Castle Howard

To accompany our journal work I took a trip to the North Yorkshire home of Castle Howard on the 21st of November.  The House was built by Sir John Vanbrugh, starting in 1699 and taking over 100 years to finish it has been the home of ten generations of the Howard family; the same Howard's as Henry VIII's 5th wife Catherine Howard and his 2nd wife Anne Boleyn.  The House, which spans 145 rooms has a wonderful collection of art and ancient  sculptures by many celebrated artists including Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough.  

Castle Howard

Seen from the outside the baroque detailing is evident in the even amount of windows, the pillars on the roof and the symmetrical layout of the building.  The detail in the columns in the middle section shows the decorative style of the period.

The Entrance Hall ceiling

The entrance hall for Castle Howard feels very busy with decoration and embellishments coving all available spaces.  This makes for a busy room that would show of the families wealth and status when guests first arrived.

A symmetrical table of the period

Even the detail on the furniture is very grand and elaborate.  During the baroque period people wanted symmetry and by painting the designs in gold it was another way to show wealth.

The Wall paintings in one of the rooms 

This room is particularly interesting.  All the walls in the room have paintings showing death and despair.  The interesting thing about this room is that the walls weren't painted; instead they were digitally printed and stuck onto the walls when the Castle was used as a film set for Brideshead Revisited.  The 'paintings' on the walls is so detailed that most people who walk through believe that they are real.

Celebrating Christmas in the ruins of a wing

During the weekend that I visited Castle Howard they had decorated every room with Christmas decorations and were playing Christmas music.  What was so interesting about the image above is that these decorations were placed in a section of the house that had previously been burnt in a fire in the 1940s.  

Costume Assistant

A large part of the costume assistants role is to aid in the designing of and the research into costumes as well as helping to make and adapt them.  They have a range of tasks from ordering accessories, overseeing fittings and helping to keep the continuity throughout often taking instructions from the Costume Designers and Assistants and Costume and Wardrobe Supervisors.  

A Costume Assistant needs to be:

• very organised and efficient 
• have a good memory and keen eye for detail
• be able to work as part of a team and under pressure
• understand the research process and sourcing information
• be able to understand the call sheets and schedules 
• be able to put actors at ease when in the dressing process 
• know how to care foe and maintain the costumes 
• have  knowledge of period costumes and contemporary fashion 
• have good communication skills
• have IT skills

1. The Costume Assistant can be known by other names such as: Wardrobe Assistants, Standby Wardrobes and Standby Costumes and they are usually employed during the pre-production.  
2. They can be asked to break down the scripts to create costume plots and list the requirements and changes in the continuity book. 
3. For the Costume Designer they can research into the styles, designs and construction methods of the era.
4. They assist in organising the costume department, ordering supplies and assisting in setting up workrooms.  
5. They can be involved in sourcing and buying costumes and accessories 
6. They could be given the job of packing costumes to be shipped overseas.
7. During shoots, they make sure that the correct outfits are ready for when the actors need them.   In this job they would be required to explain the costumes, checking that they match the continuity requirements.
8.  Costume Assistants are in charge to monitor costumes for damages and do any last-minute alterations or repairs.
9. Between the shoots they would have to clean and iron the costumes as well as look after the accessories, hats and gloves etc. of the actors and keep a record of what is used.  

source: www.creativeskillset.org