Saturday, January 10, 2015
Video of the Day: Costumes of the Woods
Below the Line: In this new behind-the-scenes featurette from Disney, three-time Academy Award-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood talks about her work on Rob Marshall’s new musical Into The Woods.
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Colleen Atwood continues to stun me with her ability to design costumes that surpass normal creativity. I enjoyed listening to the actors and learning about their conversations with the director and the design team about how they felt their character would look and move. It's really exciting to see the inner workings of (in my opinion) a very successfully designed film; it seems that everyone collaborates to make a product that is seamlessly translated to movie audiences everywhere. I also particularly enjoyed learning about the different period styles Atwood used to differentiate the Into the Woods characters. When I saw the film I immediately fell in love with the Wolf's costume, but looking at the behind the scenes video I find myself more enamored with Rapunzel's costume. I guess I wasn't looking hard enough to see the pink fabric that symbolically bound her to her castle. It takes a great mind like Colleen Atwood to be able to ingeniously work the text and the emotions of a character into costume. It would be amazing to also see her sketches and thought processes as well as the finished product; she must have gone through dozens of different costumes for the characters before she ended up with the style she wanted. I'm glad there are people in this industry I can look up to if I decide to follow in their shoes.
I really appreciate these kind of artists. There passion and care seems to be the main characteristics that many others love about their works. Colleen Atwood and Peter King especially think of all the elements for the Into the Woods film. They think of the time period of the musical and what would make sense to the audience and original fans of the musical. Then they though about what mediums and materials would be best to use that would look good on camera. And know what was too distracting what should get more attention. Then finally they made share that all actors and actresses found it comfortable to be in there costumes, wings/hairstyles, and makeup. It's very important that the whatever you put on the model is comfortable or it won't have the affect you want. That is something that I think designer and constructers need to really think about because you can't make something spectacular until you understand that safety and comfort of those around you, especially the actors and actresses.
What most impresses me about these pieces is the sheer amount of detail in these costumes, which go largely unnoticed by the audience, but contribute so much to the atmosphere and the texture of the piece. The integration of wood and texture adds incredible depth to the world of Into the Woods, creating a visual feast along with the intricate story. What perhaps moved me most of all was the witches costumes. Hearing Colleen describe the layers and layers that went into creating a fabric that had both depth and movement was incredibly inspiring. It makes me want to integrate texture more in my own work. The witch's second costume manages to maintain a similar silhouette, but manages to look ravishingly chic. I know that I as a designer often forget to think about these types of fabric treatments, instead mistakenly thinking of fabric as a flat material. It is truly wonderful to see so much work being put into the very framework of these costumes, and I really think that this movie, and Colleen Atwood herself, will be an inspiration to continue to push the boundaries of design and create new and extraordinary work.
I am a die heart In to The Woods Fan. I love the musical just at it’s shear number of wonderful messages that can be taken away from it. Every time I listen to the music or watch the recorded original I learn something new. So when I learned Disney was making it into a movie musical I was honestly really scared. The fact that Disney has it’s own model of doing things and the messages they like to put out along with shortening this to fit a two hour time span was at the center of my fear. Now after seeing the movie yesterday I can say I disagree with a lot of the choices they made but they didn’t not destroy the message I connect with in this musical. While watching it once through paying attention to the changes in the storyline, I did not give my full attention to analyzing the costumes to see the depth that added to the characters and to fill in the gaps that were left behind from the original script. After reading this article I am pleased to see the level of detail that went into creating the costumes along with collaborative effort with the cast to help shaping that characters. Now knowing this I can confidently say I do think the entire cast , minus the Rapunzel plot line, kept up the true integrity of their characters. I think what I need to really take away from this version of Into the Woods is that they helped to get this wonderful musical to the eyes and wars of the younger generation and feel more relevant today by putting a bit of the Disney spin on things.
What I really loved most about Colleen Atwood’s costumes and Peter King’s hair and make up designs is that they approached their designs on three important fronts: 1. Fulfilling what is needed in the structure of the story and creating an intriguing and cohesive world, 2. Using a new original angle to create work that is unique and explores the concepts outside of the standard or conventional, and 3. Working with the actor’s visions and ideas to create work that will enhance their overall engagement. By approaching the design with these three goals heavily rooted in their work I think Atwood and King were able to create not only a beautiful world that was engaging and thought provoking, but also one that enhanced the experience of all other aspects around them. I’m sure Peter King and Colleen Atwood’s consideration of her vision of the character as a blue enchantress, which clearly reads through her costumes and hair, enhanced Meryl Streep’s portrayal of the Witch. Similarly Atwood’s consideration of the environment in her costumes are noteworthy, as she considered how light would hit Meryl’s dress as the witch, and how she could use wood like textures in her pieces to unify the mish mosh of characters, while taking consideration to make sure all of their appearances are stylistically separated and different. I love Atwood and King’s approach for the designs of this film, and I think more designers, not only costume designers, but designers of all disciplines should put in the same considerations in their work to build towards a world that enroots itself in the other elements around it.
Clothes are often overlooked in design work. Especially in film I often find myself focused on the set, the action and the special effects. I saw into the woods and after reading this article I have a lot more appreciation and attention towards the costumes in the film. The designer, Colleen Atwood is a very talented designer and seems to pour so much emotion and meaning into her work. whats great about film costumes is that you are able to look at the details, like the ones explained in the article, over and over again and in great detail. In alive performance, depending on where you're sitting, many don't get to see the costume up close, they are only able to see large details such as color, pattern, and size. I also loved the fact that she matched the costumes with the character’s personalities. its one thing to make the characters physically fit in their costume but to make it mentally fit for their character is a great ability. I continue to try to apply this skill that Atwood has clearly mastered into the environments I dream about. It just goes to show in order to make something truly great one must put meaning, thought, and story into every aspect of their design.
What a fantastic production. I loved everything about Into The Woods, the production design was beautiful, the cinematography and lighting magical and the costumes transportive. There was such a beautiful element of realism mixed with the fairytale world. The one aspect I didn't really like was the wolf. I thought everything else was realistic enough that the wolf would have made more sense to be a real wolf, however, it would have been really weird to have a CGI singing wolf. I thought the idea of the wolfs costume was to blend into the woods to give him a sneaky vibe. thats what I got from it, but i really liked the idea behind Colleen Atwood's and Depp's design.
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