Costume Research

Onto the costume research now. This is where you can find out what the Protagonist and Antagonist will look like in our film and exactly why we have chosen for them to have this particular look.

Antagonist - Richard (The Boyfriend)

First Costume

We are aiming for the Antagonist's clothes to be the typical office worker uniform: the formal, smart look. This hints on wealth and importance - perhaps of high rank. The office clothes are meant to give off the sense that perhaps he was late because of work - office jobs tend to cause those working there to work late - or maybe because his work clothes are already formal, perhaps he went out on a late night date: which starts off the argument with his girlfriend. 

We wanted the colour red for his tie - just like in the image to symbolise two of the seven deadly sins that are major centre points; Lust and Wrath. The black slacks, white shirt and black shoes are the other typical office look that we want to attempt at getting our antagonist to wear.

                                     

These image of Ryan Reynolds is the look we wanted for Richard - we wanted somebody who looks manly, but with a potential to do harm to people and lose his temper. The clothing he is wearing in the image is also a good representation of what we want Richard's office look. 

Second Costume

This costume will be worn at the end scene of our short film, where Richard is sitting on the stairs waiting to go to his girlfriend's funeral. The typical clothing he will be wearing is a suit that is completely in black apart from his white shirt. 

We are thinking about still getting him to wear the red tie, however after a little more think, I'm wondering about changing the tie's colour to something more subtle or simply just black.

Protagonist - Alice (The Girlfriend)

To coincide with the characteristics of Alice we wanted her attire to be innocent looking - almost childlike. To do this we wanted to use soft, pastel colours instead of bold. This represents the fact she is rather a quiet and meek woman. The innocent and childlike look links to the fact Alice is a sweet religious girl with a good background and links to the main theme in our short.

       

We wanted to find an actress who could portray the look we wanted for our actor: Zoey Deschanel, from the E4 series New Girl. She has the same wide-eyed and innocent look while looking very natural and simple. 

Antagonist 2 - Stacey (The Work Colleague)

Stacey is Richard's work colleague that he has had an affair with. Because of this simple piece of information and the fact she works in an office we wanted to follow the stereotype of the promiscuous female office worker that sleeps with everybody in the work place. To also go along with stereotypes we wanted to try and make Stacey blonde. 

The costume Stacey will be wearing is completely black as its funeral wear but we want to still keep that promiscuous theme so we may dress her in a little black dress. The black is both related to funerals and death as a sign of respect AND a little black dress is often associated with a confident ego and promiscuous ideas.

Second idea

To keep with the promiscuous and revealing costume idea, we thought that instead of a little black dress - should the actress not feel comfortable wearing one for example - then a small black skirt, white blouse and black blazer. 

Formal Costume Plot

Real media products that share our costume ideas:

The Jennifer Lopez film"Enough" is the main inspiration for our film as it follows the same theme of 'domestic violence'. Within the film the main antagonist Mitch Hiller often wears a business suit which makes him look superior to his wife as well making him look professional and also can give him an evil look. This is what we wanted to portray with our character's costume.

Screen shot from "Enough"

The female from "Enough" backs up our protagonist Alice's costume choice as she is often presented when she is in her marriage wearing thin, pastel coloured clothing which makes her look smaller, weaker and more innocent than her husband. 

Men in Black

The main characters in Men in Black, more importantly the men, are all dressed in formal suits which represents the idea of "men on a mission" and they are normally serious and professional. We took this costume idea because the men in the film work in an undercover job and this normally involves an office for headquarters, this links to our character Richard because he works in an office and the fact he dresses in a black suit conforms to the stereotypes of formal uniform.

Veronica from 'Heathers'

Veronica from the film Heathers shares the same characteristics as Alice with the fact she is the innocent girl of the group. She starts off wearing clothes that don't actually reveal anything. She also wears subtle clothing/pastel clothing instead of the bright colours which makes a statement.

The next post will be on the special effects & make-up we will be using within our short film. :)