17:17 PST 1/28/2021
in
Emily Hilton
Veteran costume designer Brenda Abbandandolo reflects on communication and non-verbal narrative after her experience in the work of director Sian Heder, ‘CODA, Child of Deaf Adults’.
“This is America,” says costume designer Brenda Abbandandolo of her most recent project CODA, Child of Deaf Adults, which will debut at Sundance on January 28. The film features a largely deaf cast and tells the story of Ruby, the only member of her family who can hear, torn between her dream and her family’s business. “This is an American family; they are no different from others. “
Abbandandolo first worked with CODA writer and director, Sian Heder, at Heder’s premiere, Tallulahin 2015 and has continued to collaborate with the helmer ever since.
“I love Sian, so it was not a difficult decision to think that I would work with her [CODA]”, Remembers Abbandandolo. “So when I read the script, it was such a different script and especially in the current climate of making films that are more inclusive about different types of families in America … I was very honored to work with someone who was making a film about it one different subject. “
The project was the first time that Abbandandolo worked with actors with hearing loss, as well as his first time with interpreters. “These actors were amazing,” she says, “and I really started to learn a little bit of sign language. I wish I could sign some more, but they were so happy to be there and they were so open to work with me and they were so generous in sharing their experiences … and the interpreters just became a big part of the team, perhaps the most important part of the crew. They became your channel of communication until we learned to read each other. “
NYU Tisch graduate began her career as assistant costume designer for theater in New York before entering the cinema. His credits include the Oscar nominee The Disaster Artist and An American pickle, starring Seth Rogen.
“We wanted this film to be really authentic,” says Abbandandolo of her and Heder’s stylistic choices. “[The process] it was so collaborative. With any sense, once one sense disappears, all others are intensified in a way that touches some of the tones we use … I have found that sometimes bright colors can be exhausting to the eyes of the deaf because that sense is intensified , so we were working with colors that felt right emotionally, practically for the film, but also right for the deaf community and right for the actors ”.
Another consideration is the movement needed for the signature, and Abbandandolo had to “make sure [actors] they were comfortable and the clothes didn’t hinder their arms so they could sign during the entire film. I felt that we were really learning about communication, learning about each other and I was really helping them to communicate the story visually. “
Clothing is one of many ways that humans communicate non-verbally, adds Abbandandolo. “It’s the way we present ourselves,” she says. “Color has volume, it has tone. We all wanted [the costumes] to be really realistic and you’re dealing with the environment and your job and your socioeconomic class, so all of this is playing into factors. There are times when Ruby gets her moment and you want her to speak up, so the color of her clothes can get a little brighter. Or there are times when she is in her work environment, a little removed from the rest of the world, so she is a little quieter, her tone is a little lower and everything is a little stuffy.
Communication, and its many layers, is a central theme of the film and one of Abbandandolo’s greatest conclusions from his experience working on the project. “There are so many elements in this film,” she says, “from the way that music communicates with us to how the movement communicates. There are different types of language, there are different types of color, there are different types of visual language, there is musical language, there is artistic language, there is verbal language. Our world is so layered and so dimensional, and this is so obvious in this film. That’s what life looks like. “