Harriet Ogden

Previous Experiance

Lyceum theatre summer on stage costume assistant

I worked at the Lyceum theatre Edinburgh as a costume Assistant for the summer on stage program, July 2017 where I gained valuable insight into how a professional theatre operates. The summer on stage program included three productions performed by young people aged 7-18. I designed and created the costumes for the youngest age group 7-10 based on Scottish folk stories. This production was called Campfire and was four day course performed on The Lyceum main stage. This was a small time scale so the design process had to be fast so there was enough time to source and create the costumes. The budget was quite small so I had to be innovative and creative costumes to transform the children into Scottish magical creatures such as unicorns, kelpies, Selkies and the Lock Ness monsters. I used a white baseball cap as a base for the costume of the unicorn which I added eyes ears and a fur and a glitter horn to. For the Selkies I created the seal like body by buying extra-large grey hoodies and attaching eyes noses and whiskers to the hood. When the children pulled the string around the hood and zipped up the garment they were transformed into seals. For the following two productions I worked as a costume assistant helping source, make and fit the costumes working closely with the costume designer and costume mistress. I gained loads of experience and knowledge which I carried through into smaller theater projects that I later went on to costume.

Costuming the Film Better Days

I was asked to costume a fourth years short film called ‘Better Days’ which tackled issues with mental health problems, combined with zombies. The film focused on a man trapped inside his house, bored, while zombies ominously looked at him through his window. He has flash back to ‘better days’ spent in the same house with his girlfriend who is then attacked and taken by the zombies. The twist at the end is that when the main character finally has the courage to go outside, there are no zombies and his agoraphobia has been portrayed through them. This was a very interesting brief and I researched brake down of costumes and fake blood extensively. My tutor at the time had extensive knowledge of breaking down costumes, as she had previously worked on zombie films, so was able to show me some of the tricks of the trade. The Colour of the zombie’s costumes was very important to create a contrast between the blood, as well as creating a story of what has happened to that character. I loved being on set and problem solving, for example I had a go round to neighbours houses to find an iron as the one on set had broken and we were filing in the next fifteen minutes. It was really nice to be involved with people in other disciplines and become part of a team. I worked closely with the makeup team when they were transforming the actors into zombies, which was important to combine the costume I had created with the makeup looks so the finished character had continuity. This was the first film set I had worked on and it was gaining this experience that made me really want to pursue a career in film, rather than in theatre as I felt my skills interacting with people were well suited to this environment.

One of my projects this year was a to create a light up festival costume to be worn at a charity fireworks show. The charity was raising money for an orphanage in India so the fireworks display was a celebration of Diwali as well as guy Fawkes night. The charity had collected saris and scraps of Indian textiles as a starting point for our costumes, which was very inspiring. My costume focus on some of the legends surrounding Diwali. I wanted my costume to emit and reflect light so it looked like hundreds of tiny candles, which is what Diwali translates to. I took the traditional Indian method of using tiny mirrors stitched to fabric and up-scaled it so the costume had lots of impact. The costume needed to be bright and bold because the performance was taking place on a football pitch at night-time. I appliqued a large image of the Hindu god of love kama, onto the back of the costume which I outlined in light up el wire. Each part of the costume had symbols of Lakshmi the goddess linked with Diwali. This project was challenging because I hadn’t created a costume containing lights before however seeing the finished costume at night in the parade was very rewarding. The time scale for this project was very short with only two weeks to design and two weeks to make, which has been my shortest design make project to date. This created a very exciting atmosphere amongst me and my fellow makers and made viewing the finished costume parade even more enjoyable. Gaining the feedback from a live audience was very valuable and the whole experience was very fun.

Dilwli fire festival performance costume

Edinburgh studio opera production of the marriage of Figaro

I was the lead costume designer on the Edinburgh studio opera production of, The Marriage of Figaro. This project has been my first opportunity to costume a stage production which has given me a new way of looking at costume. The costumes had to be removed easily as the cast had to get dressed on stage, creating the illusion that the tech and production team had transformed into characters from the 16th century. This meant that simple fastenings had to be applied to the costumes and the fit had to allow the character to have garments underneath. For example, the women’s dresses needed to be big enough to go over a top and be long enough to hide the trousers they had on underneath. I had a very limited budget which made it challenging to create the period feel. Each principle character had an item of historically accurate clothing which I rented from the costume warehouse on the outskirts of Edinburgh. The male characters entered the stage wearing a black t-shirt and trousers but in a quick transition they pulled on a 1780s styled coat, a white neck frill and tucked their trousers into white long socks. This quickly and cheaply transformed the male lead characters. To stay within budget, I sourced and upcycled modern items to give them a historical feel. this was easy to do as I work at a vintage shop one day a week, an amazing resource for sourcing and taking inspiration from antique items. Interacting with the cast and working alongside the director was one of the most rewarding part of the project.