Triumphs and Tribulations

This week has been fraught with a mix of the good and the bad. The good - all the costumes and bags/luggage are sourced and under budget! This has been a mix of Ebay and Amazon purchaches, borrowing and sourcing from my own collection. There remains only 2 duffel bags for me to finish making (more on this to come) and Nick's belt to finish.

 

In the not so good news - two of our cast members have had to withdraw. Joscelyn and Richard. Thankfully for Joscelyn there were only two parts to her costume that I sourced that were not from her wardrobe and they are being used now among the rest of the cast in case of problems, but Richards presents us with some interesting issues. The majority of the costume is past the return date and while most of it would not fit the other performers builds there is nothing that can really be split among the others. I am therefore trying to find out what I can still return, and the rest will wait until the costume parade on the first day of rehearsals to see what can be done.
 

However, there may be a solution - with our newest cast member Jay. Up until now it has been agreed that Jay's costume will be sourced entirely from his wardrobe, and I have had meetings with Jay and gone over his wardrobe to contruct a costume from his own clothes. Now that Richard has left the cast though, there is the possibility of putting Jay, at least in part, in Richards costume. This all depends on whether they are the same or of a similar size, so this will have to, in part, wait until the costume parade on the first day. One thing we have been able to ascertain is that they are the same shoe size - and shoe's have been the most pressing issue with costuming the cast so on that at least there are options.

MOVING TIDES!

The 9th of September 2012 and Moving Tides was amazing - the turn out from the schools was wonderful, the atmosphere was charged with excitement and the crowd was loving every minute of it!

As a motivator and the only AUCB student to work with a school who could make it on the day I was given a costume from one of last years AUCB productions and permitted to walk in the carnival with my school Wyke Regis. The children were brilliant - excited and enthusiastic. Getting to see them all in costume for the first time was amazing, seeing them all together and doing the dance they had been taught in the procession as we travelled around Weymouth.

 

Just seeing all the schools and costumes together really brought home to all of us I think just how much work by so many people had gone into it, and how it had all managed to come together.

 

To my absolute joy, the BBC filmed the carnival and actually spoke to the kids I was working with during the parade - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-19518472

Also take a look at the photo's on the Weymouth Echo online articles for it, see who you recognise - http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/localnews/9919920.Party_atmosphere_at_Weymouth_s_Jurassic_Mardi_Gras/
 

Moving Tides!

To anyone who has been reading for a while, the project that started this blog was Moving Tides, the Weymouth childrens carnival. With 700 children, Moving Tides was part of the cultural Olypiad taking place a couple of weeks before the Olympics started. Unfortunately the day before the carnival was meant to take place, it had to be cancelled due to the weather - all of Weymouth flooded, there was torrential rain and the wind was high.

 

I am delighted to report that Moving Tides is back on, and its going to be bigger then ever as Moving Tides is now part of the closing ceremony for the Paralympics in Weymouth. It will be this Sunday, starting at Weymouth College.

 

This is very exciting for the ten of us at AUCB who worked with the children and teachers designing and making the costumes as we will finally get to see the costumes worn together and take part in the carnival. All of us are precessing with our schools - with the exception of Andrew, who will be wearing one of the large scale costumes built by our third years (now graduates) as Neptune! Complete with blue beard.

 

For anyone who hasn't seen about Moving Tides - here are a few of the costumes the school I was working with will be wearing, made in workshops by the children from my design.

 

 Keep watching for Sunday's update or better yet - get down to Weymouth! But if you can't, then catch us on the news, we will be there.

The Countdown Continues

The Meeting

The last few weeks have been a constant series of charity shop trawling sessions, ebay hunts and sales shopping to get the last of the costumes.

 

Today was my first meeting with the director in nearly a month, and I am delighted to report it went very well! With all the costumes sourced with the exception of Richards shoes and Alana's jacket, and she was happy with all of them. I am also delighted to report that I am still coming out under budget! The problem that we had last meeting was - with the weather being so bad at the begining of the month with no sign of improvement in the offing and it being an outdoor performance - the problem of if it rained or was cold. This being raised I set about adding jackets, coats and jumpers to the costumes for contingencies in-keeping with the rest of the individual costumes. Now though the weather has turned to an inexpected Indian summer and it is unseasonably warm - thankfully this just means that if it is a warm day then they can leave off their heavy layers.

 

It was good to lay out all the costumes - despite the fact that items are still to be brought in by the actors from their own wardrobes - as it really showed the costumes coming together as a group despite the different styles the colours really bring them together into a cohesive ensemble.

 

Now the only things left to do are -

• to source the two remaining items,
• make Nick's starfish belt and the scarves,
• and source/make the luggage.

Today's task is going to be to make a duffel bag. Having made one for GCSE the director gave me some advice on construction as I have never made one before so tonight I shall be experimenting.

 

There has also been another addition that myself and the director are jointly sourcing - with the weather being so changeable, umbrella's are the go-to item. With Peter's coat - a Regatta waterproof and an amazing find on ebay - there is a hood in the collar but due to the character costuming he is the only one. So, umbrella's (to suit the characters where possible) and where possible borrowed waterproofs!

 

Bags and Luggage

Looking at the styles of the costumes, and the variety that we want to achieve while still keeping the characters a cohesive group the luggage I am aiming to get for each character is;

 

Rucksacks - Nick, James, Jay, Joscelyn

Duffle Bags - Declan, Alex

Suitcases (vintage style) - Peter, Richard

Satchels - Hattie, Alana

Handbag - Hattie

Pull suitcase - Jesamine

 

Conquering Ebay

A-Roving has now been put in the programme for the Bournemouth Arts By The Sea Festival and it is all official. We have general performance times, a ruthlessly organised costume bible, and a good friend and peer of mine Tanya Pye as hair and make-up and also dresser as required.

 

So far I have been sourcing from a mix of the actors wardrobes, online shopping and charity shops - but thanks to browsing I am now using ebay. Sadly I have until now avoided ebay, but after I used it to source a pair of plimsoles for one of our actors with size 13 feet I have been surfing the search engine and finding it incredibly useful.

 

I have had a good bit of luck the last few days hunting the charity shops - I have had to hold off on buying the jackets due to the change of season and jackets being more expensive but courtesy of ebay and some luck in boscombe I now only have 2 coats left to buy!

 

All that is left now of the costumes are:

Shoe's for Richard,

Hannah's Hat

Alana's Jacket

Making Nick's Belt

SCARVES

 

 

The scarves are going to be a mix of sourced from borrowing (from home, the actors, crew, friends etc) bought and where necessary made. I am currently stockpiling scarves and accessories. After the costumes are completely sourced, it will be time to move on to the luggage component and props.

 

A-Roving - Costume Designs

Here are my costume designs! There have been some minor changes since they were finished - the black jackets are now blue, and Nick's shorts are different but that asside these are the costumes.



 

Alex







Hattie, Peter, James



For Hattie I wanted a slightly quirky but still modern look, whereas Peter is a contrast in more traditional fisherman's attire. James is more of a beach-tourist style, which works quite well on the actor.

 

Jesamine, Hannah, Nick





 For Jesamine I wanted a very quirky look, nautical but not quite cliche. For Hannah I wanted a more elegant, upperclass style to ballance Nick and James. For Nick the idea was very much surfer meets (for want of a better term) beach bum, as it suits his frame.

 

Richard, Joscelyn, Alana



Richard is the 'pair' for Hannah, another more formal style while still being blue and white and looking traveled while not broken down. For Joscelyn, I wanted something different from the others but still inkeeping with the look and feel of the production - keeping with the nautical theme with the colour pallete, headscarf and belt while being a more modern, casual style. Alana's costume is, in a way, a cross in styles between Nick and James, part beach casual part surfer while still being quirky.




Declan

Declan's style is very similar to Peters in the more traditional fisherman's attire, including the hat and thick jumper.



 There has also been another change in that there has been a new cast member added! This brings our cast up to 12. Due to the budget restrictions and the short time period until the show, our director has requested that I source the costume from the actors wardrobe. This is going to be an interesting challenge with the majority of the cast not returning until the week before the show, but in this email has been a saving grace.

Updating - A-Roving!

To update you on my costume supervising for A-Roving, let me take you through the developments since my last post on the subject.

Over the last few weeks sourcing has begun in earnest with what is now a cast of 11. Having been given now two thirds of my budget I have completely outfitted two of my performers, with the majority of the costumes for 2 more, partials for the majority of the rest of the cast and I am coming out (cautiously) under budget still having over half of the money I was already given left to work with. Charity shops have been a blessing. Have currently been scouting charity shops in Ringwood, Winton, Christchurch, Highcliffe and Boscombe. Strangely very little has been needed to be bought in a shop other then some of the T-shirts and shoes.

For the majority of the performers, after sending them their designs I have managed to find items from their designs that they already own and put them on their costume bible sourcing sheets, but as a few of them own nothing from their costumes it has come - where possible - to the borrowing stage. With almost any production with a low budget costume, where possible, is almost always sourced from the actor or a friend/family member where possible. This makes it possible to source some of the bigger or more hard to come by items from shops and free's up more of the budget.

There was a minor issue with one of our characters costumes in terms of shoes - they always seem to be the issue. Having a small budget and a performer with size 12-13 feet who has no suitable footwear whatsoever is a challenge. Thankfully ebay provided the answer with a pair of plimsoles that I will be painting with fabric paint donated by my sister to achieve the right colour and look. This method is one that I am also using for another character in the performance who I designed very specific footwear for. This project has been all about thinking outside the box.

There has been one minor design change to one of the costumes - where one of the characters the director and myself had decided on plain blue shorts but in a stroke of luck I found in a Charity shop in Ringwood a perfect pair of blue and white shorts patterned with compasses. With the blue and white pattern not to bold or busy they were perfect. After consulting with the director we have decided to use them.

In another stroke of luck after a meeting last week with the director we were able to get into the AUCB Acting Department Props cupboard. This was a treasure trove for luggage and also supplied, surprisingly, a stretch of offcut fabric that I am going to use for one of the performers head scarves.

Photographs of the costumes will be put up soon - keep an eye out!