Juggling Costumes and Such

Film: Under Jakob's Ladder
Name: Susanna Klumpenhouwer
Role: Key Costume Supervisor

Q: What was your favorite part of your job?
A: This was my first experience working on a film set, let alone working as a costume supervisor. I loved the challenge of it, the variety of what the job entailed and learning new things (like scene continuity). I especially enjoyed moments spent with the cast and crew.

Q: Describe a typical day on the set for you.
A: First order of the day -- check the call sheet and ensure that there were enough costumes ready for everyone who was on set that day, especially when it came to the guards and extras, as many of those costumes were shared outfits. Was a fun juggling process some days!

Secondly, check the scenes being shot that day and double check the scene continuity sheets for anything special that we had to watch out for (i.e. was Jakob supposed to be wearing his coat or not!) Learned this one the hard way!

Once the day started, and the actors were outfitted and miked up, the rest of the day could entail many different challenges and jobs, including uploading film clips to the computer, helping with props, costume fixing and troubleshooting, ensuring actors were on set when needed, helping with the camera cords, assisting with craft services, and the list goes on!

After shooting was complete, the final task of the night was making sure all the costumes were back together, fixed, dried out and on their proper hangers, and ready to go for the next day!!

Q: What were some of the challenges of working with the costumes?
A: Definitely troubleshooting the costuming of 25+ extras, who had come in costume for the most part, but many needed tweaking, adding onto and, in some cases, completely changing. Being creative in this capacity isn't my strong suit but luckily we had Lee helping with costumes. She was amazing in this area and saved me many, many times!!! Also, aging the prisoners' costumes and trying to make them as authentic looking as possible was a fun challenge, and was not as easy as it first sounded like it might be!

Q: What costume gave you the most trouble on the set?
A: Yasha'a costume after the rat peed on him three times! Trying to clean it while maintaining the same "dirty look" was a challenge! Also, there was the situation of Nikolai's collar on his uniform shirt. The collar was too big and didn't fit the look for a military professional. So we had to look deeply at his character's background and find a way to troubleshoot other options!

Q: Do you have any other anecdotes about working with the costumes?
A: The first time I had to use duct tape on the crotch of pair of pants that had split and had to be fixed quickly before the next scene was shot. For someone not used to working on clothing while they are still on the person wearing them, this was an interesting experience. Although by the end of filming, this had happened so often (in different capacities) that it no longer threw me for a loop!

Q: What did you enjoy the most about working on this film?
A: There were so many aspects of it that I enjoyed! At the end of the day, I think seeing the actors make their characters come alive -- and seeing the different scenes that portrayed such raw emotions in beautiful ways -- made me proud and excited to be a part of this production.

Q: How would you describe what it is like to make an independent film?
A: It's amazing what a few people, doing many things, working as a team, can get accomplished!!!