Adobe and the Break away Suit. Dir. Matt Hodgson.

So I just completed a shoot which required me to build a break away suit. I found a good basic suit at Target for under one hundred dollars and pulled it apart. Luckily it had a seam up the back of the suit coat. The idea was to split along that, and tack in snaps. Not Velcro. Never use Velcro unless you have a good three hours to repeatedly pre-tear to loosen the tiny hooks. And not big snaps. Mini snaps. They break easy but not too easy...

Snaps were tacked up the inseam and butt seam also, but not the outside seams because we shot green screen and the outside image lines are not to be tampered with to maintain image integrity. I.E., it would look stupid.

The shoes needed to also come off, and not kicked off but pulled off with out actor participation. I took a box cutter to the soles of a pair of smooth leathered wing tipped spectators. Bottoms were rubber and cut right out. Also cut two inches out of the back so as to slide around the foot while foot remained motionless. (The PA was wise enough to tie the monofilliment from the faux shoe front to a paint stirrer to give them a marionette like one two tug sequence that made them appear to be walking away from the actor. Nice touch!) The sleeves of the jacket and the hem of the pants were also rigged with the clear lines so that at the appropriate time, and it was finely choreographed, the false tie, shirt, jacket and pants and shoes would all fly away to reveal shorts and tee, mismatched socks and flip flops. And then they will take the footage, speed it up and use it in the reverse. A sliding bar will show our Hero going from a dirty slob to organized stud. "This, too, can happen to you if you use Adobe." Now that's thinking.

I also can't say enough wonderful things about the Matts. Matt Hodgson the Director and DP Matt Williams. Fantastic at their jobs and super kind and professional. Great experience, Thank You gentlemen. And a hearty thanks to my assistant, Kade Saxton. Wonderful work also!

Thanks to all at Adobe and Struck!