Behind the Scenes with Little Tree Studios!

Little Tree Studios is contributing exciting new additions to HighBall Halloween!  If you have not already watched the introductory videos for each of our 8 fantastic designers, what are you waiting for!? You can find the videos under "Meet Our Designers" on highballhalloween.com or watch them directly on Facebook (don't forget to "like" us while you watch)!  

These videos provide a sneak peak of what to expect on the costume couture fashion runway, and exciting insight into the creative minds of our brilliant designers.  AND, stay tuned for the night of HighBall where Little Tree will be providing high impact and high energy videos introducing each designer's costume on the runway!

    Kyle Muza, at Little Tree Studios

Kyle Muza of Little Tree Studios took a few minutes to speak with the SNA about her experience and intentions behinds shooting these videos.  Working closely with event coordinator, Staley Cook, Little Tree was able to create a spectacularly cohesive set of videos while synthesizing the modern, crisp, genuine, and relaxed vision of Little Tree, the high energy and excitement of HighBall Halloween, and the individual personalities and aesthetics of each designer.

Little Tree approached the project using a DSLR camera to capture clips of each interview, and later spliced and edited with Final Cut Pro.  The entire production of the videos took over 64 hours, with about 3 hours to film, and 5 hours to edit the material collected from each designer.  Each video, while remaining constant with interview questions and shooting technique, varies in location, lighting, and music.    

 

Be sure to check out Little Tree Studios in Worthington, OH and at their website littletreestudios.com.

How to Make Your Costume GLOW! Part I

Are you looking for the most outrageous way to win the "Most Brilliant" category of the public costume contest on a budget?  Are you unsure how to use EL wire, LED lights, UV reactive materials, opalescent makeup, lasers, glitter, or anything that produces/reflects light?  Here is some advice to get you started! Keep posted for more advice from our sponsors!

Talented event intern, Aldo Corona, has transformed three basic costumes: angel, medusa, and robot into spectacular glow.  Try some of these techniques with your costume idea!

  

One of our fabulous HighBall designers, Ryan Charles Richmond, suggests craft stores or digging through your old seasonal decorations for battery powered lights to incorporate into your costume.  In fact, he advocates thinking even more outside the box and taking more elaborate decorative pieces, such as light-up trees which can be incorporated as headpieces or built into shoes.  Most importantly, Ryan encourages bravery - be unafraid to think strange, huge, large. Make people take a second look!

Behind the Scenes at S77: Video at HighBall Halloween

SNA sat down with Studio 77, our supporting sponsor developing video for HighBall’s 4-story-high video projection against the Columbus Convention Center.

About S77:

Situated right here in Columbus’s Short North, the people at S77 are experts at narrating visual stories for their clients. As a design, production, animation, and direction studio, S77 focuses on motion graphics with tremendous skills in live-action, illustration, photography, and music. Typical clientele varies greatly, and can include areas of advertising, broadcasting, music videos, retail, interactive, branding, and entertainment.

HighBall Halloween Staff:

chavilah bennett: art director / animator
emily rodenbeck: associate producer
rainer ziehm: executive producer


Left to right: John Angelo, Emily Rodenbeck, Staley Cook, Chavilah Bennett

HighBall Halloween Involvement:

As previous participants in HighBall Halloween, art director/animator, Chavilah Bennett, and associate producer, Emily Rodenbeck, were enthusiastic for the opportunity to engage in a more active role. It is the community involvement and infectious excitement, shared by the event coordinators, sponsors, and public that particularly inspires Chavilah and Emily and contributes to the magic of the event.


Left to right: Rainer Ziehm, Emily Rodenbeck, Chavilah Bennett

What You Will See from S77 on October 27th!

Videos for the introductions to Nina West performance, Public Costume Contest, Costume Couture, and background ambient video providing textures consistent with the smoke, magic, and energetic aesthetic of HighBall.

Process: From Concept to HighBall!

S77’s commitment to collaboration takes place from concept to delivery, and HighBall Halloween is no exception! After meeting and understanding the vision of event coordinators, John Angelo and Staley Cook, Chavilah and Emily created a series of mood boards. These visuals include a set of compiled photos intended to communicate the emotional impact of the desired aesthetic: glow, magic, and the fantastic.


Chavilah explaining the function of mood boards

Completed mood boards provide another opportunity for client feedback, and with approval leads to integration of the aesthetic concepts into actual video.


Chavilah showing the HighBall promotional video in Adobe After Effects

There is no doubt that all of S77’s hard work will add an unparalleled element of magic to our can't-miss event!

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT!!

Come on out to HIGHBALL for the most fashionable fun you'll have all year!

The Ice Princess is ready, are you?
Style courtesy of Wendy Goldstein, Costume Specialties & Tim Mauer of Mukha Cosmetics.

Thanks for checking out all the great stories on our blog over the last few weeks.  Huge thanks to Sheree Greco of IM Creative, Maria Galloway, Gina Valentine, Liz Martino, Nicki Smith, Courtney Winnen, and all of the folks at the Short North Arts District who helped make our vision of HighBall a REALITY!

See you tonight to witness transformations - WHO WILL YOU BE?

The Man Who Dressed the Tarantula

Jonathen Kinney of Columbus Airbrush will be the artist responsible for the look our eight-foot, eight-legged friend Stella the Spider will be wearing at HighBall.  Check out this chat to hear a little more about this artist and his airbrush skills.

What exactly does your studio do?

We specialize in air brushing. We will customize anything brought into us. We’ve done murals, body art shows, costume retouching. We’ve done a few motorcycles but not much automotive stuff. We mostly do a lot of shirts and apparel.

It sounds like you really keep busy. Where else might we see your work?

Everywhere! There are murals all over and some bikes around town. We work with Mascot Organization to do some of the local mascots. We have worked with Budweiser, Columbus Dog Connection, and Broadview Bloodbath, a haunted house in, connection with Midwest Honors Connection.

How did you first get involved in the arts?

I’ve been involved in art my entire life and airbrushing for fifteen years now. I saw someone do it when I was sixteen, and I said “That is what I want to do.” Its important to do what you want for a living.

Agreed. What is your favorite project that you have worked on?

My favorite is probably a personal project of mine. I made a seven foot six Transformer costume. I won the WNCI costume contest a few years ago and a few other competitions. It was just cardboard and duct tape that I air brushed. I’m thinking of bringing it back out for HighBall.

That would be amazing! How did you get involved with the HighBall tarantula?

Broadview Bloodbath got me in touch with it. Robin Walters called saying they were looking for someone to paint this giant spider and I made arrangements with MaryEllen from HighBall. It sounded interesting, even though I’m pretty afraid of spiders. I just thought it sounded great to paint a spider the size of a truck. 

Do you have a favorite scary movie or monster?

Umm, probably Paranormal Activity. I just saw the third and it was pretty good.

What are you most looking forward to at HighBall?

 Oh, all the unique costumes. Some people spend so much time and effort. It really shows what a person can do.

What is your favorite part of Halloween?

Giving out candy to the kids. I really enjoy it. I like the Reese’s cups but can't eat them because I will get too fat.

The Man Behind the Monsters: Tommy Pietch

This year's HighBall theme of TRANSFORMATIONS has sparked an amazing collaboration between Columbus' BALLET MET and renowned make-up artist Tommy Pietch of ELEPHANTOM Make-up & Effects.

Pietch & his team will transform dancers from BalletMet into couture versions of classic Hollywood Monsters, right before your eyes.  But this isn't your Momma's make-up.  Take a look at some of these photos of Pietch's work to get a sense of what makes this artist a monster in the make-up world.

HighBall Performances include Zombies, Transvestites, and Demons, OH MY!

This year’s HighBall Halloween will be full of theatrical fun as many of Columbus’ best theatre companies will be giving “spooktacular” performances.

            Short North Stage, CATCO, Olympic Theatre and Imagine Productions all will participating in this year’s celebration. All 4 companies will be taking the stage throughout the night doing numbers from their current productions, many Halloween themed.

Short North Stage will be kicking off the night at 8 p.m. with a performance from their production of Steven Sondheim’s Follies, the inaugural musical at the reopened Garden Theatre.

“Our group will performing the opening number from Follies, ‘Beautiful Girls.’ It will be a way to introduce our showgirls,” said Rick Gore, co-founder of the Short North Stage and Follies producer.

The company from the Olympic Theatre, Columbus’ “boldest, hottest, bar theatre,” will take the stage soon after, at 9 p.m., to perform pieces from their production of Zombie Prom.

“We have been on the design team for the giant puppets and will be acting as the puppeteers for the evening. Our company will also be performing on the main stage a medley from Zombie Prom to showcase the diversity, strength, talent and creativity of our company,” Decker added.

“Our company's performance involvement is two fold,” said Todd Decker, a co-founder of the group.

Next on the theatre schedule is CATCO, taking the stage to do a number from their current production of Evil Dead- the Musical, a show all about college students who unleash an evil demon and the trusty hero that saves them from its wrath.

“Becoming a part of the celebration feeds our company’s desire to push our own limits,” Anderson mentions, regarding his company’s involvement with this year’s HighBall celebration.

 “In the spirit of Halloween we will be performing ‘Do the Necronomicon’ from Evil Dead- the Musical,” said Steven Anderson, Artistic Director of CATCO.

Finally, the very last performance of the night will take place at midnight when Imagine Productions fuels the Halloween spirit with a performance from The Rocky Horror Show. The performance is sure to feed HighBall goers fix for Rocky Horror, a Halloween tradition for many.

For all of these groups, there is a sense of excitement for being able to perform at HighBall Halloween, such a great, new tradition for Columbus.

“HighBall is a paradigm for community involvement,” says Decker. “It is an example of what can be done when a group of people stretch their boundaries by asking themselves ‘What if?’ Columbus in general and the Short North in particular are creative hubs. HighBall draws bold attention to who we are as a city.”

Designer Q&A: Aaron James

The HighBall runway this year is going to be overflowing with talent from our area's designers!  Among those featured will be Aaron James of Ruby Hill.  Check out this chat we had with him to get a preview of what to expect from his looks this Friday!

How did you get into the world of fashion?

I used to be in theatre. I was a professional dancer. I segued into fashion. I moved to New York and worked for Macy’s doing window displays, and I never looked back.

How would you describe your design aesthetic?

It’s glamour, but it’s an accessible glamour. Ordinary women can wear it, but it definitely has an over the top feel without being too much.

What are you using as inspiration for the work you’ll be showing at HighBall?

I was telling a friend, it’s glamazon alien. It’s about these glamorous alien women who were too glamorous for their own planet so they came down to earth to party it up with us.

What are some of your major design influences?

Karl Lagerfeld. Chanel. Donna Karan because I love how simple her lines are.  That’s how I mix the simple lines with the sparkle and all that.

Who are you wearing RIGHT NOW?

You weren’t supposed to ask me that! Addias track pants, an old beat up red shirt and an H&M cardigan.

If you could design an outfit for a celebrity to wear on the red carpet who would you want to dress and why?

Sarah Jessica Parker. She loves to take risks. She could wear anything and look amazing. Clearly, she wouldn’t be afraid of the glam side.

Where do you see yourself and your career in five years?

I’m hoping to move back to New York. I want to go back and forth between Columbus and New York. I want to open up a boutique in Columbus, and bring big city style to this city.

What do you think separates a costume from regular clothing?

In my opinion, costumes are acceptable everyday. Clothing makes you feel good. If you feel good dressing up as say a galactic, glamorous alien, do it.

What’s the best way for fans of your work to keep tabs on you or even purchase some of

your pieces?

Facebook. Type in Ruby Hill by Aaron James, and it’ll take you directly to my page. All the contact info, like email and phone number, is there.

Be at HighBall on Friday, October 28th to see for yourself what a Glamazon Alien looks like.  See you there!

Short North Fashion Find: BRIGADE

BRIGADE is one of the hottest fashion trendsetters in Columbus, and we're thrilled they'll be taking part in this year's HighBall.  Check out our conversation with Larry from Brigade to learn more...

Photo by Dewey Moore

What made you want to be involved in HighBall this year?

HighBall shines a spotlight on the Shorth North, its blossoming arts culture, and the boutiques, galleries and local artists that comprise that creative collective. 

  

Why do you think so many fashion artists call Columbus home? 

Columbus is a progressive city that is receptive to change and embraces artistic expression. There is still an emerging art and fashion scene that has yet to truly be defined and this leaves a great opportunity for artist  and designers to contribute to that foundation.

How would you describe the design aesthetic of the looks you’ll be sending down the

runway? 

Transformative, in line with this years HighBall Halloween theme.

Who is your favorite designer? 

Ha! How could anyone have a favorite when there are so many creative juggernauts out there? All jokes aside, it may sound cliche but Alexander McQueen was the dude, Galliano for his showmanship, Nicolas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga, Paul Smith, Vivian Westwood, Betsy Johnson, Rick Owens, Gianfranco Ferre, Marcus and David for Rag and Bone .... 

What is your favorite Halloween candy, and why? 

Candy corn because it reminds me of my grandmother. I think she had it in her house all year round.

What kinds of items can people find at your shop that they might not get to see on the

runway? 

Versatile pieces that they can build a wardrobe around and enjoy for years to come.  

How would you describe Columbus style?

In general pretty casual but at times surprisingly fun. I've seen everything you can imagine on High St.

To see Brigade's looks on the runway, be at HighBall on Friday October 28th!