Poorly dressed Jedi in fan films

[Ani-Chay Pinn]

I've been making use of my new DSL connection and checking out some of the fan films. ;D But I can't help but notice that there are some, ahem, under-dressed Jedi in some of them. It's a pity there isn't any kind of Jedi "gold key". Has TJA ever actively contacted fan film makers about better costumes? About:

-- making better costumes?
-- where costumers are in their area who might participate?
-- borrowing costumes locally, or worst case, thought the mail?

Most of the filmakers energy is probably taken up in film itself, so costumes would be a lower priority for them. But their a high priority for us and getting on film is a great way to be visible.

I know modeleers was looking for people in Portland and I was at least able to tell him where the local costumer's guild was. But have we tried to be more organized about it?

[Schph Gochi]

I think we have been contacted once or twice...I know we were contacted for "Saving Star Wars"....I deeply regret not getting in on that one...it was an awesome fan film...but it was filmed in Indianapolis and required MANY trips down there....

The other request was rather vague....and yes...I have seen some really questionable Jedi costumes too...I usually cringe....

[Ani-Chay Pinn]

Aaaahhhh, it's nice to know that TJA has been thought of for some films.

But has TJA done anything like getting links to site on their web pages for costuming support? Or a link to our 'events', so, if anyone needed background Jedi, they'd know when there would be a bunch of us together if they wanted to come to us?

Now, I doubt that any film makers who couldn't be bothered to contact people on their own would treat costumes/costumers well. So, I'm not worried about them. But for those who would, we could at least let them know that they can do better than dressed up street clothes. It seems like everyone knows that if they need stormtroopers they can go to the 501st, but no one thinks there's anyplace to go to Jedi.

I've posted a similar suggestion to the Costumers' Guide list, because they could use more help with just Jedi. Hmm, I think I'll mention the same thing on Rebel Legion, too.

[Seda Navilli]

Yep, I've seen a few horrible attempts, which is a shame because it really destroys the atmosphere of quite a few otherwise great fanfilms. When are people going to learn that tabbards and tunic skirts have to be long? The robes are usually alright, it seems thats what most people invest the most in...

[Xana]

A couple of here have been approached about fan films. One situaion fell through after we put much effort and travel into it. A few of us were in Revelations as holojedi. And one that is on Atom Films now none of could make due to prior commitments.

As for being treated well, that depends. Some filmakers want good costumes AND good acting. That can be a problem. Not all costumers know how to act. One film I was asked to be in I had to go into the city and audition for. A lot of money and time to sink into a Fan Film. Not to mention anxiety attacks because I hate auditioning and acting isn't my thing.

Being a holojedi is good. lol!

So they know we exist. They just have to ask.

What suggestions do you have on being more organized about it?

We normally get approached at Cons or filmakers will post on local message boards.

[Leda EmBorr]

Well maybe there are a few of us here who can act? Or have some theater training?

I'm none of the above... all I'm good at is hamming it up and swinging a saber around.... good for background stuff I guess...

But if there are Jedi here who feel they qualify as good costumers and actors, perhaps they can start a thread to assemble and post their qualifications.

[Jauhzmynn Enz]

Well, I make costumes. Weather or not they'er good, you'll need to ask those who have them.
Acting 'credential. Humm. I've had acting classes, voice and speech courses. Ben in some plays sicne a kid up to college. Been ina fnafilm but I wasn't to thrilled with the outcome. The director was rushing the film and it showed.(actors weren't able to tweek the performances.)

[Ani-Chay Pinn]

Auditons??? Well, I hope whoever does auditions has good costumes in their film, too. And if anyone wanted to use me in a fan film, well, the camera does not love me.

Anyway, I posted this bit on the fanfilm forum at forcenet under a thread "Costumes for REALLY cheap" -- my, my, that's a busy forum. I'm thinking more on the lines of maybe we should have a tutorial for fanfilm makers who need Jedi? A fan film maker is not going to have the same requirements for Jedi outfits that we do. But really...you don't even need to sew to put together quick tabards and obi, but I don't even see those in some fan films.

How are the tutorials doing on TJA page?

===================================

JEDI FOR CHEAP

This assumes that:
– you only want the costume for your film, so it doesn’t have to last or look good close up
– you can’t find any costumers in your area
– you have limited sewing support
– you’re poor and can’t afford e-bay prices for Jedi things

The basic elements for a typical Old Republic Jedi costume are:

– Pants
– Under-tunic
– Tunic
– Tabards
– Obi
– Belt
– Boots
– Robe
– Lightsaber (see other tutorials on this or SW costume’s sites:
www.thejediassembly.com, www.rebellegion.com, www.padawansguide.com – there are more, but these will have links to them. The lightsaber is essential. If you’re going to the trouble of rotoscoping, you should make the saber look nice. A lightsaber can be inexpensive, but it should never look cheap.
– Accessories (like food capsules, holoprojectors, comlinks, etc. – optional; see costumer forum or SW costumer’s web sites)

Some general rules for all of these are:

Jedi DON’T wear any shiny fabric. The coarser and rougher the fabric is, the better, but if you don’t think that much detail will show on your film, just make sure that the fabric you use is not so thin that either it looks flimsy or light can shine through it. Jedi only wear solid colors (though Mace Windu’s tunic had some color variation in the weave of his tunic), brown tones, from cream (like Obi-Wan) to dark brown (like Anakin) with the occasional white pair of pants or undertunic. Polyester fabric (even only 50% polyester) is cheap, but it can get warm, especially a Jedi costume that has multiple layers of fabric. 100% Cotton is the most inexpensive and comfortable choice if you can get it. Some people have tried muslin because it’s coarse, cotton and cheap, but it can also look too stiff for a good costume. But, of course, sweating is even cheaper.

A good source of photos of what Jedi costumes in general look like: www.padawansguide.com .

Wal-Mart typically has a $1 fabric table in the crafts part of the store; they often have vinyl. Sale fabrics at fabric stores like JoAnn’s or Hanthingy’s are usually in the back. ALWAYS pre-wash your fabric before making anything out of it, so if it’s going to shrink, it will do that before you cut it.

Even if it’s a cheap costume, iron it. It will look better.

Pants: easiest part of the costume.
Just buy pants at a thrift store, or new at a discount store.
– Cream, or any shade of brown in cotton or linen-like fabric.
– No jeans seams, no back pockets, no side pockets, no front pockets that will show under the tunic.

Undertunic: shows only around the collar and at the sleeves.
Light to medium-weight fabric with some stretch to it is most comfortable. Buy a long-sleeve, knit shirt with a high neckline or a turtleneck (used at a thrift store, or new at a discount store); it can be white or any shade of brown. Make sure the sleeves go down past your wrist; Jedi undertunics are a little long there. Cut off the turtleneck at the seam if you have one. Cut a V-neck that is just below the neck. Fold the edges inward, get needle and thread (the same color as the shirt), and sew the edges inward. Don’t pull too hard on the thread; try to get the edge smooth. A knit shirt under your costume can be warm, so cut off the middle if it’s too warm; that will be hidden under the tunic. You may have to sew along that edge if the shirt is the kind that unravels or runs, especially if you have to wash it.

(( The quick way to keep a fabric edge from fraying or raveling or otherwise looking bad, without sewing is to use a product called Fray-Chek. It is a clear liquid; it comes in small bottles and costs a couple of dollars. You generally get it at fabric or craft stores, or any discount store that sells fabric and sewing notions (accessories). Read the instructions on the bottle; they’re easy. You just put a line of Fray-Chek on the edge and let it dry. That’s it. ))

Tunic: you may not be able to get away from sewing this.
Medium-weight, coarsely woven fabric will look best. A karate gi is the most common substitute for a Jedi tunic, but they can give you enough trouble (new ones can be expensive) so you might want to make your own or beg someone to make one; they are very easy to make, especially if you don’t worry about finishing seams and such. Refer to costumer web sites for patterns for that. Simplicity also has a decent looking Jedi tunic (they call it a space warrior) in their 2005 Halloween patterns as well. But if you use a karate gi you will want to dye it some shade of off-white or brown; Jedi don’t wear white tunics. But when you do that, the stitching on the collar and the sleeve will stay white and stand out if you tried to dye it a dark color. Get a brown Sharpie pen and (carefully!) mark over it to get it to blend in. Karate gi’s often have sleeves that look too short for a Jedi; try to get one with longer sleeves. You can get a seam-ripper and pick out the hem of the sleeves and iron them flat to make them longer if you need to. (A seam-ripper is a small, pointy sewing implement that is very good for picking out stitching. Costs a couple of bucks. You can find one wherever you find fabric.) You could also use a seam ripper to pick out extra rows of stitching in the collar if you like. The bottom side seams of a gi are split and they aren’t on a Jedi tunic. Use needle and thread and sew the open side-seams shut, but you’ll have to loosen the gi because it won’t fit the same way.

Tabards: two pieces of plain fabric that go over the shoulders and meet under the obi – no sewing needed.
Measure from the actor’s shoulder to mid-calf and multiply that by two. That’s how much fabric you need, even if it’s narrow (45 inches). Wide fabric is typically 60 inches wide. Cut the fabric in half, lengthwise. Fold lengthwise (one side over, then the other) and iron so that they are the width you like with the cut edge on folded on the inside. Put them on your actor (who should be wearing the tunic!) and trim them to the length you want so they are even, front and back. The length is variable, but the tabards are always longer than the tunic, NEVER shorter. Sew along the bottom edges to keep them from raveling, or just use Fray-Chek. The obi and belt will hold the tabards in place, but you may want to use safety pins to hold them together, front and back; the pins will be hidden by the obi. If the folded fabric does not stay in place, you can use a wonderful product called Stitch-Witchery. All you need is an iron and a damp piece of fabric and it will fuse fabric together. It’s like sewing without the needle and thread. It works basically like double-sticky tape for fabric. It comes in rolls of ½ or 1 inch width, also like tape.

Obi; a wide piece of fabric that goes around the middle, under the belt – no sewing needed.
Measure the actor’s waist, when the actor is wearing the tunic and tabards or a shirt and a jacket. Multiply that by two and that’s how much fabric you need. The obi is wider than you think, often three times the width of the belt, so it can be six to nine inches wide, depending on the size of your Jedi. Cut a long rectangle the length of your fabric (twice the waist size of your Jedi plus some) and three times the width you want your obi to be. Fold it like the tabards, folding it over and ironing one side, then the fold and iron it the other side so that it is the width you like. You wrap it around your Jedi’s middle and the belt will hold it in place. You might want to use Fray-Chek on the end that shows and folding over the end corners will make them less noticeable. Wrapping the obi so that the end is at your Jedi’s side will also make it less noticeable, too. Use Stitch-Witchery on this if the folds don’t stay in place.

Belt: it goes around the middle.
A Jedi belt is some shade of brown with a wide under-belt (2-3 inches) and a narrow top-belt (3/4 - 1 inch) wide (see reference photos). It’s unlikely you will find the wide belt at a thrift store, so you can use vinyl. But a darker shade of brown will look better. You’ll only need enough to go around your Jedi’s middle (fully clothed) plus a few inches overlap. Cut a long rectangle, the length and width that you need. Use a ruler and a utility knife. Or you can use sharp scissors and make a decent straight edge to cut by with the edge of a strip of masking tape. You can fasten the belt with black, sticky-back, industrial velcro (also available where you get fabric and sewing supplies). However, a single layer of vinyl will not be able to hold much weight if you have a heavy lightsaber. You can two belts and glue them together. Just glue the rough back sides of the vinyl together and make sure you get glue that says it will work for fabric. You can either cut the narrow belt out of the vinyl or get a long, narrow, brown belt from a thrift store. Slightly contrasting colors between the two belts can look better. Just cut off the buckle, (that’s why you want an extra long belt) and use the velcro to hold it together. You also want to use a little velcro to keep the narrow belt centered on the wide one, but you don’t need much. The velcro closures to both belts should go in the back of the costume. You can fake a belt buckle and glue it onto the front of the narrow belt with metallic contact paper, a small bit of metal sheeting cut to an interesting shape or even a bit vinyl colored with a gold or silver Sharpie pen. If the edges of your vinyl bug you, a brown or black Sharpie will darken them fine. Jedi belts also have small, round studs that hold the narrow belt in place (see reference pictures again), but since you’re using velcro for that, you can fake these the same way you did the buckle. Just make sure everything is where you want it before you glue anything in place. Jedi belts also have pouches; you don’t have to have them, but some ready-made things that look good are brown ammo pouches. If you can find any that you like then add them, too.

Robe: big, brown and voluminous; you’ll have to borrow one, sew it yourself or get someone to do it for you.
If the rest of the costume looks OK, then you don’t really have to have the robe. But people seem to like them. A robe can use up as much as 6-9 yards of fabric depending on the size of the Jedi. However, many of the patterns on the fan sites (like on padawansguide.com) use so much fabric because Jedi robes don’t have seams at the shoulders; they’re cut as one piece on a side. You can save a couple of yards of fabric if you cut the sleeves separately and sew them on. It’s unlikely that the seams will show, especially if you use a dark brown fabric. The fabric should be a flat, matte texture, like felt, if you can get it. A Jedi robe should not have any shine to it at all, especially under lights. And a Jedi robe should have very wide sleeves and a huge hood that hangs halfway down the back. (see reference pictures again) A Jedi robe is not a cape. If all you can find is a cape or something that doesn’t have a hood, it would be better to not have the robe.

Boots: knee high, brown boots: always the hardest part of the costume, especially for guys.
Start with thrift stores and discount shoe stores. The best time of year to find new boots is in the fall. But DON’T get pointy-toed boots (like cowboy boots). Jedi don’t wear pointy toes and they’re painful to wear anyway. And don’t be afraid to cross the gender barrier for boots. For men: your shoe size, plus 1 ½ will give you the equivalent women’s shoe size. For women: your shoe size minus 1 ½ will give you the equivalent men’s shoe size. Example: A women’s size 8 ½ is equal to a men’s size 7. If you can only find boots that go up to the mid calf, you can make them a little taller with a wide strip of vinyl of a similar color at the tops. You can glue it together in back and use the industrial strength velcro to attach it to the boot top. Maybe a little duct tape on the inside of the boot would help, too. It’s quick and dirty and will make it harder to take the boots on and off, but should work on film. You could also add straps or other things to boots with the vinyl, but this may be more work than you need to do.

And there you are. Instant Jedi.

[Leda EmBorr]

adavenport said:

Belt: it goes around the middle.

LOL--- most of the time! heheh---

[Ani-Chay Pinn]

Yeah, I hope we Jedi can dress with our belts in the right place!

There was only little interest in it on the film maker forum and a read some more fan director horror stories on the Costumers' Guild list. So, I only sense mild interest in directions for an inexpensive Jedi costume that is only meant to be used on film? Any interest for it as a tutorial on TJA?

[tanzanlinnear]

I just saw a trailer for fan film (won't name names) but I was appalled by the costuming. The graphics and cinematography are all first rate, and so are the costumes, if the film had been set during the Renaissance... As said above, why go to all the trouble of making a film that looks so good, and costumes that look so good, but are completely innacurate to what they should be?