Gloves from the V&A collection
I made an appointment to view the glove collection held by the V&A. The curator Louisa Collins unwrapped glove after glove from its protective tissue from inside dark oak drawers. Some gloves were very unusual, some with graphic bold shapes and patterns, some miraculously stitched miniature leather gloves for dolls and children, even a pink nylon arm length glove, which had what appeared to be a rippled spine, it could have been a creature from the ocean bed.
I will probably use some of the photos as a basis for film credits for Glover.
Now I am focusing on gloves, it seems they are everywhere. I am also gaining a collection of real gloves and images. Some of them have stories attached. One small brown glove has only four fingers, shown to me by a friend who had repeatedly bitten his little finger through his leather gloves when he was five. Another friend, the artist Clare Goddard had boiled some gloves and gave me a shrunken tiny glove, which contained the lining still at its original size, like a ghost of an adult past.
Finding someone to play the role of Glover meant for a time I had to scrutinize potential male faces wherever I went. In previous films I have mainly used faces of friends or copyright free photos Personality is so important even with still images, so I had to also watch people at a distance for a time. So, apologies to the barista in Prêt, who must have been mildly disturbed when I stared at him for so long trying to consider if it was entirely fair to ask him to cut his shoulder length hair. Also, I would like to apologise to the cyclist with red hair and a beard who I briefly â??stalkedâ?? in the Euston Road. It was dusk and it is hard to observe someone at close quarters when the light is fading.
Glovers
At last I discovered Amit Lahav, through his mother who works at the museum. Amit was perfect, he works in physical theatre and even uses puppetry in his shows. I think he will bring a very particular quality to Glover, he has an elastic and expressive face, there is something watchably Buster Keatonish about him and to work with him using stop motion animation will be an interesting process.
Link to Amit Lahav in The Race by Gecko
Test masks for Glover
