Actor Profile
(& mise-en-scene: costume)
Since our short film is a documentary, it is evidently going to be naturalistic; our actors and their costumes are therefore not going to be specifically known until we begin filming. However, we have an idea of the types of actors we want in our film:
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A worker in a London skate shop
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A few teenage skateboarders within our local area
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A skaterboarder who has possibly been in a competiton
In addition, we can predict the types of clothes, accessories and footwear our actors will wear according to the trends available on the retail market.
Mise-en-Scene: (Costume)
Here are the many retail stores (both online and in-store) who stock the latest streetwear trends for those in the skating community.
We expect our documented actors to be wearing casual clothes, similar to to the products that the stores above stock. Typical clothing items include: sweatshirts, hoodies, jeans, polo tops and shirts.
This type of casual clothing worn by skaters is classed as 'streetwear' - a distinctive style of fashion, rooted in Californian surf and skate culture.
Our actors will most likely look similar to this:
Costumes Expected to be Worn by Our Actors:
Here is a collage of clothing items and accessories that we expect our actors to be wearing in our documentrary, since they are all involved in the skating culture.
As you can see, the 'streetwear' line is very casual and consists of fairly dark colours. Despite the arguably negative connotations that the colours of these clothes convey, (black is associated with aggression and is seen as intimidating, unfriendly and unapproachable), they are not a reflection of the attitudes of those within the skating community. In this way, our documentary aims to paint the skating culture in a positive light; the actors we've chosen to interview demonstrate the benefits of being involved in such a tight-knit community.
The 'streetwear' line is merely a collection of comfortable clothing to make for a more enjoyable skating experience.
Main Actors
Note: this section was added in after filming as documentaries involve going out and recording live events, so the background knowledge of our actors could not be known beforehand.
Khi Graham
Age: 21 years old
Khai Graham is a key actor/interviewee in our short film.
This actor has previously worked in Slam City Skates - "London's Skateboard Store Since 1986 Stocking Only The Finest Nike SB, Supra, Altamont, Vans and more" and is a 'Young Skater of the Year' contender, so he knows a lot about the skating community and its related 'streetwear' fashion. Since skating from a young age, Khi has now become a well-experienced skateboarder; he has mastered some of the hardest tricks! Skating has had a massive impact on his life, in terms of finding himself and learning/building on skills. In addition to this, Khi has made a few experimental skating short films; these films have prompted him to get a job in the media (filmmaking and photography) industry.
Khi's Clothing:
Due to our choice to use a medium close-up, you can only see his clothing shoulder up. Khi is wearing a camouflage hooded jumper, similar to one of the sweatshirts in the collage above. He is also wearing a black cap, typical of many skaters who have adopted the 'streetwear' style.
Daniel Jacobs
Age: 18 years old
Daniel Jacob is a frequent skater at our local skate area in Lloyds Park and has been skating ever since he was 13 years old. He and his friends describe the skate park as a place to "chill", but also a great place to "improve their skills", since it is the closest skate park around. In his opinion, skateboarding is all about motivation and perserverance, thus the documented footage of him involves him repeating the same trick over and over again until he gets it right.
Daniel's Clothing:
Daniel is featured wearing jeans, a hooded jumper, a bucket hat and trainers; all the items are in dark colours. He is also wearing a bucket hat, which is a another type of hat that brands like Nike SB and HUFF sell, demonstrating that he too is part of the skating community that like the 'streetwear' trend. He also has headphones around his neck because he said "music motivates him and gets him in the mood to skate".
Joe is documented in an interview towards the beginning of our short film when we talk about the place that is considered the "home of skateboarding" - Southbank Skate Park. He picked up a skateboard at the age of 18 and since then has been skateboarding around London with a group of friends. Joe has seen the skateboarding scene change in Southbank over the years; he believes it has definitely improved. His love of skateboarding stems from the liberation and enjoyment he gets when simply doing crazy tricks with some of his mates.
Joe Thompson
Age: 23 years old
Being that our short film is a documentary, we can only account the names for our main interviewee's/actors as the rest of the people within it will simply be members of the public walking by within the shots. The choice to do an expository and observational style combination means the "social actors" act as if the filmmakers (us) aren't there, allowing us to capture the realism behind documentaries and develop Grierson's definition of this genre, which is a 'creative treatment of actuality'.
By Ashley Fontaine
Researching into the conventional costume of skateboarders was helpful in understanding the style within their subculture.