Suit Yourself | clothes come to life in Alister Malcolm's comedy

Inspired by the sadness of strewn clothes and made with the warmth of a DIY ethos, Alister Malcolm’s short Suit Yourself is an engaging silly film. He explains how it was made

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One of the roles of a director is to get the best performance they can from the cast. How did that work in Suit Yourself?

Alister Malcolm: Haha, was a LOT different with this film – a real challenge for me. It involved a bit of prep, several days of me sat on the floor sewing suits together and trying to make them move. Then my good friend on the day did a fantastic job puppeteering and rigging interesting solutions together to get the look I was after. I was originally going to paint all the fishing wire out – but I actually grew to like it in a few of the shots, so ended up keeping it in some. I felt myself leaning into the DIY nature of the suits and film, with the budget and small crew it just made sense to not over complicate anything where possible and focus on the story I was telling and getting the most out of the gags.

How did you come to direct Suit Yourself and what attracted you to the story?

Hullo. My name is Lee

Hullo...

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Alister Malcolm: The idea came when I laid my old prom suit out on a chair. The way I had placed it looked like it was a deflated headless person, I thought there was something more in that so got to work developing the script with a friend. After doing some tests on the original suit to get it moving a bit, I decided that it just seemed really surreal and funny. My prom suit actually ended up being the main character!

It’s a light hearted film, what would you like people to get out of it?

Alister Malcolm: It was actually my first attempt at comedy! I think it’s really different, I haven’t watched many films like it before – which was part of the reason I made it. I’d love for people to have a laugh at the silliness of it all, and also maybe catch on to some of the darker undertones in it too.

Given the nature of the performers, how important was editing to animate the performances and add more pace and depth to the story?

Alister Malcolm: Editing was really important to get the pacing right so the jokes landed and the cutscenes away from the main character had enough space to breathe and not be overwhelming. The film could be shorter and originally was meant to be, but I liked drawing out some sections so there’s time to consume what’s going on.

You create a whole alternative world in under four minutes, how long did the film take to make?

Alister Malcolm: Pre-prod was about 2-3 weeks. We shot it over three days during the Jubilee as I had the time off. I gave myself the three days as it’s something completely new to me and the crew, we found we really needed it as well – getting the suits to do what we wanted took a lot of figuring out on the day. It was edited during early mornings/evenings before my 11 hour shifts on a TV drama! It was a tight turnaround, but I’m pleased with how it came out all things considered.

What’s your view on happy endings?

Alister Malcolm: I love a happy ending, some of my favourite films have happy endings. However, comedy is one where an unhappy ending often works best. I thought it would be hilarious for us to feel sorry for an item of clothing, so giving it that motive and not letting it get what it wanted was part of the writing from the very beginning.

Thank you Alister!

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A Moment By The Coast

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Alister Malcolm