Ones & Zeros

Here’s a few teaser photos from the forthcoming music video “O is for Addiction” from the San Diego band, Flight to Athena, that I costumed a few weeks ago.  The shoot was a blast, with both the band and the actors turning in intense performances.  The following photos are from the storyline scenes on Day 2 of filming, where we find our protagonist battling his addiction, who takes the form of a beautiful yet sinister figure, and struggling to regain his lost love.

It was a long day, but a great success thanks to the hard work of our amazing cast and crew, and I can’t wait to see the finished video.

As “The Addiction” character, actress Melissa Smilow, pictured above as talented make-up artist Afton puts the finishing touches on her. And, right, she poses in full costume, wearing my leather and chiffon layered halter-dress, shrug with feathers and molded silicone hands, and bracelets of molded silicone teeth.

Above, actor Richard Batton in character as “The Addict” and right, being filmed in a scene by director, Joel Boling (left), and assistant director, Evan Smith (right).

Sarah Melick, as “The Girlfriend”, enters the house in an opening scene with co-star Richard Batton.

Melissa Smilow has a “Nosferatu” moment with her shadow in one of the final scenes of the day. And director Joel Boling gets a hand-held shot of “The Addiction” menacing our protagonist.

Many thanks to all the talented people who worked on the shoot including, Kathryn Casna (Production Manager), Verrell Abella (Set Design), Flight to Athena, and everyone else!  Stay tuned for more photos from the shoot and the final video.

A sampling of the productions I have worked on from theater, television, and film:

2009 - Costume Designer

“O is for Addiction” Music Video, Flight to Athena, Art-Motion Production (In Production)

2008 - Wardrobe Tailor

The Ex List on CBS, Stu Segall Productions

2007 - Assistant Costume Designer

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, Drexel University

2006 - Costume Design Assistant

University of the Arts Spring Dance Concert (Click links for video)

Rendezvous

Temps Leve

The New Wave

2005 to 2006 - Costume Design Assistant

American Family Theater, Travelling children’s productions including Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and The Beast, Cinderella, A Christmas Carol, Pinocchio, Babes in Toyland, and The Wizard of Oz

2004 to 2005 - Costumer

Irvin Stern’s Costumes, Design and Alteration for numerous local productions

Not to be missed in a visit to San Diego’s spectacular Balboa Park is the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden, just across from the Natural History Museum.  Open year-round and free to the public, the garden boasts nearly 200 varieties of roses and blooms from March until December.

On my visit today, much of the garden was in full bloom, with flowers in every hue imaginable and the delicate breeze wafting their sweet scents through the air.  Many visitors strolled the paths; taking photos, stopping to smell the roses, or finding a spot for an afternoon picnic.  I wandered the circular walkways, trying to decide which of the infinite varieties was my favorite.  Personally, I love the orange and red roses, so the “Perfect Moments” variety was definitely a contender.  Satisfied that I’d found a favorite, I chose a quiet spot near the fountain to read and enjoy a snack (courtesy of Harold the Lunch Monster, of course).

According to the park website, the roses are in peak bloom from April to May, so if you have a chance to visit this spring, it is definitely a sight to see.

Harold has his first print feature today in a San Diego Union-Tribune article.  Visit the Smart Style section of the website for tips and tricks to make your fashionable lifestyle an eco-friendly one.  In today’s economy, brown-bagging it can be a great way to be green and save some green, but why not do it in style?  Harold and his contemporaries featured in this week’s Union-Tribune can help you do just that.

Yep, seriously.  Not having a tv for the last six months has put a serious damper on my game-playing, but fortunately Santa brought a slew of Best Buy gift cards this year and now we’ve got a shiny new tv to stare at.  The Xbox 360 games look fantastic on it, of course, but I recently broke out one of my favorite old games for my long-neglected PS2, Okami.  This is simply a fantastic game; beautiful and unique visuals with a sumi-e ink style, a captivating story based on Japanese legends, and unique gameplay.

Players control the main character, Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess in the form of a white wolf.  Ammy (for short) completes a slew of side missions and activities along the quest to defeat the eight-headed demon, Orochi, and rid the lands of his curse.  Earning praise from animals and people you meet along your quest enhances Ammy’s power, and your character collects new “Celestial Brush techniques” as you progress, allowing you to do things such as make the wind blow and plants bloom with a quick gesture of your ink brush.  The gameplay is a mostly linear combination of puzzles, battle, and exploration, which manages the difficult balance of being challenging enough to stay interesting without becoming frustrating.

From the sound and visual design to the plot and characters, Okami is a truly charming gameplay experience with excellent replay value.  A must-have for gamers and japan-fans alike, it is available for the PS2 and Wii.  10 out of 10 stars.

Ones and Zeros Fashions is now accepting wholesale orders for Lunch Monsters.  Want to carry Harold and his friends in your retail store or online boutique?  Email us at samantha@onesandzerosfashions.com for more information.  Lunch Monsters are available for wholesale in five different colors (two organic options) with or without arms that snap together to form a handy carrying strap.

Over the weekend, I had the chance to take a bike ride down to Balboa Park for the Kimono as Art: The Landscapes of Itchiku Kubota exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Art.  A must-see for any fiber or fashion enthusiast, these amazing works of art will be on display only through January 4th, then the exhibit will move to Canton, OH.  Each taking up to one year to complete, Kubota’s kimonos feature astonishing landscapes created using a variety of techniques including tie-dye, embroidery, hand-painting, and gilding.  The Symphony of Light series is truly awe-inspiring, a panoramic installation of 30 kimonos depicting the changing season of fall to winter.  From the minute detail of texture and color to the perfect flow of design in one kimono to the next, Kubota’s vision is breathtaking.

With some new items to list and photos to take, I decided it would be a good time to build myself a new lightbox.  Combining the helpful DIY instructions from a few different sources, I settled on a large cardboard box with the sides and top cut out.  The top, I covered with thin white cotton fabric that can be removed for overhead shots of items.  For the sides I used cracked ice light panels, which makes a huge difference in light quality.  You can get it at pretty much any hardware store, and it’s a bit fragile but simple to work with.  Just score the back of the panel with a sharp x-acto knife then fold the panel to separate your pieces.  I attached the panels to the sides with clear packing tape.  Next, I inserted a large piece of white posterboard, and was ready to shoot!

The cracked ice panels really help diffuse the light so you get more even lighting and less shadows around your objects.  Using the lightbox, I photographed two of my newest items, Gwen the Lunch Monster and The Daphne Purse seen above.

Ones and Zeros Fashions now has a shop on Artfire!  The site is still in the Beta stage, but it’s building to become a great online marketplace.  Whether you’re an artisan looking for a new venue to sell your creations or a fan of handmade, original artwork and crafts, come check it out and help the site grow! You can visit the Ones and Zeros Fashions studio on Artfire here.

Werner Herzog’s latest film, Encounters at the End of the World is, as he puts it, “not another movie about penguins”.  It’s more a collection of amazing curiosities, in both the people and landscapes he captures.  Antarctica is a seemingly alien landscape of severe conditions and fantastic formations that most will never experience, save for those few nomadic souls that Herzog finds here on his journey.  The people themselves; philosophers, scientists, life-long travellers, are equally as interesting as the land they inhabit in their stories of what brought them to this end of the world.  It is a beautiful film, sometimes awestruck, sometimes amusing (who else but Herzog could find a way to use the words “abomination” and “aerobics” in the same sentence in a movie about Antarctica?), but ultimately compassionate for those living in the frozen wasteland, and what they have to say about humanity itself.