Rush 6: Citizen Lebowski Costume Ideas

I think the main thing to keep in mind (as we discussed) is coloring and style in the wardrobe. We wouldn't want to overwhelm the scene with bright colors or busy patterns but the actors also shouldn't fade into the background. We need to make sure the audience can recognize the age or status of the characters and how they might alter their appearance for certain situations. It's important to remember not to overly design any look so as to keep them looking natural and believable.

Prof. Carlyle should have a somewhat professional appearance in order to establish her rank. I don't necessarily see her as conservative but instead respectful of an office setting. Perhaps she wears a neutral (tan, grey, navy, etc) skirt or pant suit with a nice colorful blouse or an interesting top. Working at a design school, I think Prof. Carlyle would have some sort of flair, whether it's subtle or not so much. The color doesn't have to coordinate with the surrounding office but perhaps her style can be seen through the decor. Maybe we bring in some of "her" design work, or her students'. She might have an inspiration board or a collection to bring some sort of quirk to the office. I've seen many of the offices of our own professors at Cornish and every one of them have something unique about them. For example, Raymond Maxwell (in the Notions building H&S offices) covered his office walls with clocks, masks and all sorts of artifacts while John Wilson (on the 4th floor) hangs up images and keeps objects he likes, many incorporating humor. I would feel like a bit of a creep snapping pictures of their offices but both I walk by on a regular basis and you can get an idea of what you see through the windows.
I think Alex could go in a few directions. I'm not so sure if a personal style has been established for him yet but if it has, we could stick with that. I don't see him dressing up to visit the professor but he probably shouldn't look sloppy. He should bring in a more youthful look, maybe with a zip-up hoodie, casual shirt (t-shirt? button-up? plaid?), and jeans. Alex probably keeps it pretty simple so it wouldn't make sense to over think his outfit.

Like with Alex in the office scene, it would be nice to establish some sort of personal style to the crew. This will most likely depend on what the actor's individual style is but I notice that many of the actors at our school have very similar styles, with welcome variations of course. It's most important to keep the actors looking like regular college students that didn't have to think extremely hard about what clothes they would put on that day. As art school attendees, a couple of them might have more quirk than others and more color & pattern might come into play so that could be fun to work into their looks.

With the pitch scene, the characters should look a little nicer, assuming this pitch is a somewhat serious presentation. They should dress as they would as if going to an interview or audition, simple yet professional. They shouldn't look like they tried too hard but they still need to look put-together if they are presenting their idea to the class. I can see the girls in nice skirts or pants with a simple button-up blouse or sweater top. The boys would be similar with slacks and button-up shirts. Colors should be kept neutral or more subdued. (Navy, tan, gray, black, burgundy, etc.)

For all the costuming, we would of course have to work with what people already have, which would determine color and shape. However, I feel that my design ideas are simple enough that most of the actors would be able to pull something from their own wardrobes to work. If possible, I would like to see everyone's options for the particular scene and decide from there how their looks develop.

Quiz for Week of March 7-12

The film I chose to watch is The Puffy Chair directed by Jay Duplass. I chose this because I thought it would be interesting to see more of Duplass's work and the story sounded interesting. The movie stuck to the mumblecore style with the rougher filming style and realistic dialogue. I find it so interesting how powerful silences can be, something I never really noticed until I started this class. This one and all the other mumblecore films I've seen so far seem to play up the awkwardness that exists in real life. These films feel like you're just watching unedited excerpts of the characters lives, which can be a bit boring or slow sometimes but in the end, the point of the story does come across.

There is a scene in The Puffy Chair about ten minutes in where the main character (Josh) and his girlfriend (Emily) visit Josh's brother (Rhett) on their road trip that is the main part of the film. The scene uses a lot of changes in depth of field, playing with perspective. The three are sitting in a circle talking, eating and watching the film Josh's brother made. It focuses on the people as they talk as well as on the television playing the film, as if it's another person in the group. This technique is used throughout the film and it seems to emphasize the DIY aspect to mumblecore. The scenes aren't cut up to display different people talking but they instead leave the camera rolling and change the focus according to who is talking at the time. It also adds to the feeling that we are experiencing a moment in these people's lives and not just watching a scripted film.

Rush 5: Coming Back Home

I would like to explore how to combine to use of perspective and montage in the scene from my childhood. Since the scene would take place in my grandparents' garden, I could use a technique similar to that used in My Effortless Brilliance when they are on the cougar hunt. In MEB, they show varying depths-of-field when the guys are walking through the woods, sometimes focusing on tiny parts of plants, other times bringing the distant men into focus. In my own garden scene, I can see somewhat of a montage of clips that range in focus, with a group of us children always in the background. As far as sound goes, I would like our voices to overlap the images, like in the beginning of MEB, with my voice triggering the start of the story and therefore bringing the focus to the group of children. I would also bring the use of montage back in during the parts where I elaborate on my stories; these would be shown through almost dream-like sequences, maybe with overlapping still pictures or stop-motion clips instead of real-time film.

This is easier to picture in my head than it is to explain it through words. If I find images to aid me, I will post them later.