The importance of costume design

 

Costume Design

For this last blog of the week, I'm going to research the importance of the clothing and styling of the characters. Depending on the type of film, the costumes allows the audience to know what time in history was the movie trying to indicate. Costumes like a knight, gives an example that it was during the Medieval Ages, taking the audience to a different place in time.

According to (Theatre and Film Costume Workshop, 2024), states how costume is more than clothing choices, it gives life and shows the experience on the story plot. One of the important concepts of the costume design are the colors and the style that reflects a character's mood, feeling, emotion and overall culture, enhancing meaning to the characters background, allowing the audience to relate within the character and have a deeper connection with the character. Also it plays a significant role in setting tone and atmosphere for the film, helping to establish a visually pleasing mood for the production. For example, a light, colorful and extrovert outfit creates a cheerful mood, while a dark, emo costume may create tense for the characters story. 

Additionally, costume design can attract symbolism towards the character. Devarazz. (2023, August 5). The role of costume design in film. Medium. This article explains how the detail in the design such as the accessories, can describe the personal challenges or emotional problems. For instance, a character who uses dark and heavy colors may represent a weak or lonely person, while someone who is always out-standing and vibrant in the film, shows a sense of confidence over the character. This also allows the contrast over two people, emphasizing their relationship.

Usually, in romantic movies, the girl is the extrovert, with light tone, while the guy portrays a negative or pessimistic relationship with life. A movie example is Me Before You, a 2016 romance movie, directed by Thea Sharrock, this film represents a disable person with his "nurse", which eventually fell in love, considering the impossible circumstances. The girl in this movie, has peculiar outfits, that some people might say that those colors do not match. However, that is what the film was trying to represent, the long socks with a colorful dress, emphasizes the girl as a person who loves and enjoys her life. On the other hand, the guy didn't care about what he wore. The messy hair, attitude, and the dark color clothing, represent that his character was dealing with life problems. The bond that the two characters had, is what spark a connection by portraying an impossible love is what engaged the audience attention. 

After researching the importance of having a good outfit for the characters, I was able to learn about the different ways to convey the characters plot line. I think that having the time to plan the costumes, the representation of my film opening with the characters contrast of light and dark, confidence and weakness, happiness and loneliness, will engage the audience to understand the movie more deeply, by relating with the characters background information, by visually seeing the aesthetic of the actors. I am confident that by planning the clothing details, the film opening will be easy to follow and comprehend.