Berenice Wrap-up

Yesterday my first fully-staffed film production wrapped. For the past week I've been working on costumes and makeup for Dennis Henry's Berenice, adapted from the Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name. This also makes it the first film for which I've done exclusively costumes and makeup (I've done a bit for some personal and school projects, but those were also ones where I was involved in directing, editing, writing, etc.). It was quite an experience.

First off, this was a period piece, set around 1835. This meant a good deal of research for me, as well as scouring our costume stock for appropriate costumes, accessories, undergarments, and hairstyles. Luckily I had a great assistant, Megan Cudd, to help me out (though this is also my first time working with an assistant of any kind). I don't know if I could have done this half as well if it wasn't for her. She was a second pair of legs, eyes, and ears for me and with her help I was practically able to be in two places at once! We also had a generous budget provided by grants from the Johnny Carson School for which we were also grateful.

On top of that, this film was, of course, a horror film. Well, perhaps not horror. More creepy than horror, but very much Poe which meant subtle touches sometimes and gore and horror at other times. We ran into several challenges with makeup on that front. For example, how do we make this coat looks dirty without ruining it? Or, is stage blood vegan? (One of our actors was vegan and we had to put a lot of blood in her mouth). It was a very fun challenge and the results, I think, were very effective and I hope they look as good in the final cut of the film as they did in person, or better.

There were other, more basic challenges we faced too, like how to keep ourselves and the actors warm. It is the middle of winter after all and our shooting locations consisted of: the basement of the Temple Building (home of the theatre and film program), a poorly insulated historical house (with the door propped open), and Pioneer's Park. We were lucky that our last day of shooting at the park wound up being the warmest day at a balmy high of 40º F. Still, I felt especially bad for our actors since the setting was supposed to be mostly spring or late fall and they were dressed accordingly. They were troopers though, and I respect them enormously for volunteering to go through some of what we did for no pay for the sake of the film.

I learned a lot too just by being on set and around people who are more experienced than myself in working on films as part of a larger crew. I learned the details of the job as an Assistant Director, a Script Supervisor, and many others. I learned how to properly pull a dolly and how much work goes into getting a single shot for the right effect. I learned some great lighting tricks and why pre-rehearsals are so important for the actors and director. I hope I continue to learn and get the chance to be on more sets these coming semesters and years. And I can't wait to see the final cut of Berenice in April. I think the audience will really dig it.

Film Production 1

It's almost time for the new semester to start. I'm in the middle of working on costumes for Berenice, but since I have a little time to breathe right now, I want to take a look back. Last semester was very interesting as I learned the talents of my fellow film students, and I enjoyed working on all of tOur Film Production 1 projects. Under the cut I've included the videos as well as some of my personal creative process and my thoughts on the final outcome for each. If you'd just like the watch the videos, and want to see more as they develop, I've opened a youtube channel here