Last month, I did something new – I did the costuming for a Route 66 video. I’d done a few very small things for a couple of previous ones, but this one (which was the grand finale) I was really the primary costumer.
The other videos were done by amateur cameramen, using a small storage unit as the sound stage. For this one, we had a professional cameraman (Michael Lienau of Global Net Productions) and our crew built a massive stage in the Commercial Aircraft Interiors warehouse.
I knew what they were planning to do, but it was still awesome to see when I got a sneak peek of the set the day before! Huge green screen!
The costumes I made were for the Harlot, the Apostle John, and the Seven-Headed Beast (more about the Beast later.) Since I literally only had a few days to put this together, only the Beast was made from scratch. The Harlot was scavenged from my own personal costumes…we’re very lucky the actress we ended up with (Val Thomas) was pretty much my size!
Points to anyone who recognizes parts of my Steampunk Saloon Girl and Renaissance Courtesan in her costume – plus my Red Queen wig! Behind her in this shot is the Red Dragon. The director wanted her to be very rich and trashy looking, so I piled on a bunch of stuff that didn’t really match, along with just about every piece of costume jewelry I own (plus some pieces that belonged to her.)
For the Apostle John (Tim McLaughlin), I made his “vacation outfit” of flowered robe and headdress. I don’t think you can quite tell in this shot, but he’s wearing a full head mask of an old man. It’s *very* realistic! The actual actor is only in his 30s, so it was odd to see the transformation.
Checking the scripts one last time….the guy in the yellow shirt is our director/pastor Bruce Wersen. If he hadn’t become a pastor, he would have been a filmmaker – he was a finalist on the tv reality series “Project Greenlight”.
And here is a video of one of the practice runs:
After we shot this scene, we returned to our old storage unit stage to film the rest of the video.
The Harlot checked her makeup, and we were set to go:
See the Seven Headed Beast in the trunk? That is seven teenage boys, wearing costumes made out of leopard print pantyhose, horns made of tape, and masks made of plastic, fabric, and paint.
(This is a test of the mask/stockings – we later changed the horn color)
The hardest part was keeping the boys from completely destroying the masks while they waited for their part to be filmed!
Between takes, they relaxed in the Route 66 car:
The whole thing took about 9 hours to film, so it was a long day, but was quite a unique experience!
The most amazing part is that the professional visual effects guy who works on television shows like “Lost”, “Terra Nova” and “Alcatraz” is doing our visual effects as well! Eric Chauvin, of Blackpool Studios. He is JJ Abrams’ go-to guy, and an original member of Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic. He’s been nominated for 8 Emmy awards, and won twice! Bruce Wersen, our pastor/screenwriter/director has some contacts in the film industry, and he just contacted this guy and asked him for help. At first Chauvin said he was just too busy with all the new shows coming out, but then he agreed to go out for lunch with Bruce, and next thing you know, he’s saying he ‘really wants to be a part’ of this series. So cool.
And here is the finished video (be sure to watch through the credits to see my name! 🙂
Out of Eden 