Costumes And Characters: Spy

This next chapter is one I often forget but is still important. It’s the “Missing Chapter” otherwise known as the Spy Chapter.

It all began with a love for Mary Kate and Ashley the mystery solving Olsen Twins. My sister and I would read the books and watch the movies over and over again. We would go sit up in our tree house and pretend we were the twins, I was Mary Kate and she was always Ashley. We would solve imaginary crimes and mysteries. Somewhere along the line I started really getting interested in codes and nicknames and putting together riddles for my sister or friends to figure out. I would put together these complicated puzzles and maps and they would lead them around the property until they found their prize, usually a treasure chest full of gold fish crackers. I loved the thrill of putting something together and having it lead to something cool. It was like a treasure hunt.

The riddles and puzzles turned into codes and complicated clues as the years went by. My sister and I created a fairly simple code or two and would spend hours trying to memorize them. Then we would write to each other in code and try to read it without cheating. At some point our love of solving mysteries somehow turned into a spy movie commercial.

One of our friends had stayed the night and we randomly decided we should film a commercial. A spy movie commercial. So, we did. We got all dressed up, fedoras, sunglasses and all, and I got out my video camera. And that was the beginning of the spy movie. The beginning of Opal the spy; otherwise known as Agent Jem.

We weren’t really planning on turning it into a real movie. In fact it was a year or so before we even came up with a real plotline. But since that random night of creating a spy movie commercial, spies was the only thing on our minds. We would start to go through “spy training” where we would split into two teams and write riddles in code and put them around the house. Then the other team would have to figure them out and they would lead them to our location. It was quite fun. In addition to the riddles and codes, we would also try to sneak around without anyone knowing where we were. We would call the tree house our hideout and we would try to go from the tree house down to the kitchen for food without being seen. I still find myself sneaking around sometimes, trying to walk through the house undetected.

Eventually the idea of filming a movie sounded too exciting to pass up, so we wrote a script. It took a while. And a lot of sitting around having everyone throw random lines at me while I sat on the computer attempting to put them in an order that made sense. I was surprised we even ended up with a script let alone a movie. But we managed to get it done. My sister and I still turn to each other with smiles on our faces whenever we watch it and say “we made a movie!” we still can’t believe we actually did it!

So, the spy is still lingering in my mind somewhere, just as every other character I have been over the years. I learned a lot while making the spy movie and I have learned a lot by pretending to be a spy.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow to see who the next character in my story is!