Tutorial 3: Girl with a Dove Starting Points

Tutorial with Bunny Winter 19.4.12

Notes:

The complication for this piece is children's clothing. Places to enquire - ArtsEd, Flame Torbay, Hirearchy. Also enquire with local schools with acting departments.
Look at Colleen Atwood. Child in Sweeney Todd. 
Boy should be fairly basic. Shirt, short trousers. 
Girl, use pinafore as a base and add. Belt with a bow as in research images.
Check costume store for smaller clothes that could be used on children. 
Stripey tights for both children to add small detail?
Aviary man should be easy, all items in costume store. 


Reflection:
I'm anxious and excited about this project. I know that finding kid's clothes that work will definitely be a challenge, but it's one I'm happy to accept! I have a meeting with director B Emck at 2pm today so will post again after.
 

Film Research

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Dorian Gray (2009)

  
I wanted to look at some other films set in the Victorian era. Sherlock Holmes and Dorian Gray are some great modern examples and have some fantastic costume. I've focused quite strongly on The Prestige as the opening and closing scene is set in an aviary with a young girl. The feel of this scene is very reminiscent of how I picture The Girl with a Dove. I anticipate we will be using a very different colour palate, though the essence of this scene is what has interested me the most.

 

Millais and Northcote

I wanted to get some initial images before meeting with the director tomorrow so have been researching into paintings of young girls in the Victorian era.

Sir John Everett Millais has done a series of very sweet painting of innocent looking young girls. These two particularly stood out for me in terms of costume. They mirror the bandeau bow around the waist from Picasso's painting, which is a detail I'm really keen to include in the costume design.

Cherry Ripe (1879)

Afternoon Tea (1889)

I also found one painting by James Northcote that I love. The colours in this piece are really beautiful as well as the detailing of the dress. The delight in her face is beautiful, and I thought very relevant as the start of the film will be the girl's same delight in the birds. 

 

First Steps of Research: Colleen Atwood

B mentioned Colleen Atwood in her pitch whose work I absolutely adore! I thought the simplest way for me to start would be to get a few images of her work just to define the style and feel that we'll be working towards.

I've just got a few simple starter images,of both children and adults to get a general view for inspiration. 

Sweeney Todd (2007)

Katrina Van Tassle, Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Young Lady Van Tassel and her sister, Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Katrina Van Tassel, Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Designs for Alice, Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Johanna, Sweeney Todd (2007)

For the girl there are 2 key things from Colleen Atwood's designs that I want to transfer to my own, volume in the skirt and detail in the sleeve. I find that with her designs it's often the small details that really make the costume amazing. 

For the boy it will be relatively simple, but here are a couple images of young boys in her designs. 

Young Ichabod Crane, Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Toby, Sweeney Todd (2007)

I will look into her work in more detail in my sketchbook.

Girl with a Dove

I'm currently at home in London for family reasons so sadly missed the session with the Film students yesterday, though I've heard that it was just finalising ideas.

Though I have found out today that I will be Costume Designer for Girl with a Dove which I'm incredibly happy about as it was one of the pitches I connected with most. 

Pablo Picasso, Girl with a Dove (1901)

I return to Bournemouth tomorrow and am really looking forward to meeting with director and producer B Emck and Corrin Allen.

Film Pitches

Today we were allowed to sit in on the pitches from the Film students and then later on in the day the decision was made for the selected films.
There were 14 pitches in total for a potential 8 films to be made. In the end only 7 films were chosen, as there were a few quite ambitious pitches. 

It was really interesting to be there for the pitches, as there was such a wide variety of paintings chosen as well as ideas for the films themselves. I thought it was great that we heard pitches from Directors as well as those on the creative side, and it was really interesting to see the difference in focus from the various "roles" that pitched. Ultimately I'm really happy with the final 7 films that have been chosen. There was only 1 film that I really loved the idea for that didn't get picked, and I feel capable of working on any of the films chosen!

The final 7 are:

Francis Bacon - Untitled (Crouching Figure) (1952)
Pitched by Dan
The film is based in the character in the painting's mind. A hallucinatory struggle to escape the confines of his mind, as if lost in a nightmare.
Lots of point of view photography.
2 Characters

• Naked Contorted Man

• Circus Ring Leader, symbolic of the main character's alter ego

Kees Van Dongen - Portrait of Dolly (1912)

Pitched by Maria

A young girl sees her mother having sex. Her reaction is that of curiosity. There's a certain level of jealousy and desiring sexual consort. She dresses herself up (as in the painting), making herself up with great care.

Setting 1910. Mood, curious, not seedy or negative.

3 Characters

• Dolly, daughter, last image dressed as painting. 10 year old. 
• Mother
• Male, well dressed 

Georges Seurat - The Bridges at Courbevoie (1886)
Pitched by Lars
A contemporary piece about the distance between a father and daughter. Their car breaks down and there is an apparent distance between them as they walk near the water. They have to reluctantly act as a family for the 3rd character, a photographer. 
3 Characters

• Father
• Daughter
• Photographer

Sylvia Sleigh - The Situation Group (1961)
Pitched by Sam
An observatory piece on the characters in the painting. There to be painted/photographed. Looking at the 12s conversations and interations
12 Characters

Piet Mondrian
Pitched by Liz
An artistic film based on movement and dance. The concept is about originally and conformity. Using the lines of Mondrian's painting.
Unknown number of Characters. 

Pablo Picasso - Girl with a Dove (1901)
Pitched by B
A boy and girl enter an aviary. The boy kicks a football into one of the cages and one of the birds dies. The aviary keeper takes the ball and turns the boy into a bird. The last image is of the girl holding the dead dove. 
Old antique colours. Colleen Atwood victorian-esque style. 
3 Characters

• Little Girl, 10 years
• Little Boy, 10 years
• Aviary keeper, male. 

Max Liebermann - Memorial Service for Kaiser Friedrich at Kösen (1889)
Pitched by Daisy
A grandmother tells an old folk tale to her grandson about a woman who ventures into the wood to discover the source of music and is never seen again. 
3 Characters

• Grandmother (potentially voiceover)
• Grandson (potentially voiceover)
• Girl in woods
• plus extras for funeral

We will be finding out which film we have been allocated early next week. I know that I am capable of doing the costume for any of the films though of course I have my favourites! I think my top 3 (in no particular order!) would be Portrait of Dolly, Girl with a Dove and Memorial Service, though I'm really pleased with all 7 final choices and can't wait to see them become realised.

Tutorial 2: Styling Project Catch Up

Tutorial with Bunny Winter 12.4.12

Notes:

Models sorted for photoshoot - Becki Foot "Smashtronaut" and Issi Shelbourn "Ruby Soho"
Have asked around for kit loans and got a lot of positive response. 
Need to think about set. Hoping to shoot in one of the studios at the university. Will need substitute for the step and leaning point in the painting. Possibly use a fence or crate? Think of a creative substitute. Otherwise speak to John Camble, production manager about possibly borrowing theatre items for the day.
Have already spoken to photographer Kevin Malbas who is about to graduate from the BA (Hons) Photography course at AUCB.


Reflections:
I feel really prepared for the shoot in terms of what I want it to look like and how I'm going to achieve that. As we start the films this week I'm going to wait until after filming to do my shoot, as we have a few weeks free. The shoot will probably have to be on a Saturday so as to accommodate for the models. 
My only worry is the simple step and leaning point of the set, as even though a very small detail, without it the whole piece will be thrown.

The Courtauld Gallery Visit with Film

So today we had our visit to The Courtauld Gallery in London with the 2nd year Film students.

I'd actually never been to The Courtauld Gallery before and was pleasantly surprised by some of the famous works that they exhibited. It was amazing to see some of the world's most famous pieces of art including Vincent Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear (1889) and Piet Mondrian's Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow (1930)

There were a lot of pieces that really stood out to me, though the two paintings that I was particularly drawn to in terms of this project were Renoir's La Loge (1874) and Manet's The Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil (1874). I realise that these are both of a similar era, and I think the feel of the 19th century is where I feel most comfortable at working for this project. I think both these paintings really hold the character in them, and have strong emotion to them. 

Obviously for us costumers the trip was quite relaxed as at this point we haven't been assigned which painting and film we will be working on. Though it was great to mingle with some of the Film students and hear some of their initial ideas. I'm really looking forward to the pitches on Friday and am excited to see what paintings have been picked as inspiration!