This is a hobo suit darling. You can't be seen in this
I won't allow it
behind every memorable character is a
meticulously chosen
wardrobe whether the costume is extremely flashy or completely blends in
Costume design provides an amazing opportunity to give us insight into a character and the world around them because just like in the real world
What you wear says a lot about you.
_Mom always said there's an awful lot
You can tell about a person by their shoes
I want to take a look at costume design as a tool for
filmmakers to tell their story. In many of Cinema's most
important movies costume designers are the secret heroes, the people who are immerse us within a world
Seamlessly and effectively without getting nearly the same recognition as actors or directors, so let's get sketching
-You push too hard, darling, but i accept
The word costume invariably gets associated with Halloween
Dress up and pretending to be somebody else, and sometimes that's the function of clothing in a movie.
-He's gonna pick up my own clothes?
But the majority of costume design operates on completely opposite principles. Their goal is to create
authentic and realistic people on the screen. Not actors playing dress-up
-Your costume is pretty
-Oh, it's not a costume
I'm an elf
Costume design is an added layer towards the immersive
magic of film. Period clothing is meant to place you in the time period of the movie. Gone with the wind is famous for its
Engaging costume design. While there is some 1930s
flair in the hair style, the clothes still managed to immerse the audience in the Civil War Era and
accurately reflect Scarlett's fall from Grace. The way she designs her own clothing also serves as a nice metaphor for the need to literally and
figuratively reconstruct herself after the war.
At it's best, costume design is a vital layer of world building
And it works well in totally foreign places.
When people talk about the original star wars they usually praise the plot
Characters or special effects, but the costume design was also fantastic
It combines what we're used to seeing with the completely alien
Princess Leia's costume design is right in the middle of looking like she's from a foreign planet and looking like royalty as we
understand it.
In all the designs, the robots, generals and soldiers
their wardrobe is alien enough to transport us to an exciting and different world
But familiar enough to keep us grounded in what we already understand
immersive costuming is more difficult than you may think
Edith had the winner of eight oscars for costume design and the
inspiration for Edna mode, designed for many movies taking place in Present Day
So she just dressed her characters in the style of her time
Problem is by the time the movie was shot edited and released the style would change and the dresses became tacky so she had to
Anticipate the future and make something look modern but not tied down to a specific trend
And she was one of the first to address this issue that still shows up today
Striking the balance between looking too dated or too generic
So a movie made in the 70s might have generic costuming but a movie about the 70s
embraces the Old-school style to bring about the nostalgia of a lost time
It's why eight-mile looks like it could have taken place at any time
But rappers look ridiculous in their music videos that came out the same year.
Fashion is not the primary thing, the primary effort in motion pictures is to tell a story
The plain hoodie works as a blank slate
Emphasizing Eminem's quest to succeed purely on talent and nothing flashy while also focusing attention on his face
Either way costuming is supposed to compliment the style of your film. Whether you're going for realism or something more flashy
Along with immersion many costume choices are to make characters stand out of their worlds.
Willy wonka's introduction takes place over 30 minutes into the
Movie and the praise always goes to Gene Wilder's amazing performance
But it's also an example of great costume design.
While all the other characters dressed in clothing
Stylized from the late 1800s or as cowboys and other caricatures
Wonka's wardrobe is a hybrid of the victorian jacket tail and buttoning of the 19th century
but the collar and color Scheme all embody the style of the 1970s
so we get a character who visually stands out as both out of his world and ahead of his time
The costuming in the remake emphasizes
The out-Of-this-World part, but it has no grip in reality
So it makes him seem more like a cartoon caricature than an out-of-touch visionary
Bonnie & Clyde takes place in the 1930s
But their style wardrobe and obsession with the media put them right into the 1960s.
It helps make them appear anti-establishment
Much like the young people in the real world during the making of this film in 1967
Michael Corleone Wears his military uniform to stand out amongst the classy gangster suits
But as he gets sucked into the life his clothing makes the appropriate transition
For gangsters, wardrobe indicates a transition into the Mafia
This example of costume design actually does play into the initial concept of wearing a costume.
The gangster gets new attire
To try to fit into high society, but no matter what they stand out as gangsters
In many movies, you can tell they aren't really high society. They're just playing dress-up
Look at my shoes, aren't they great?
My god!
You look like a gangster!
Like other gangsters, Walter white plays dress up to help him feel like a gangster, but eventually he becomes the gangster
He was only imitating before
Costumes give us insight into the character wearing it
luke Skywalker's wardrobe has the visual aesthetic of martial Arts gear, implying he's undergoing training
Obi-Wan Kenobi is dressed like a monk because he's doing the teaching.
in the force awakens the roles have reversed and so have the costume choices
new teacher, new student
the shoes in the opening of strangers on a train
Tell us which character is more well-off and which character is more of an everyman
It may just be me, but the black and white shoes look somewhat menacing.
They really stand out in the frame by being so bright and flashy
Tyler Durden's costume design in Fight Club always contrasts the color palette of the setting and other characters
almost like he isn't supposed to be there in the first place
Along with actor personality and direction, color scheme and costume design is
an impressive and effective way to make a character stand out or blend in in
In 500 days of Summer the opening title sequence
Establishes the wardrobe color for the two characters
brown for Tom and blue for summer.
Throughout the movie the coloring shifts around them when summer
Enters Tom's world the setting is colored brown while summer's world is blue.
The dance sequence has all the actors dressed in blue to represent
Tom thinking about summer. Costume coloring gives us mental cues as to how the story is progressing, and by the end of the movie we
Realize their colors don't mix and they part ways
movies become classics when all the production elements come together to make something great and that includes costuming. So when you look back at your
Favorite characters think about what they're wearing, and of course remember the most important rule of costume design
NO CAPES
Thanks for watching.