Wardrobe – Scene 1

Technically, I have the credit for costuming, but for most of the scenes – as is the case with many indie films, I imagine – we gave general guidelines to the cast of Chartarum and asked them to come up with their own wardrobe for the scene. My own garb was not planned for the first big shoot (all the “up north” scenes), because I was not meant to play Sam. I got more involved when it came time to shoot the opening (pre-credit) scene; young Oshyn (Sally) was instructed to wear jeans, and I took care of the rest.

Oshyn Gibson (Sally), chilling with Trixie the Hutt

Here’s a sneak peek of Oshyn’s outfit and some of the jewelry she and her mom, Melanie, who played Sally’s mom, Julie, wore.

Oshyn’s costume consisted of jeans, a “Cthulhu, Jr.” t-shirt, and a bunch of bracelets I made specifically for the shoot.

Prior to the shoot, I got a list of her favorite colors. Out of the director-approved colors on the list (red was stricken because it doesn’t always film well), the store only had pink, so I used another one of her colors to make the monster applique. (Cthulhu, Jr. was designed by John Shaw (director, etc.) as part of a set of Junior monsters I used as appliques on Giftmas tees.)

I made three identical shirts, just in case. After shooting was completed, Oshyn got to keep the one she wore for most of the shooting. One is probably not salvageable (stuff happens), although I’ve not given up on it yet, and a third remains never-worn and is in storage.

Below: close-ups of the bracelets worn during scene 1. The first two were worn by Oshyn, and the third was worn by Melanie. Sally, Oshyn’s character, is exactly the kind of little girl who wears monster t-shirts and skull bracelets.

Bracelets made for the opening scene of Chartarum.