Costumes
I have an interesting challenge with costume design. 4 of my 6 characters are played by the same person, due to my story involving time travel. These 4 are Sam P, Sam F1, Sam F2, Sam F3. The other 2 characters are Anna and The Stranger. I describe them in the Character Section.
Reasons behind costume choices
Because of the 4 characters being played by one actor due to time travel, I need to ensure that it is clear to my audience which character is which by having each character dressed differently, and appropriately for their version of the character. BUT I also need to make sure that my actor, Jack, doesn’t have to keep spending lots of time changing in between shots, or this will slow the filming down and it could also cause problems with the lighting changing for shots that I want to have 2 different Sam’s in at the same time. Also, although my audience have to be able to tell the difference between them, they also have to be similar enough that it is still obvious that they are the same person who has time travelled.
SAM P – I have decided to start with a basic casual set of trousers (jeans type) and a shirt, just typical ones that Jack (actor) would wear. Then I am adding one of my grey hoodies. Sam P will also be wearing a ring (one of Jack’s rings), similar to the ones that Sam F2 (rich Sam) will be wearing as jewellery. By having Sam P wear a ring, it sets the scene that Sam F2 would indeed probably have bought more jewellery when he won the lottery.
Sam P needs to have different shoes to Sam F1 since I will have low feet-only shots of Sam P being followed by Sam F1, so the shoes need to be different to show one person following a different person. I have asked Jack to bring 2 different pairs of shoes. Jack has a pair of black casual short boots for Sam P and an older pair of slightly more battered black trainers for Sam F1. Jack will wear the old trainers when he is acting F1, and also Leo, a crew member with similar size feet to Jack, will wear the trainers for the “feet” shots of Sam F1 following Sam P. I asked them both to wear the same kind of dark jeans so that Leo’s legs (from below the knee) would look the same as Jack’s. I could have recorded Jack twice in different shoes, but my test filming had shown me that using Leo would work, and it saves a bit of extra editing, which is helpful.
I also asked Jack to show me all these items before filming day so that I could confirm they are what I am after. Sam P also needs a phone (his is fine) and he has my Bluetooth headphones on because he is listening to music as he walks through the wood. I intend to have music playing, seemingly as the non-diegetic soundtrack, but when Sam P takes his headphones out it will be apparent that this music is actually diegetic music that Sam P is listening to. This is an idea that I came up with for my GCSE Film Studies film, where I had a character driving along to music then when he parks the car it becomes apparent that what seemed to be non-diegetic music was actually the music playing in the car, which then also stops as he turns the car off. I will be using the same idea with Sam P’s headphones. This also echoes what Edgar Wright does in his Action-Thriller-Comedy film Baby Driver (2017), where the protagonist, Baby, listens to music in the car or on a headset much of the time, and Wright alternates between it appearing to be non-diegetic and diegetic.
SAM F1 – Sam F1 will be wearing the same shirt and dark jeans as Sam P. The differences are that Sam F1 is wearing the older pair of slightly battered black trainers and he doesn’t have the grey hoodie on, the whole vibe being he has less money. A key difference between hm and Sam P is that he has a trilby hat on. The audience later on finds out that the trilby hats are the time travel devices. To draw the audience’s attention to the trilby I am using my bright pink trilby, you can’t help but notice it.
SAM F2 – Sam F2 travels back after winning the lottery, so I want to show him as being slightly more well off than the other Sam’s. He will be wearing the same jeans and shirt, and the same casual (posher than the battered trainers) short boots that Sam P is wearing. He will not be wearing a hoodie and will be wearing a posher coat (one of Jack’s I have seen that looks good). He will be wearing cool sunglasses when he arrives, although he will take them off almost immediately, since I have filmed a character before wearing sunglasses and had problems with the camera being reflected in the sunglasses in some shots, so I will position the camera carefully for the first shot, then have him take them off almost immediately. He will also be wearing some rings and jewellery to indicate more wealth than the other Sam’s. And he will be wearing a different, posher, trilby hat, which is my black and white one which I feel that Sam F2 would choose because it goes better with his outfit.
SAM F3 – Sam F3 is the Sam who travels from a much sooner future, to warn Sam P that he will get a splinter if he picks up the stick that the other Sam’s had been using to hold down the paper with the lottery numbers on. He has the same clothes and short boots on as Sam P, to indicate that he is travelling back on the same day. The key difference between Sam F3 and Sam P is that Sam F3 has a trilby hat on, like the other time travelling Sam’s. It is a different trilby to the other Sam’s, it is multicoloured. This particular trilby hat will be the one that appears in the final scene, where we see a trilby hat drop onto the floor just after the mysterious stranger leaves, and various shots imply that this is the trilby hat that Sam P travels in time with.
ANNA – Anna is the friend of Sam P who come back to tell him that he has died in her future, and to remove the lottery numbers to prevent it happening. I see her pretty much like Ellie on my course who is acting her, so I asked Ellie to choose some casual clothes that she might wear and send me some photos of them. She chose jeans and a red check shirt open over a black t-shirt. I feel they work perfectly and will be a contrast to the mostly plain clothes that Sam will be wearing. She also will be wearing a trilby hat, a different one to anyone else. I have chosen my trilby hat that has owls on it, as a fun touch, since Anna is quite cheerful. Her shoes do not matter, her normal shoes are fine.
THE STRANGER – I will be playing The (mysterious) Stranger. I want him to stand out a bit, and seem a bit eccentric, I am implying that he is a time traveller, after all. To stand out, I will be wearing my bright red waistcoat with a dark red and black shirt underneath it. I will be wearing a tie that I have with Maths symbols on it, which I won’t particularly be drawing attention to but is there for any eagle-eyed members of the audience to spot. I will be wearing dark jeans so that the focus is on my bright red waistcoat. My legs will be behind the bench so won’t really be seen much. I will also be wearing the same trilby hat as Sam F3. Being multicoloured I feel it shares the same slightly eccentric feel of The Stranger. My shoes will never be in shot so they don’t matter.
By using Jack, Ellie and my clothes we save the problem of whether clothes fit or not, and our own clothes are appropriate for our characters. Also, I have been able to check that I am happy with all costumes before filming day. Where I have not put who the items belong to (and hence who is bringing them) they belong to the person wearing them.
A Summary of costumes:
SAM P (Jack (Quest) Harper) – Dark jeans. Dark shirt. Grey hoodie (mine). Short black boots. A ring. A phone. Bluetooth headphones (mine).
SAM F1 (Jack (Quest) Harper) – Same dark jeans and dark shirt as Sam P. Old battered trainers. Pink trilby hat (mine).
SAM F2 (Jack (Quest) Harper) – Same dark jeans, dark shirt and short black boots as Sam P. Jack’s posh coat. Sunglasses. Rings. Black and white trilby hat (mine).
SAM F3 (Jack (Quest) Harper) – same as Sam P with the addition of my multi-coloured trilby hat. Bluetooth headphones (mine).
ANNA (Ellie Simpson) – Jeans. Black t-shirt with red and black check shirt open over it. Trilby hat with owls pattern on it (mine)
THE STRANGER (Gareth Edwards (me)) – Bright red waistcoat. Red and black shirt. Black jeans. Black “Maths” tie. Multi-coloured trilby hat.
SAM F1’s FEET (Leo Humphrey) – Dark jeans. Battered black trainers (Jack’s)