When some friends of ours at Evergreen Media Productions were preparing to shoot a short promotional-type film for a church sermon opener, and I learned it was on Daniel, I knew I had to offer to do the costume.
The timeframe was short, and I would not be able to be on set for the shoot, but my sister would be there, and could bring and oversee the costume for me. And who can pass up the opportunity to do wardrobe on such an incredible Biblical figure?
(The finished film can be seen HERE, if you want to jump ahead of the making-of process.)
I talked with our friends at Evergreen Media, and we hashed out their general vision and needs pretty quickly. We absolutely agreed that such a short film piece needed a fusion of cultures in Daniel's costume; his Hebrew background, yes, but with a touch of Babylonian, as he's been living there many years at this point in his life.
We wanted to go with the fringed one-shoulder garment that's so iconic of a Babylonian look for sure, but putting that over a more Israeli-looking style garment that your average church member would recognize as feeling "Biblical".
Texture in the fabrics used for the costume was the next important factor. Not only for Evergreen Media's vision, but also because they were shooting with a rotating light rig, and the end film would likely be in black and white. Textures you could almost "feel" with your eyes were vastly important. (And in our modern fabric-shopping landscape...can be a struggle to find...) We were likely going to need veirtical stripes in some piece of the more Israeli-looking garments, as that really lends to the look audiences are used to seeing as "Biblical".
On top of the texture and mix-of-cultures needs, we all wanted to aim for something that felt like Daniel could live and breathe in it. Like it fit both the practicality AND film aesthetic. The Chosen does a masterful job at this, so we looked to clothing characteristics there.
I did not choose to age the costume at all for this one. With the short time frame, and the needs of the shoot, it wasn't really needed. Texture and details were the focus here. (Shy of hand-sewing the whole thing, which there just wasn't time for...)
We settled on 5 main pieces for the costume:
- A long sleeved base tunic, possibly in a dark blue in case the end film was left in color
- A shorter sleeve over-tunic/coat piece, likely with the stripes
- The fringed one-shoulder Babylonian garment
- Some sort of yamaka-style cap, set far back on the head
Thankfully, I located a couple fabrics with some great texture right away. And a couple with great stripes as well. I was a little torn between the two, but really leaning toward the one on the left.
The effect of the more open weave on this fabric proved more dynamic against the tighter, consistent weave in the dark blue I'd fallen in love with for the base tunic. But the white of either striped fabric would have to be dyed to help the colors blend better with the dark blue tunic anyway. So it was time for dye tests.
I decided to stick with variations of reddish brown, so the second color wouldn't take away from the blue, and came up with three different mixes to try on the sample strips; an earthy brown, a red-brown, and a mahogany red.
I'm definitely glad I was leaning toward the open-weave fabric, as the other one (on the right here) proved to be almost completely synthetic, and I didn't have a synthetic dye on hand for it anyway. (each of the strips next to each other were placed in the same dye test baths together, one of each of the 2 fabric types, for the same amount of time, and clearly the synthetic swatches didn't take almost any color at all.)
Compiling all my fabrics together, the light brown dyed swatch just felt the most coherant for the project. So I did one more set of dye tests, to decide dye amount and length for the brown color I wanted, before coating the whole of the yardage.
...Thankfully while my second batch of dye test strips were drying on a drop cloth (indoors, away from the snow), I had some very helpful professional Furry Paperweights volunteer to keep an eye on them for me. Whew. What a load off my mind!
One detail I wanted to add to all the loose edges of the base tunic was a fingerloop woven braid, or possibly a braided hem, which I hadn't had a chance to try before this. In the end, due to the time crunch, I only got to add a braid to the neck of the tunic, but I love the effect.
The Babylonian one-shoulder fringed garment was more difficult to find fabric for. I needed something fairly heavy to achieve a rich drape, but not so heavy that it would be difficult to secure to the costume. I hoped to find a brass or silver looking pin to attach it to the shoulder, but it totally slipped my mind in the end. (add that to my list of when-this-gets-used-for-something-else-in-the-future...)
Eventually I settled on this pale green-gold fabric with just a touch of shine to it. More than anything, it really popped against the darker colors, and looked great with the gold fringe trim I'd found. I'll admit right off that I wasn't totally sold on this one...until seeing it come all together, on the actor, ready to shoot. A huge load off my mind to see it all as one piece!
With fabrics chosen, washed, dyed, and dried... It's on to cutting and getting the thing together!
Naturally, the best method for quickly double-checking overall width before measuring to even everything out...is to find a cooperative brother, and ask him to lay on the chalk outline on your makeshift fabric rug. I'm sure everyone does this. It's just...logical. And makes for hilarious pictures. (he kind of looked like a dead body at a crime scene with that chalk outline...)
The tunic came together without incident. Not much to show. It was finished with French seams, both to address the unraveling and the thickness quickly. Both the sleeves and hem were lined up to the selvage, which was pretty nice and clean with a neat bit of fringe, and saved me hemming time.
We had established that the costume needed a good belt, but I didn't want to go with a cheap Nativity-play-feeling rope or leather belt. I was looking for something like an Obi style wrap belt, similar to these examples (unfortunately I could only find examples on women here).
I had some of a blue striped fabric, leftover from the costume for Boaz in the 'Ruth & Esther' show my dance students did. The pattern was just busy enough to really add to the costume as a belt, and felt right with the culture mix we were aiming for. Since it was a medium weight, it would add the structural integrity needed from a belt.
Plus, I spotted this interesting thread-texture thing on a bolt while fabric shopping, though the bolt itself was a strange set of colors.
So I decided to apply this texture to the stripes on the belt, with a couple of different colors and thicknesses of twisted embroidery floss.
I really love how this turned out, even if it was a ton of hand-twisting individual cord lengths, hand-sewing each one on to it's coordinating stripe, and wasn't seen too well in the actual film. It really added to the depth of the costume overall. Totally worth it in my estimation.
The Babylonian wrap was pretty straightforward; essentially a slightly elongated square with one corner rounded off, and all the edges bound by a thick gold fringe. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of one hue of the gold, but I found a very similar, slightly more brown version in the same style, and did one on the top, one on the other 3 edges of the garment. Surprisingly, the two tones actually added a great deal of depth without your eye being able to pinpoint exactly what gave the effect.
All told, it was very rushed at the end, and we were literally sewing and finishing as many little things as possible right up until my sister had to walk out the door to get on the plane and head out there. But it did indeed come together.
Day of the shoot, my sister Stephanie was an awesome sport, and threw together 4 prayer tassels for the over-tunic that we'd planned to add and didn't have time.
So via FaceTime, I walked her through making "speed tassels" and then attaching them to the hem, which tried her patience... But she did a fantastic job.
Halfway through, she scurried back to help position the hat where it should sit on the actor's head. Then finished the tassels. And the thing was complete -- and wow, it looked so rich and full of life, mixed with the hair and makeup work on the actor. (Excellent job on the H&M, Morgan!)
It feels to me like he stepped out of a time machine. I love the way the colors work together and in complimenting contrast. Especially the yamaka/hat, and all the fringe trim on the Babylonian shoulder wrap-piece.
Paired with some fantastic silver rings Morgan found, I love how the look turned out.
My sister shot several photos for me while light tests were going on, and some of these are from Evergreen's BTS shots.
Once complete, the background all around the actor would be color-corrected to full black. The circular lighting effect was a really dynamic choice, and I love the angles used in this project. Evergreen Media did a really stellar job!
The finished film can be seen HERE, titled 'I, Daniel', on Evergreen Media Productions' site. Of course, there are so often aspects and details that would be ideal to complete in time for the project, but just don't end up happening.
And while I had planned for all kinds of sneaky, meaningful designs to be embroidered into Daniel's yamaka that maybe only I would know about, there just wasn't a moment to do them.
A couple weeks later, I embroidered something on it anyway. Though I chose a much simpler, more geometric design in the end; I'm pleased with the results, even if there are a couple wonky spots here and there. It feels like a nice finishing touch. (And I mean, anyone looking close enough to see the wonky bits is looking too close, right?)
