Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1997 - 46

solution for this "walk in" casting problem is for costume pel'
sonnelto create a large stock of clothes that includes a broad
range of sizes, styles, and accessories. Film costumers regularly take advantage of the personal wardrobes of the actors.
They also take out garments "on approval" from rental
sources or purchase many garments for optional choices and
return those that are not used.

TALK ABOUT STRESS!
Theater folk are used to a dress rehearsal process where you
get to see how the whole look fits together and you have time
to correct mistakes. When the show opens, you turn your focus to the next project, or just relax, and the wardrobe crew
takes over. When making a film, every day is opening night, but
only for the scenes being shot that day. Tomorrow is another
stress-filled, "got-to-get-everything-just-right" opening night.
Location shooting requires costumers to work out of a mobile
costume shop. Well-lit fitting rooms, ample supplies and
equipment, and a large supply of stock clothes from which to
pick are niceties that we often enjoy in regional theatres, but
they're unbelievable luxuries when working on many films.
Exotic locations in Borneo sound fabulous until you have to
find a dry cleaner in the jungle. On location, costume stock
and supplies are kept in a truck, and actors dress in trailers
and make-shift dressing rooms. How much equipment, how
much stock and how easy it is to find things all become big

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issues when you're trying to be organized, be ready to set
up qUickly and deal with possible crises on the set. Walk-in
casting, little prep time, no dress rehearsal, diva attitudes
and the fact that everyone from producer to cameraman
feels the need to express their opinion about modern dress
at the most inopportune moment all contribute to a very
high level of stress.
Another key difference between film and theatre
working conditions is the practice of shooting out of sequence. Most films today are shot on location. The shooting schedule is determined by the availability of the
principle actors in conjunction with the locations needed
for filming. The time-consuming process of camera setups, which includes everything from lighting and dressing
the set to laying dolly tracks, places demands on the scheduling as well. Therefore scenes that share the same location
are shot all at once which is often out of sequence. Tracking
who wears what in which scene and how it was worn (the position of the collar, the size of the sweat stain, etc.) is a large
part of the on-set costumer's job and is known as "continuity."
Costume paperwork all emphasizes scene numbers, change
numbers, location and day/night designation in order to help
costumers track continuity. (Below are some of the examples of a film costume plot, scene breakdown, and
shooting schedule.
Nothing, however, creates more pressure for the costume

"0-/" IN THIS COLUMN INDICATES THAT THE SCENE
OCCURS ON DAY ONE OF THE SCRiPTED STORY. "N" IS FOR
NIGHT, "F" IS FOR FANTASY AND "M" IS FOR MONTAGE.

o Cha"acter:
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FOR THIS FORM, DESCRIP-

TIONS OF THE CLOTHES ARE
lUST KEYWORDS, INDICATING
THE STYLE OR CATEGORY OF THE
COSTUME, NOT A UST OF AGUAL
GARMENTS.

ALL

TD&T

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1997