timesonline and in books but to see it was great, i was surprised with how small some of them were!
I'm not sure if anyone will choose any of his work unless they decided to do an abstract piece.

Location

The painting is set along Asnières which is an industrial suburb west of Paris on the River Seine. In terms of time I need a location that is easy to get to and relativly quiet so that I am able to shoot without others in the background. I walked along Christchurch Quay and found this spot that would be perfect as it even has a bridge in the distance and the boats are ideal.

Georges Seurat

Here are some more of Georges Seurat's Paintings that I have been inspired by: 

Choosing my Painting

Having revisited the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery I began looking at George Seurat's work. I really loved the painting 'Bathers at Asnières' that is in the National Gallery. I was inspired by this painting as I love the colours and textures. I think Seurat has a fantastic way of painting such delicate scenery and I would really like to try and capture this within my styling of the photoshoot.