Casual Coaplay: EXTRA! EXTRA! ...Or the lost art of blending in

And now for something completely different...

So the usual for my blog is some kind of update based on dressing fancy, well on this occasion I tried the opposite, being an extra on a film set!

The essence of fancy dress is taking something well known and characterising it in an outfit to get you noticed, the main objective of being an extra is to look normal, to have your presence noticed, but not enough to distract the audience from the main attraction (the star obviously!).

I have been a member of an extras recruitment agency for some time, but wasn't really offered work until I moved to Brighton, and this was my first time on the set (so to speak...).

The film shooting was a BBC production called 'Now is Good' starring Dakota Fanning (Twilight and War of the Worlds) and Kaya Scodelario (Skins) and was shooting on Brighton's famous Pier and in the North Laines area.

Dakota and Kaya being shielded from drizzle

During my day as an extra filming began on the closed pier at 5am on Tuesday the 26th of July 2011 and I was told to bring a selection of casual summer clothes.

Anyone who knows me will understand that I struggled to find something casual enough, but in the end the costume crew approved a teal dress and some cropped trousers for a few different scenes.

Approved Dressing

Swapping cardigans meant some extra scenes!

People were assigned to positions and given tasks such as 'walk this way', 'pretend to talk on the phone', 'hug someone' in an apparently random manner with the likely hood of being placed on camera based solely on proximity to the production crew.

Interestingly, my first scene involved me walking behind the stars and in the opposite direction of the camera while eating (free!) candyfloss. 

Camera Crew in Kensington Gardens

However this was the most interesting part of my morning, after that I was cast as 'deep background' for the North Laines shoot meaning I had sit so far away I couldn't see the camera (nor the apparent miniature helicopter...) and could read my book. While this was pretty dull, it did mean I got to chat with a lot of other extras and giggle at members of the public who speculated (loudly) about why we were congregated in the middle of Kensington Gardens.

After a brief lunch of slightly dubious quality sandwiches and sausage rolls half of the days extras were released and the rest kept for a brief shoot for another scene, one where I got to walk out of a cafe right in front of the camera and walk down the road. This was probably my favourite scene of the day as I spent the time between shots with my friend Didi, who got to dodge between the camera and Miss Fanning before me, and drink coffee.

Dakota doing her run-through outside Iydea Cafe

My overall impressions of the film business are that I’m surprise they ever manage to film enough to put a scene together, that a lot of the days events are very carefully planned; but hardily ever seem to go off without a hitch, that continuity is everything and that Dakota Fanning seemed nice- stopping to happily sign autographs for tweeny Twilight fans.

Now I’ve only done this once, so I'm hardly an expert, but I think there are a few things to note for anyone thinking of being an extra in the future:

1: Do take a selection of clothes, nothing too flattering or pretty

2: Wear nothing black or white!

3: Swap cardigans/layers with friend to make yourself less noticeable (Worked a treat for Didi and I!)

4: If you have any interesting features, highlights in your hair, piercings, tattoos etc. play them down, you don’t want producers to notice you

5: Do NOT wear flowers in your hair!

6: Take a book (it can be dull)

7: A bottle of water (they’re not always good at keeping you hydrated

8: Painkillers! (I had such a headache afterwards)

and 9: Don't be afraid to go a little off road, do do as the producers tell you, but you need to be a bit pushy to get air time, stand at the front, raise your hand, be enthusiastic and you’ll get chosen

If you've done this kind of think before and have any tips etc. then feel free to comment.

Hopefully I'll have something a bit whackier to share next time!

Happy Dresscapades!

Cosplay Costume: Bellatrix LeStrange at the London Film and Comic Con

So my latest Dresscapade was a little bit of a rush-job...

I recieved a pass to the London Film and Comic Con on behalf of Den of Geek http://www.denofgeek.com/ (my article on the MCMexpo can be found at here)

However, the notice was a little short and I was moving house! So the task was to assemble a costume in 5 days ready for the weekend!

The Con took place over the weekend 8th-10th of July and was running a strong Harry Potter theme with the release of the last installment of the movies imminent, so it seemed like a good choice for a costume quickie. My fiance was helpful in suggesting Bellatrix LeStrange as someone who i could attempt and the hair, style, makeup and the fact i had some appropriate clothing items already it made it seem like a good choice.

Bella's look is retro Goth-chic

For hair and makeup I went for a slightly toned down look, but only because I dont have that much hair and I didn't have time to find a wig.
I thought the streak in my hair was okay as in some of the promotional shots Bella has a light streak at the front of her hair, but this look is a little inconsistent.

Make up was simple, pale face with a light coat of white facepaint, dark lined eyes and a touch of dark shading under the cheekbones to attempt to match Helena Bonham Carters rather fantastic face.

For the rest of the outfit black was clearly the way to go! I had a sheer 80s blouse and long gloves that were the right sort of theme, I bought a long skirt from a charity shop and a black lacy shawl that I wrapped around my waist and a big belt that was as close to her waspie as I could muster at the last minute.

There are two things I regret about this outfit one is that I didn't have time to sew the sleves on the gloves and the other is that I didn't wear my victoriana boots (at the time I thought 3.5inch heels for an all day conference was not a wise idea)

Overall I was fairly pleased with the look, although with only a little bit of time to finish things off and a lot of time to grow my hair it could potentially be an excellent costume.

Oh well, if anyone wants to throw a Harry Potter costume party send me an invite and I'll prepare an amazing costume! (Honest!)

The event was distinctly Harry Potter themed with an interesting pannel featuring some of the Hogwards kids and a small set display with some items from the castle I couldn't resist having a picture taken with a cauldren :D

Thats it for now! More dresscapades later!

Cosplay Costume: MCM Expo - Victoria Hand

Just a quick update this time, on the weekend of the 27-29th I attended the MCM Expo, or London's comic con (http://www.londonexpo.com/), as a commentator on the Cosplay for Den of Geek (article pending... hopefully...)

I only became aware I was attending a few days before the event, and didn't have time to put together an elaborate costume fitting with the event (it was the location of the EuropeanCosplay Qualifiers!) but I had recently had my hair dyed in a somewhat unusual manner.

Luckly for me there was an obscure Marvel character that had similar hair and dressed in the type of clothes I just happen to own! All I needed was a fake pair of glasses and I was ready!

Victoria Hand is a minor character in the Dark Avengers series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Hand) and her main looks are buisiness attire (shirts, pencil skirts etc.), glasses, and a red streak in the front of her hair.

Not a difficult look to re-create when you already have the hair!

I wore a simple pinafore dress in black, with a red shirt, seamed tights and carried my satchel like a bried case.
The glasses came from a lovely pair of reading glasses I obtained from Primark and removed the lenses from.

I would like to think that my press pass helped rather than hindered the outfit :D

Makeup was simple, a strong eyeliner above the eye and red vampy lips,  not much different to usual really :D


Anyway, that's it for this post!

See you soon for more Dresscapades :)

P.S. You can follow me now on Twitter!
@jenniedresses

Cosplay Cosume: Trailer Trash - Sci-Fi and Rachel form 'Blade Runner'

On the 23rd of April 2011 many Brightonians shunned their St. George's day pride and dressed as their favourite Sci-Fi characters at cult movie themed club night 'Trailer Trash'

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Trailer-Trash/276064050718

It has been a over a year since the last trailer trash so there was a lot of excitement around what to wear. In the end my decision for a costume choice was inspired by the list of movies on the poster, in particular, Blade Runner.

Now Blade Runner is a film I have fallen asleep through once and watched twice and i still managed to block out most of the actual plot except for the flying overhead city shots, the music and the character Rachael... So naturaly a dark haired vintage inspired vintage noir lady felt like a natural choice for a costume.

Rachael's key looks are the shoulder pads, the 40s inspired doo, the fitted coat and the wiggle dress underneath, of course all in black



Here is my attempt:

The dress was from the Collectif sale online or in Camden Market London:
http://www.collectif.co.uk/
and was £25

Shoes were my own from Clarks
The jacket was £3.50 from eBay
and the scarf was borrowed from a friend

Total Cost:
£28.50
(Although I had the dress anyway so I'm not sure that counts)






I'd like to give a special mention to Sadie who dressed as Barbarella for doing my hair!

 

Hair itself was limited as I have quite a layered cut which meant it was very dificult to put in.

However much fun was had with 80s make up! (Especially the blusher!)







On a side note, one of the burlesque acts chose a the same costume and character to base her act on and this is not the first time this has happened to me! I later saw a photographer who said 'You were just on stage?' to which I laughed and said 'That was another Rachel, it would be pretty impressive if I had managed to put my clothes back on that fast...'

Of course one of the interesting things about trailer trash is the costume contest, and with regards to this i have only one thing to say...

 

AT-ST!!!!

I  think it goes without saying that no one minded losing to this guy!

Anywho, thats it for now!
The next theme is David Lynch and I have no idea what to do for that...

Cosplay Costume: Halloween Part II - The Black Cat (from Spiderman)

Halloween part II is dedicated to the costume for my second outing of this years Halloween.

This costume required more work than the last and had been in the pipeline for a few months, it was based on the character of the Black Cat from Spiderman. I chose to wear it for a special Halloween event called 'Subterfuge' and was a mashup of 80s alt anthems and the modern equivalent. Some how the white fur trimmed black catsuit seemed very appropriate.

As I have explained before I previously had the catsuit and have spent the last two weeks sewing the fur trim onto it and to my black gloves.

Once I had the suit made I bought white spray in hair colour by Lee Stafford (http://www.leestafford.com/uk/products/product.php?pi=109) and of course I only could get my hands on one can as it was Halloween... :( £3.99

I then drew the mask on my face in eyelines and added false eyelashes to give them a little more definition, and added red lips just to increase the vamp factor.


Here is the completed look!

Total cost:
Catsuit -already owned (originally £18 from eBay)
White fur fabric £2 for an offcut
Black gloves £5
White Hair Spray £3.99
£10.99

Let me know if yo uhave any comments or opinions!

I expect the next post wil be a retrospective on one of my past costumes...

See you soon!

Cosplay Costume: Halloween Part I - Sally form 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'

So Halloween has now been and gone. Sad times...

But it was good times for the whole weekend from the 29th until the 1st. What I will say for sure is that you're never stuck for things to do, or for an excuse to dress up in Brighton! But being a conservative sort of person I decided to limit myself to just two costumes this year.

This is the story of the first :)

I recently began my third year of work in Brighton and each Halloween my institute has a Halloween party. I made the sad judgement in my first year of not dressing up, and in my second year I could not attend, so this year I decided to go all out!

I needed something Halloween themed and somewhat family/work friendly as to not embarrass myself too much ;) and I have been a fan of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas for a long time now so I thought dressing as Sally the Ragdoll from this film would be a good choice of outfit.

As usual I checked the ol' eBay for costuming possibilities and found what looked like a good costume for £35. "Thats a LOT" I imagine you saying, and I guess for one night of fancy dress perhaps it is.

However...

I have a rolling costume wardrobe, where I place items and costumes I have made, bought, assembled and customised and sell them on eBay. This way I have a 'slush fund' for purchases of new costumes.

One of the latest costumes to be sold in order to add to the slush fund was Jessica Rabbit that I used for my 80s themed birthday party (more on that in another post) I sold that costume for £37!
This way I even has £2 left over to put towards postage of the sally costume. However there are always unforseen extras...

Before I go into the detail, here is the costume! I know you've been dying to see it!

Costume composition:
Dress and wig came as part of the costume £35

My arms and legs were covered by two pairs of tights, one with a hole cut in the legs so my head could fit through (£4) I then drew the seams onto them using a black permanent marker (I know this seems extreme, but I can't reccommend Lush's Sugar Scrubs and cleanser Ultra Bland enough for removing pen and body paint)

Lastly and probably the biggest challenge was the face make up.

I started with a simple base of moisturised skin, then covered my face, ears and neck in a wash of Snazaroo in Turquoise. Snazaroo is great facepaint, and available in many colours for really cheap and one pot lasts a long time.

I then used a blue eyeshadow on my eyes and lined my eyes in thick gel eyeliner by MAC. I find this is great for drawing on your face as you get excellent precision, on a side note, although the MAC brushes are very nice they are quite expensive so I would advise getting a special one just for facepainting if you are going to do this sort of thing a lot.

I topped the face makeup off by defining my eyebrows with a black pencil, applying a very dark red lipstick and drawing the seams again in the liquid liner.

All in all a very effective look to this costume...

Total Cost:
£35 dress/wig
£4 tights
£2.50 face paint
(-£37 from eBay fund ;D )
 = £4.50

Not too bad! Any comments or criticisms would be appreciated :)

Fancy Dresscapades will return in
Halloween Part II

Cosplay Crafting: New gloves and Selene from "Underworld"

Hello again!

I thought I'd mention a little about my progress as I have a week to go now, things are coming along fairly well, I have accumulated lots of pieces and have my Sally outfit now finished but I'll comment on that during my next post.

As for the black cat things are a little more tricky! But are coming along, if slowly...
The basis of this costume is the catsuit, obviously, which is black and PVC- I had this already form Halloween last year and a previous visit to Trailer Trash at Komedia (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=52781126866) for which I had free tickets after winning the "Comic Book Heroes" costume competition dressed as:

HARLEY QUINN!

But that's another story.

The theme this time was Vampire vs. Zombie movies so I chose to go as Selene from Underworld:
The overall effect was messy hair, black catsuit, blue contacts, 'biker' boots, trench coat and a toy gun!

Sadly I'm not as glamourous as Kate Bekinsale in this in this role...

But the overall effect was hopefully okay...

I compiled a  plain black catsuit from eBay (£18) with some boots I already owned, I added a corset over the top to exaggerate my waist a little and to make the suit look a little more like the bodice she wears in the movie.

My coat (not shown) was from eBay (£7).

My hair had been in plaits to give it that messy crimpy look and I painted my face very lightly with white 'Snazeroo' (£2.49 eBay) to make my face paler and added the contact lenses (£20 for 1 month disposable from Brighton North Laines) to make my eyes blue and the irises a little bigger.

Finally the toy gun was from a barrow at a market in County Durham!

All in all this costume was around £40 in new purchases, which I think is about average for a fairly good bought costume. I don't really feel like just buying a costume is the best way of compiling a fancy dress outfit, but i like to think buying good key pieces and mixing them with things you own or can make is the best way of making your outfit as authentic as possible.

On a side note, I have also done more barginous costumes for as little as £10 buy buying a few small additions to my normal wardrobe and some, perhaps creative is the best way to describe it, fashion choices (in addition to my nerves of steel!)

I did however get my picture in the Brighton local culture magazine "You Got Papped" at this event!
www.yougotpapped.com

Fairly menacing I think...
















 
So back to the Black Cat.

In addition to the catsuit she has fur trimmings on her gloves, boots and collar which I have been slowly but steadily sewing in place (bought from a fabric shop in the North Laines for £4).

I have also decided to paint the mask in place as it is impossible to find one that is the right shape!

I still have no idea where to find white hair paint.

Thats all for now folks! And with just over a week to go I hope you're feeling prepared...
I'll post on the Sally progress next time.