Evaluation

For me this project was something new and refreshing. I enjoyed working in something so different from what I originally do in this course. I was particularly exited about the first part of my project, as I have never done my own photo-shoot before. Throughout the project I encountered a lot of difficulties and not everything went as I programmed it to be, but besides all that I wholeheartedly enjoyed the whole process. The photo shoot didn't go as well to begin with as I had to reschedule around 3 times as there were problems with the studios, the model and the equipment that was needed. I managed to do a really quick photo-shoot in a studio, I didn't like the outcome so I had to reschedule an other one this time in a house as I wanted to use a leather sofa to enhance the style. This specific photo shoot went a lot better and I was so much more pleased with the outcome, the photo conveys what I wanted it to and the symbolism is nicely stated within it. The second part of my project was designing for two films inspired by paintings from the National Gallery. In those films we worked with aucb film students. I worked in two films, Ophelia which I designed myself and Wall in Naples, which I designed with Jessica. I also assisted in a film designed by an other designer. Preproduction was quite stressful as it wasn't long enough and most of it was during Easter, a time that I was abroad. In spite of that I managed to keep in contact with both directors during that time and I also designed and made the dress that I used in Ophelia. Ophelia was the shoot that I was more exited about; it’s also the one I am more content with. Looking back there is not much I would like to change. The only thing would be in making the costume more flamboyant or regal but the director wanted something more toned down which I did. Initially I wasn't very happy about working in Wall in Naples just because the film itself wasn't as inventive and challenging as the other ones. In the end thought I found it quite challenging and quite fun to work on. From the beginning the director told me that he couldn't give us a budget thing that made things quite hard, but it forced me to be inventive with my resources thing that I liked. In addition there were quite a lot of last minute changes, that happened a day before the shoot that altered most of my plans. In the end though the director was quite happy with the visual outcome, thing that made me more pleased with my work and cooperation with him. I feel that I have learned quite a bit about photo shoots and film shoots as well. I have leaned how things work during shoot, technical terms and quite a few things about the mechanics of everything during. I have learned quite a bit about what I need to have during a film shoot and what would be helpful during a photo shoot. Also I am now more comfortable with negotiating and cooperating with film students and directors in whole. I feel more in touch with my organizing planning skills I also see myself more organized altogether. When this project begun my I wasn't organizing everything as much but the fact that I was working with more people forced me to plan my work that really benefited me latter on. I have learned to be more prepared for everything and try to do everything myself. In the only shoot that I didn't have a camera and I asked someone else to take pictures for me I ended up with almost no pictures, so I have decided to do everything I need myself. After this experience I can really see myself working more in films, cooperating with the film students and not only. In the same time I want to get to know more about film practices altogether. In the end I didn't manage to do everything I put in my learning agreement like making connections to hire places and learn more about sourcing as I had no budget and I had to do with what I already had. As a whole I really enjoyed this project and I fell more inspired and I feel like I have taken a lot from the whole process.

Wall in Naples filming

Today we were filming for wall in naples, the shoot was an other really long one. a day before filming everything had to change as they lost their filming location and they had to find a new one and redo most of the script. In addition the weather forecast predicted rain when we are supposed to film sunny italy, so a "rain script" was drafted as well. The day begun really early and the weather looked really moody, our first  location was an inside one so the rain didn't matter and was actually incorporated to the scrip, in the first location we had only one actor so things went really smooth for us. while we were moving to the second location the sun came out and the director decided to change the script again into the initial one having it set in a sunny location again. the filming started really smoothly the first main actor was already dressed and the second one had brought all his own things. As more actors started to appear the weather started to get worst as it started to rain, so for continuation shake we decided to dress the actors just before they needed to appear on film so their clothes wouldn't get wet. Fortunately all the outfits fit and the fact that we had a variety of styles and colors helped quite a bit as we could discus everything with the director and if he didn't like any of them there were some more options. An other tricky thing that we had to deal with was that one of the actors had to be naked during one of the shots, the actor himself was quite comfortable doing it thing that made this really easier. we just made sure he was worm and he was covered up whenever he needed it. In addition one actress was casted the day of the shoot and she was a size 6 so reasonably enough what we had soured didn't fit her so we had to take the clothes in but they still didn't look right. This was the shoot that I was more prepared I had everything that I needed and some things that weren't needed weren't any extra weight. Altogether I wasn't very happy with my work in this shoot but the director seemed to be quite content thing that made me feel quite better about our work. The preproduction was really tricky as things were changing every hour and the director himself had new ideas that he would propose ever hours before the shoot, but all the people involved tried to keep in contact inform me about every change, thing that made the whole thing easier fore me.

Sourcing for Wall in Naples

Because the casting were being done a day before filming we had to find things without knowing the actors sizes. We looked for regular sized and went with our gut felling. We already had discussed what we  wanted to have for every character so we were looking for very specific things. a small hiccup in all of this was that we had no budget at all. We mainly found things from the costume store, looked into friends wardrobes and when the actors were casted I phoned them and asked them to bring some of their own clothes in. I wanted to have more clothes than the ones that were needed, so there could be options for the director to choose and incase something doesn't fit, i was quite a challenge but we managed to do it.

Archers filming

Today I was assisting in Jessica’s shoot Archers. The shoot was in the forest thing that made the day quite tiring all together. We had only two actors and no any costume changes that should have made the day easier, but the location didn’t help, as we had to check the costumes constantly for dirt dust leaves and other stuff on the costumes. During the shoot we changed four different locations that meant caring almost everything through the forest many times. Jess seemed to be exited about the filming and all film processes but not as exited with the costumes, which put me in a position of taking care of more things than I should, but I still really enjoined it and filming in a location like that has taught me many things about outdoors filming like what you should bring with you what would only be an extra weight, for example the cleaning wipes, blanket and extra coats I had with me were really useful but the iron  and dyeing stuff I had with me were very much an extra weight.    

Wall in Naples metting with the director

Today I had my first meeting with the director of wall in Naples. The film is being designed by me and Jessica, but as she was  preoccupied with an other film she was doing so I took over this first meeting. I had already seen The director already had some set ideas about all the characters which he shared with me, I also made my own suggestions on every character. As a general picture he was really inspired by a Stella Atrois advert.  He liked the summery European style the advert had, so I suggested we go for a similar color palette and maybe style (the advert is set in the 60s), I thought of setting it in a modern time as he had initially suggested but still having some retro vintage touches into it. The director and I did not agree in everything right away like i did with the previous director I worked with, but we came to conclusion by discussing our different ideas and finding valid points in each others arguments, it was a nice change and it gave me a different view cooperation with a director.

some stills from the advert

Ophelia Filming

Filming for ophelia needed a lot of preparation. the director wanted to try and get ophelia wet 2 ore 3 times so we had to clean dry the actress and the costume durring 20 to 30 minutes. so we prepared ourselves with hairdryers electric heaters and cleaning stuff.

 When first saw the costume on set I realized that as nice the clash the white costume had with nature, it needed something to incorporate it more and made it look like she was actually going around the forest quite a bit. So during the day of the shoot I brought some things to distress brake down and dye the hem. when the hem was broken down it fitted to the set so much more.it also incorporated better with the makeup that the feet had(gashes, mud, wounds) . I also dirtied her cuffs as her hands also were maked-up.

 While the cameramen were trying to get the focal points, they wanted the actress to sit in a wet patch of the set that made the actress quite cold so we worked into keeping her worm with hairdryers and covering her with towels.

 the most challenging part was after the actress was covered with water and mud, whidh offcourse she wasn't very happy about, so we had to clean and get her dry as soon as possible as quick as possible as she was stating to get really miserable and was in the verge of tears.

an example of the mud before the water flooded over her

In the end of the day I was really happy with my work, what made me quite content was that the director himself was really pleased with my work. One of the main reasons I wanted to work in this film was to help the director to bring his vision to life, and a indication of success in that makes me really happy about my work. The day might have been really long but by the end of it I honestly felt like I could have worked more I think that was mainly because of the energy the crew had on the day, and my own excitement for the project.  One thing I wasn't that happy about was the fact that Holly who was assisting me in the day didn't have much to do during preproduction and during the day of filming. I feel that I have learned a lot about filming but I am not sure if most of the things that I brought with me were the right ones as we only filmed one shot and I am not sure about the things I had prepared for cleaning and drying the costume.

photoshoping the Final picture

An other plus about the first part of this project is that I get to use any other skill that I have like  using photoshop an digitally enhancing pictures. I used photoshop to play with the exposure change the background and ad the devil wings that are there instead of the angel ones the original picture has.

original image

photoshoped 1

photoshoped 2, final

I chose this particular image because the pose looks a lot more like the painting, the placement of the guitar is perfect and the models face is exactly as I wanted it to be. I like what I managed to do with photoshop and I think I made it look its best. The only thing I am not as font of is the fact that the guitar is hiding most of the outfit, but everything else is exactly as I wanted them to be. I had two different ideas for photoshop and evidently the second one is a lot better. 

Photoshoot

Today I did my final photo shoot. Before it did some make-up and hair test on the model so I could see what would fit her more or what fits the premise of the photo shoot more. I also tried on her some different outfits that I had so I could pin down exactly what I wanted. This photo shoot wasn't conducted in a studio but in a house, as I wanted to use a leather sofa. Having the shoot in a house was a bit harder than having it in a studio as even if you still use special lighting the control you have over it is not the same as the controlled environment you would have in a studio. During the photo shoot we tried a lot of different things like different poses, clothes, jewelry, angels we even tried having bubbles floating around. I really liked that the photographer tried to play around with me and my ideas thus bringing a variety of results while working from a range of views. As we were sooting I started to feel a bit unsure about the the whole concept and style that I was going for, I felt that I maybe had run with my emotions and went quite over the top, but when I put the pictures in the computer I really liked the results. I feel like I have succeeded in what I was trying to do.
Examples of photos:

planing Easter

As the films start sooting the week after we come back from easter. I have decided to try and do everything that I need to do during the easter holidays. During the easter holidays I want to:

• Finish the designs for Ophelia's dress 
• Make the dress
• Progress my sketchbook
• Work on my blog 
• Make contact with the director of "Wall in Naples"

If I manage to cross all those from my list I think that I can become more organized, and be more relaxed with my work load. 

Ophelia costume design

I have designed a costume for Ophelia and sent it to the Director attached with some of the pictures that inspired the design.
The Email :

From: 3201848 DANAI STAMATIOU
Sent: 08 April 2011 11:25
To: heartxxxattack@gmail.com
Subject: costume design ophelia 

 This is a design for ophelia's dress, I am mainly thinking of using white fabrics which I can layer on top of each other and create an interesting texture. Also I have been thinking of maybe breaking down the fabric so it looks distressed as she has beed thought a lot. I am also sending you some of the pictures that I used as inspiration. Also when you cast ophelia could you sent me her measurements, it would really help me.  

let me now your thoughts on my ideas. 

I am really looking forward in working in this film

thank you 

Danai Stamatiou

my design 

The director emailed me back  saying that he really liked my initial design so it ended up becoming my final design I was really happy that I managed to capture the directors vision right away but I am a bit unhappy that I didn't get to develop my design and ideas further. as I have no budget I decided to make the costume out of curtain fabrics that I already had, I also managed to find a corset in the costume store that I was allowed to use,as it was the older one and made was made out of calico. The corset itself was yellow tinted and looked quite distressed thing that really fits my breaking down idea. I also focused quite a bit in the making of the sleeve cuffs as I wanted that to the the royal element of the costume responding to something the director had said earlier "she's been living in the woods but she is a princess", I want the cuffs to be made out of different lace based fabrics layered in different ways. I also have discussed with the director about the chronological setting of the costume and we both agreed that something vague that doesn't look like its something in particular but looks nice and connects with the script.