Saturday, April 29, 2017
OUTLANDER BEHIND THE SCENES–PART III
OUTLANDER BEHIND THE SCENES–PART III
Outlander’s first season with 16 episodes is now over. The second season, which takes place mostly in 18th century Paris, has just started filming and won’t be shown for at least an entire year – we call that time spent waiting – Droughtlander! If you are a fan of the Diana Gabaldon books, waiting an entire year is going to be terrible. The only fun will be trying to find filming locations while the new season is being shot and of course rereading Book Two – “Dragonfly In Amber” – on which the new season is based.
So, this is the last Outlander post for another year and will focus on the three prettiest sets of Season One. I saved these for last and they are really all beautiful for different reasons.
First – The Wedding:
The wedding takes place in an old Kirk where an ill Priest has to be forced to marry Claire and Jamie that very next day instead of waiting a few weeks.
The filming of the wedding scene took place at the Glencorse Kirk outside of Edinburgh. The church was built in 1665 and it had a very famous congregant – Robert Louis Stevenson.
The Kirk has recently been restored, it’s roof was missing amongst other things. Today it is a popular wedding venue.
REALITY: Glencross Kirk, old graves surround the church, all so ancient that none stand tall and straight.
OUTLANDER SET: The Kirk decorated by the Outlander production crew – they made it look even older with moss, weeds, and dead ivy!
They even added fake broken windows over the Kirk’s real windows. These were custom made for the Outlander wedding.
Inside, the Kirk looks even older and more abandoned.
The pulpit decorated by the production crew. After filming, the Kirk had only two days to get it all cleaned up for a wedding! Two days! I’m positive the film crew cleaned it up and not the Church, but still – not much time to quiet a bride’s nerves.
REALITY: Here is how the Kirk actually looks, with its restored ceiling, during a “real” wedding.
OUTLANDER SET: And here is the sick Priest who wanted to prolong the wedding a few weeks, but was out voted by the aggressive Scottish Highlanders.
The Kirk – made to look dirty and abandoned.
The most important part design aspect of the wedding was without a doubt – Claire’s dress. In the movie, Ned the lawyer had only a day to find her dress, so he went shopping at the nearest House of Ill Repute. Of course! Doesn’t everyone go shopping at the local prostitutes store?!! Well, Ned does go there and it just so happens that some time ago a customer paid for services with a dress that had never been worn. SURE!!!! AND, it just so happens that the dress is GORGEOUS! And to make matters even better, after Ned buys the dress, he gets to taste the goods – so to speak – and then brings his “date” to the wedding!!!
AND…here is Ned shopping at the House of Ill Repute for a wedding dress. You can see the sheer cream sleeve peeking out. The prostitute on the left becomes the nerdy lawyer Ned’s “date” at the wedding.
All jokes aside, the dress is very important to the scene and to the costume director – Terry Dresbach. Terry is married to the producer of Outlander – Ron Moore – and if Ron did not show this outfit to the best of his abilities, Terry would have probably divorced him. After all, the director could choose to shoot Claire from the neck up, he could surround her with other actors – he could make sure that no one even notices this dress!
Now understand – Terry read Outlander 20 years ago, she is the one who persuaded Ron to produce it, and she has dreamed of how this dress would look – for years and years, so rest assured, Ron made sure we saw this dress!!!
Nerdy lawyer Ned and his “date” all dressed up, respectfully, for the event.
Now, Ron is a great husband. Terry and Ron have a wonderful relationship and Ron is someone who loves and respects women – especially his wife. He knew this episode – The Wedding – was one of the most important and most anticipated ones in the series. To get it right, he hired all women to work on it. There is a female Anne Kenney who wrote the script and a female Anna Foerster who directed it, so Ron really wanted to get it right – and he did.
The Dress Reveal:
Notice how Claire first comes out – all covered up by her cloak. We can’t see the dress yet. This is all by design. The entire reveal of the dress is done slowly – bit by bit.
First, the cloak is slowly pulled back from Claire’s shoulder where we get a glimpse of the bodice.
Slowly, the unwrapping of Claire continues…
Until finally we see the entire bodice with the hand embroidered silvered leaves…
When the cloak falls off her shoulders, we see the lovely gauze sleeves, with hand sheered edges, and the lovely pleats around the hips.
The camera continues around the body to the back to show the gorgeous pleats, too many to even count….
And then, the cameras continues back around to the front again.
While the camera pans down the skirt with the falling leaves…
Until we reach the hem where all the leaves have fallen.
And here – the complete dress.
The skirt was made of silvered jute linen. On the stomacher and silk linen lining, the leaves and acorns were hand embroidered with silver metal thread. Included amongst all the leaves is one hidden dog bone, for Terry’s Scottish puppy. Instead of sequins which were not used in the 18th century, pieces of mica were shaved and placed into the middle lining of the ivory silk linen to create a shimmer. And – the bodice once had another layer that left Claire not quite so bare. During shooting, the cape was taken on and off so many times, this extremely sheer lining was destroyed. Terry stood on the sidelines and had to cut the destroyed fabric off bit by bit until barely any was left at all.
The bodice on this 18th century dress was used as inspiration for Claire’s sheared bodice.
And this dress was used as another inspiration – isn’t it beautiful?!
The dress weighs 66 pounds and took four months to sew – by hand. To get the actress Caitriona Balfe from the trailer to the set – a golf cart was rigged up so that it had an roof enclosure in case it poured Scottish rain on the day of the shoot. It had to be tall enough so that Caitrionak could stand up in the cart – Terry Dresbach would not allow her to sit and risk wrinkling the skirt.
And, the stunning back with the laces and pleats. All the costumes are made authentically. There were no zippers in the 1700s, so no zippers are found in any of the costumes. Terry makes everything the way it was made back then.
We finally get a look at the entire dress when the bride groom comes to the Kirk. In the background you can see the derelict look to the Kirk that the Production team added – all the moss and sticks.
And finally the wedding can proceed – but not until Claire learns Jamie’s real name. No, he isn’t Jamie MacTavish. He is really James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser – Laird Broch Tuarach.
Here the couple enter the Kirk for the ceremony.
The Kirk decorated for the wedding with candles and oils.
The photos were taken in the actual Kirk but, the ceremony was shot again when it was dark outside.
The ceremony was filmed in the Kirk in candlelight only.
The magical, candlelit ceremony.
Jamie wears his kilt – but it’s special in that his friends were able to find some fabric of the Fraser tartan – he usually wears MacKenzie tartan. He does have to return the tartan after the ceremony, but for now, he gets to wear his own plaid. The sleeves received a silvered embroidery trim and his stock pin was made of diamonds to add a bit of sparkle.
An early, rejected sketch of the wedding gown.
The final sketch with material swatches attached.
Working on the embroidered silver thread leaves, with the dog bone in the middle!
And to celebrate the first season – some of the beautiful Outlander costumes went on display in Los Angeles at The Arbor. Front and center were the wedding outfits. Ron D. Moore, Executive Producer opened the event which was attended by hundreds of Outlander fans.
The Wedding Night:
After the wedding, the night was spent with the virgin Jamie and the more experienced, already married Claire Randall. Jamie was the nervous one! Claire had changed into a night dress which was constructed as any other dress. The set was beautiful – filmed again in candlelight with mostly muted colors.
The room is large with the oval shaped roof with rafters – very reminiscent of Geillis Duncan’s boat shaped study in Culross. Now, I don’t know if it is the same set but see if you don’t think they are the same. Above is the honeymoon suite. Below is Geillis’ study:
Geillis Duncan: One side – of Geillis’ study.
Geillis Duncan: And the other side of Geillis’ study – I think this is where the window is in the honeymoon suite.
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