BUMP short film -- 2017

My first adventure with Sheepshed Entertainment feels like it was just a year or so ago... While feeling like another lifetime entirely!  Goodness!  We had a great crew, and made fantastic memories and a futuristic short film by the end of it. 

   

When we started out pre-pro, Skyping in from different states, I was helping the costume designer sew a few of the non-thriftable items, like the very specific shirt-dress look the women would all be wearing.  The director had found patterns that came close to what she wanted that would work great for the cookie-cutter world we were creating, but we sketched quick design specifics all the same.

The dresses I was making had to be completed as much as possible in a very short time, before flying out to AL for the production, when I'd only have small amounts in between prepping things for my Production Design position.  I got to work on the 2 dresses the main character would wear, and found a couple fabrics I really liked pretty easily.

Large buttons were a feature the director requested, so we tried out some sizes on this mockup, while the costume designer worked on dresses with slight variations.

 

I was barely able to get a pale grey dress (left, below) wearable in time for this scene; despite the simplicity of the design, the actress got in for her only fitting late in the evening, and I was simultaneously working on production design at the same time...  While the dress was supposed to hang freely, there were some definite fit adjustments that needed addressing later.  Especially after the buttonholing nightmare that was the only machine I had access to, ha ha.

The correct hang of the dress was fixed in short order, and she looked pretty adorable, particularly for living in a totalitarian, semi-dystopian world.

Part of the complication with the lead actress's 2 dresses was in the need to make room for a "baby belly" for different scenes.  The idea being that buying fabric is restricted, and hiding her changing shape under a normally loose garment is getting difficult.

Waiting to adjust the set in my Production Design capacity between time-passing scenes.  Whew, the costume and set did in fact look like they fit in the same world.

I ended up being half of the H&M department as well, since we went with crown braids for many characters.  The lead actress had particularly silky hair, so any breezy outdoor days required multiple touch-ups, when I could slip away from set dressing.

On our days with extras, I was able to help the costumer check last looks on set while she got others ready.  And complete many, many more braids when I wasn't up on set.

I ended up using that mockup dress as another for extras, and my own sister was wearing it for some shots.

I loved the way the colors came together on all the cast.  Muted, but interesting and varied, and highlighting the controlled feel of the world.

Many a morning was spent with the costumer rushing to get people ready while I got the set ready, then both of us converging to become H&M and get the actresses ready for set.  Ahhh, fun times!  I'd do this whole shoot again in a heartbeat.  One of the best I've been on.

You can find the BUMP trailer HERE ------->  BUMP trailer