The Art of Custom

CUSTOM’s art department consisted of Elfide Ozturk, our production designer, Cristiana Dini, costume designer, and Jobina Hardy, our lead make-up (helped by Mina Vlastari). They were supported by a team of hard-working art assistants – Valeria Mang, Hester Xue, Anastasia Hawkes and Olimpia Franek.

“Being the production designer for this psychological thriller film was an exhilarating journey. Crafting the intricate details of the sets to create an immersive and chilling atmosphere was challenging and incredibly rewarding. Working with such a talented team made the experience even more memorable.”, says Elfide.

Cristiana Dini, our Costume Designer, interpreted the characters of CUSTOM by identifying their background with the director and cast. “This brought her to embed costume details that would reflect the characters’ story, connections and their role within the film, but also allowing the viewers to use their imagination.”

Cristiana Dini, Costume Designer

The costume for the mysterious character, ‘ The Audience’, was made by Cristiana Dini and required significant experimentation and design work. “This costume has been inspired by BDSM practices of tape bondages in order to link the character directly to the story and main concepts. Most importantly, Audience’s costume was designed to evoke in the viewers emotions of fear, suspense, claustrophobia and confusion, thus making them question how he got in it and perhaps his existence?”, says Cristiana.

Jobina Hardy, Lead Make-up Artist

Jobina Hardy was the lead make-up and also created some gruesome practical effects for the film. “Custom is a deeply psychological thriller, with a huge amount of action taking place on the actors’ faces as they gradually come to realise more about the situation they find themselves in. These mental states are inevitably reflected in the physical appearance as the story progresses, whether the tapes had a negative – or, indeed, liberating – impact on the characters’ psyches. Add to this the strongly visual sexual subculture that all characters inhabit, and it leads us to some bold and creative makeup choices!”, says Jobina.

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