A Birthday Booking…
My first art director booking was a music video for a pop singer. It was filmed at Mac House Studio. The shoot was pre-Covid-19, and it was shot on my birthday! It was a pretty great way to spend a weekday birthday.
Two puppeteering florists were flown in for it. Prior to shooting, we worked nonstop for two days straight. There were wigs, costumes, puppets, flowers, crazy props, and silken windhounds on set. It was nothing short of magical! I’d categorize it as Ethereal Jim Henson.
And then it got shelved in post. Bah!
Unfortunately the client didn’t like the way they looked on film, which I’ve been told is common. Despite their self image, they looked fantastic.
If it were me, and I spent an exorbitant amount of money, and knew how hard the team worked to execute my vision; I’d like to believe I would’ve sucked it up. But the internet is forever and vanity is a cruel beast.
Nonetheless, it was rewarding to be in the zone or flow; however, it would’ve been nice to see our art come to fruition. Luckily I snapped these photos!
Behind the scenes at Meta.
In March of 2022 I booked a job, providing wardrobe for 4 in-house videos treated as film. The job consisted of 12 days nonstop work, including 3 Days of prep, 6 days shooting, and 3 days post. Unfortunately I’ll never see this work, but nonetheless, I’m proud of the job.
The day before shopping I was sent 4 scripts and realized, not only were we dressing 16 talent, but there were multiple scenes that took place over weeks in the timeline. It took hours to read through the scripts while noting wardrobe changes, then ask for confirmation on the notes. A wardrobe team came together, spreadsheets were made, and routes were planned.
Good luck having custom embroidered hats and several one-off shirts made within a few days. I pulled a couple all-nighters, contacted everyone on the internet, & didn’t stop until every custom piece was in motion. Massive thanks to Mr Singh, who transferred a DST file in under an hour, when nobody else had even heard of a DST file. Chatting across continents to a person who has a photo of a young toddler was a little concerning; I thought for sure I was throwing my credit card into the void. But alas, they were solid and did a wonderful job converting the file. Technology is amazing when it works!
The hardest part of shopping is the starting point. This job was, for lack of better words, a clothing dump. It was mostly a matter of having a massive selection and then hoping selected garments looked good together. After fittings and selections we had 10 racks of clothing to haul. We needed to rent a box truck. Then we needed overnight security for it on travel days, and nights before location changes.
I live for set days. Everyone working together to make an idea/story come to fruition is magic. It’s when I’m in my zone. Set days make up for all the admin work, shopping days, hauling, etc. While filming, I didn’t have much to do except keep an eye on wrinkles in the wardrobe. I tried to stay out of the way and not annoy the mic team, when going in for last looks. I downloaded QTAKE, an app to view the monitors in real time, so I could eagle eye every movement on my phone.
At one point, the director called for grace; each person responded except for me, who was frantically looking (through the deck) for a person named Grace. I replied that I didn’t have Grace in Wardrobe, and everyone had a nice laugh. Hence, grace was explained and given. Assuming you don’t work on set or in a union, here’s the definition of grace. According to Wrapbook.com, ”Calling grace” is the practice by which a crew agrees to let production continue for exactly twelve additional minutes into the first meal period, generally in order to complete a single take of a given set-up”.
Here’s where I talk about a moment of growth. Every job is a learning experience. Wardrobe department would have benefited from our own walkie talkies, there were about 50 people on set, so we needed multiple channels for this job. Phone service was limited, and the wardrobe team consistently felt miles from the shooting locations. After each job I take stock of what went well and what could have gone better. Lesson learned! Ok, maybe I just want walkie talkies. They remind me of CB’s & my dad, who’s handle was, Magic Carpet Ride. Do you copy?
Sometimes wardrobe can be a thankless job, but I love it. This was the largest, hardest job to date. It feels great to have done it. I’m ready to do another one. Almost. I think.
Over and out. 10-4 good buddy.
