I had arranged to meet with costume designer Katerina Dipla and our new make up designer Kirsty Phillips in Cafe Des Amis in Covent Garden today, but my usual habit of picking cafe's that are not open again prevailed and we ended up going to the Machiaveli Cafe on Long Acre, just down the road. This is the third time this has happened to me in a row, I really should pick places I definitely know will be open!
The purpose of the meeting was to marry up our thoughts about costume and the overall colour pallette with Kirsty's ideas for makeup, with a view to the stills shoot in early July. I had sent Kirsty some images as a guide and she had (despite her two day jobs) brought some ideas with her so that we could pin it down and start buying items for the costume fittings and makeup tests, which will be done across three days next week.
We went through each character individually, and came up with the ideas that Bonzo should not be a full whiteface clown as he should come across as a bit more simplistic and child like with curved outline just around the eyes and mouth and also so we could see more of his humanity without being totally covered in makeup. As a contrast, Mr. Fernelli will be completely whiteface with angular makeup with more vibrancy in the colour, in union with his more magician like appearance and to highlight the difference. Another thing we are cementing is that for the stills shoot (rather than the film) Bonzo needs to be more 'at his best' and be presented as a worthy adversary to Mr. Fernelli, rather than appearing more ragged and unkempt, as he will do in the short. After discussing this for an hour or so, we all felt we were going the same way and it is now up to Katerina and Kirsty to source all the items required. We have a textiles factory and makeup distributor who are hopefully supplying us with some free stuff, so hopefully we can limit the budget somewhat!
It will be great to start with items being purchased this week and the ideas becoming a reality. It was also pretty cool to get Kirsty on board as well, as she is someone who always turns up enthusiastic and full of ideas and an awareness of the parameters of how we are working.
As we continue to build our team, it was cool to hear a comment from Katerina, who said the reason she is so enthused about the project is not just because she gets to make outfits for clowns but that every single one of the people involved are not only very talented but also productive, enthusiastic and forthright with their opinions to get the best result for the film. I always like to be at the centre of this kind of team, we don't have to be the best of friends, but there has to a respect and willingness to get it all done the best we can, so its nice to hear!
After the meeting, Katerina showed me a few items she had in mind in some shops on Charing Cross Road, including a stunning orange number which I took a photo of, but will save for showing until we have the costume fitting with Kiki next week!
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