Jasmine Dos Santos

APRIL 21, 2024
I got the opportunity to work with the lovely folks at Canvas Rebel. In this article I share a bit about my personal creative journey.

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Going Viral

Costume Designer

Going Viral is the first narrative feature film by Life is My Movie Entertainment. This film was an indie feature shot around Atlanta, Georgia and considered a micro budget film.Summary: Set in 1986, a nerdy high school freshman suddenly gets the popularity he's always wanted when a deceitful Artificial Intelligence makes ho a social media sensation.I collaborated with the writers, director, actors, production designer, and the hair and makeup artists to make this vision come to life. I pulled 80's costumes from 3 different costume stocks that are available to me, as well as sourced and purchased garments and accessories. I worked with over 40 talent members to make sure everyone fit our aesthetic and the era.

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Bed and Bloodshed

Costume Designer

Bed and Bloodshed is a mini-web series written by various students in the 2020-2021 school year at Western Carolina University. Rachel Spagnoletti and Ben Koziel were show runners for this student web series. This series starred: Andie Morganlander, Corey Phelps, Heather Johnson, Jenna Gilmer, Josh Killian, Rick Mannheim, and Mary-Edith Burrell. The series was considered low budget as we had access to the schools stocks.Summary: An owner of a bed and breakfast struggles to audition for a serial killer gang whenever a nosey inspector appears on her doorstep and all hell breaks loose.My main priority was to design the costumes, as well as do last looks for hair and makeup, and do any makeup that was considered special effects. I was able to design the show mostly from what we had in the costume stock, but I also was able to go out and thrift most of the show, as well as purchase a few key items from online sources. I made sure each character had an outfit that fit their personality and could be comfortable being in for 6 days in a row. I was the only person on costumes, hair, and makeup team, so I was in charge of laundry and brush cleaning.

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The Foreigner

Costume Designer

The Foreigner is a play written by Larry Shue in 1984. Performed at Western Carolina University in 2021 directed by Peter Savage. This show was apart of the School of Stage and Screen’s 2020-2021 MainStage Productions. This production starred: Andrew Krug, Hannah Kathryn (HK) Wall, Kelley Stancil, Alexis Yauch, Cole McFadden, William Slagle, and Bailey Daugherty.Summary: The story takes place in a fishing lodge in rural Georgia where two Englishmen, Froggy and Charlie, arrive as guests. The shy Charlie agreed to accompany Froggy on the trip after his sick wife begged him to go. When people at the lodge try to talk to Charlie, however, he remains silent: he is terribly shy and cannot find the words to reply. Froggy claims that Charlie cannot talk because he is a "foreigner" from an exotic country, and does not understand English. Taking the explanation that he's a non-English speaker as fact, the lodge's guests quickly begin revealing their secrets, and Charlie soon discovers scandals amongst some of the residents of the lodge.I designed this show during peak times for Covid 19. We were lucky enough to be able to perform live in the spring of 2021, we did however have to make sure we were following all Covid 19 guidelines. Each character would normally have 2-3 costumes for this play, but I had to be very particular with my costume designs so that the characters would not have to change and remove their masks. The actors were required to wear surgical masks so I made the decision on what style/color each character would wear based on their costume and/or their personality.

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Dollhouse

Costume Designer

Dollhouse is a senior thesis film created at Western Carolina University written by Chrishaun Baker and directed by Hailey Suzanne Smith. This production starred: Payton Miller, Dakota Benfield, and Max Morter.Summary: Gwen, a young woman leading a perfect life, starts to notice that various elements of her life are being changed as her lack of control over her day-to-day tasks, her romantic relationship, and her psyche, cause confusion and anxiety within her.I was selected to be the costume designer of this thesis in the spring of 2020, before Covid 19 effected the world so greatly. This film got delayed a semester, but I had already pulled a majority of the costumes. Once school came around again, there were small teams for film, so I did not get to be on set for this. However, I did get to do fittings, make alterations, and build an entire dress for this film. I even got to dye a tiny doll dress to match the one I had altered.

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A Ghost of Christmas Past

Costume Designer

A radio drama written, adapted for the stage, and directed by Ashlee Wasmund with original music and lyrics written by Kristen Hedberg.Summary: a unique radio drama experience of "A Ghost of Christmas Past" where Fan – Scrooge’s often forgotten younger sister – takes center stage as the feminine and ethereal guide to restore balance in the unbalanced world and heart of Ebenezer Scrooge.The production for A Ghost of Christmas Past was originally supposed to be a staged play. Every tech and design spot had bin filled and we had begun having design meetings. We had gotten partially though the design process and then covid 19 hit us. Some of the positions on this show were considered class credits for some so we still went through with the visual design renderings even though the show was made into a radio play. The concept of these designs came from the original Charles Dickens text as well as some Celtic mythology.

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Hamlet

Costume Designer

This production of Hamlet by William Shakespeare was adapted and directed by George H. Brown. The production starred: Ryan Albinus, Calista Brown, Cassidy Knye, Jacob Fletcher, Hannah Kathryn Wall, Max Morter, Lily Gaddis, and Derrick Bass.Summary: A retelling of William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, the play depicts Prince Hamlet's descent into madness as he seeks his revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother.For this production of Hamlet, the concept of the design was that the audience needed to be inside his head. He was going through mental turmoil and the audiences sees that Hamlet has gone crazy. His memories of the events that happened are what drove him to this place of madness.

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A Lap Ahead

Costume Designer

A Lap Ahead is a senior thesis film created at Western Carolina University co-written by Christopher W. Childers and Elora Renae Duclos and directed by Christopher W. Childers. This production stared Miles Rice, Morgan Miller, and Drez Ryan.Summary: Jim Bob, a retired race car driver goes back to racing against the wishes of his wife Betty who worries that he might ed up in yet another terrible accident.This is one of the first productions that I was ever asked to costume design. I worked closely with the director to see his vision through. He wanted an authentic racing suit and a country/southern aesthetic among the rest of the costumes. Little did he know that he was talking to someone who grew up with a very southern and country family and was related to a NASCAR driver. I pulled some strings and I acquired the racing suit from some of my sources and pulled the rest of the costumes out of WCU's costume stock.

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WCU Costume Shop Work

Costume Shop Assistant and Rentals Coordinator

I worked in the costume shop at Western Carolina University for 3 years as an assistant. For the last two years that I was employed there I was also the film rental coordinator.Most of the work I did in the costume shop was altering and building garments for the main stage season each school year. I worked on shows such as Beauty and the Beast, Twelfth Night, Into The Woods, Urinetown, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Mousetrap, and so many more.In the photos below are some of the garments that I constructed completely on my own.

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Senior Thesis Project

Costume Designer and Stitcher

This project was presented as my senior project for The School of Stage and Screen where I focused on costume design and technology. Throughout the process for this project, I built an Edwardian era dress based off of a portrait of early 1900’s actress, Lily Elsie. The first thing I did to begin this project was research historical construction using references from extant garments as well as material pulled from the book Pattern of Fashion by Janet Arnold. Making historical garments from photos is a very helpful way to gain experience in this craft. Once I compiled thorough research, I learned to drape this period piece and apply those skills to creating a garment pattern. Making my own pattern from the research helps me to avoid using modern techniques and commercial patterns, which would not have been the way they constructed garments in the Edwardian era. Draping modern garments has a different technique and look compared to period garments. I constructed this garment from period appropriate fabric, such as chiffon, lace, and crepe, as it is important to understand the fabric that was used in the time era. This type of research is what professional costume designers and technologists as well as fashion designers use to discover how garments were made before there were modern technologies and techniques. This project helped me discover the process it took back in the Edwardian era to construct a dress.

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Forefront Arts Show Bears

Stitcher

Forefront Arts is a children's theatre organization located in the Atlanta area. At the end of their productions they give each child in their show a "showbear" which is a teddy bear dressed as a character from that show.I worked for them and created their show bears for two productions. I created a Mr. Tumnus bear for their production of Narnia and I also created a Mal bear for their production of The Descendants. Each show had at least 20 children in it.The total bears I made for Narnia was: 25.
The total bears I made for The Descendants was: 114