Last Monday I attended my costume fitting for my role as an extra. Being a costume designer this was really exciting for me as it gave me a chance to see how it's done by a professional. Well, in this case, the assistant of the professional. I was dressed by the
assistant designer but I managed to catch a
glimpse of the real costumista as he strode into the room, looked at me, exclaimed "Urgh that's horrible
- take it off" and went off out again.
I couldn't help but smile to myself a little as he left the room, I found his mannerisms slightly amusing, the offence he felt from my miss-matched outfit was almost too much for him to look at.
It made me wonder if things change once you move
up to higher ranks. It seems it becomes more deciding 'yes' and 'no' to other peoples
decisions than making your own - depending on how many people you have working
for you.
There were shelves of mountains boots,
boxes of gloves, hats, scarves and earmuffs and finally rails of old school
90's ski and mountain wear. The colours were great, I love the magenta, teal
and purple combo's that were so popular for that fashion.
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| Wooley hats, scarves, gloves, ear muffs - the lot! |
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| Mountain boots.. I was one of the last so the shelves were a little bare |
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| Rails of 90's ski wear |
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| Colourful body warmers |
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| Ski wear is super super comfy |
To the left is my first costume and, as comfy as the blue sweats were, they weren't working as part of costume. We needed to go less pyjama, more mountaineer-er. The solution was a pair of original high waisted Levi's, that if I may add, fitted ever so perfectly - it's a shame they couldn't come home
with me!
I returned to Cine Citta on Thursday for my first day of shooting. The producer briefed us before we headed off to get changed. We had an assistant to help us and off with our clothes and on with the costume - I was not
expecting such treatment as an extra! We then waited in turn for hair and
make up - something else I wasn't expecting. I sat in front of a Hollywood
vanity mirror and had my cheeks dirtied and reddened, then my hair fashioned
into a very cute Norwegian style low plait.
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| It seems as a red-head I was a target of serious face-reddening in the make-up department |
I was really really lucky to have this experience. Not only did I get
an idea of how costume works for a film, I got to see how the action on set
worked. Unfortunately I could not get any other photo's as phones were forbidden on
set (as expected). We went through the process of retaking scenes, hearing the
clacker and then the directors words: Rolling, Background action, and then
finally Action. Background action was our cue, and with that I tried my best to
immerse myself in the scene and act as naturally as possible. I would not have
had the confidence to do this a year ago, however after a combination of being
at University and most importantly, moving to Rome independently, I was
comfortable enough to do it.
Seeing filming in action and the way the costumes, hair, make-up and set
is all designed really enthused me about film making. It gave me an idea for my
final year project to integrate video into my branding. I want to create a
promotional video and I now have lots of skills from my year in Rome to help me
along with it. I will be able to use my lighting skills to set an effective
ambience, I have learnt from the Everest filming how important it is to ensure
that costumes of extra and actors do not clash with each other - nor can they
clash or blend in with the set. This is a useful note that I will take from
this experience - the image being shot on camera must work as a whole, every
aspect an part of the shot needs to be considered and they must all be in
visual harmony with one another.
Information on the film Everest due for release in 2015 is on IMDB so check it out! I will most certainly be going to the cinema for this one!
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| Another cheeky photo - I hope I'm allowed to share these.. |
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