Friday, November 19, 2021
A Stitch In Time: Decoding How Costume Design Helps Elevate the Movie-watching Experience
www.filmfare.com: Costume design is a form of non-verbal communication in cinema. The correct lines, structures, colours and accessories can make or break the illusion actors are trying to create on screen. In both Indian and international cinema an entourage works closely with the stars to make their on-screen avatars believable. Directors have a picture in their minds about how they want their characters to look in a particular film. Costume designers are the surrogates who bring the idea to life and then nurse it during the shooting process.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
As someone who does not come from a costume design background I found this article extremely interesting. I always loved the non verbal storytelling that is implicit in theatrical design. I have long hated being talked down to, especially via art so storytelling that is implicit and trusting of the audience it is being presented to. The way that costumes can help inform the audience of both the characters and the world that the show is taking place in. Two characters in 18th century Japan are going to have certain similarities in their clothing but also extreme differences depending on class, position, title, etc… Costumes also having the power to define certain characters or be symbolic of a character or genre of character is extremely interesting in a historical context. The italian mask theatre is what springs to mind as well as ancient greek theatre. Costuming has never been my area of expertise but I really appreciate it for all of the storytelling work that costuming does.
Even though I’m not a costume designer I still see the importance of custom design in every day entertainment. Even in real life what we wear says so much about who we are as people and really tells our inner characters without even meeting too. So I really enjoyed this article that highlights costume design because I feel like it’s something that’s overlooked a lot and especially in designs where the entertainment is of the modern day. People don’t really look at it as important as other things because they’re just wearing T-shirts or they’re wearing Levi jeans but even then the costume design is specific and very intentional and I feel like it shouldn’t be overlooked. Especially with Costume design when it doesn’t work well with the story or the sad or any of the directing, it’s very noticeable however I feel like Costumes isn’t something that’s additive but rather necessary to the plot.
It is absolutely no secret that designers, specifically costumes designers, put considerable amounts of research into all their work, especially if it is a period piece. I like that this article specifically focused on designing Indian garments because it is such a large portion of South Asia that has a lot of rich design to dive into. There is so much detail in the modern looks that I'm sure it can get more and more complicated as one explores layering of the past. One part of this article that I found particularly interesting to think about is the Fictional Periodic, where the era isn't necessarily defined. This reminds of Ruth Carter's lecture about her exploration of Wakanda for Black Panther, and how she pulled from "neighboring" African countries to create a nuanced design for a country that doesn't exist outside of the Marvel universe. Her research was not even a little shortened, if anything it pulled from so many more sources in order to make Wakanda credible.
I have a lot of bias as a costume designer but this article illustrates the importance of costume design really well. Just as other design mediums work to tell a visual story that supports and heightens the actor’s performance, costume design actively supports and informs the actor’s choices. Costume designers have three main roles, defining characters, illustrating growth, and facilitating actor’s embodiment of characters. A costume designer visually defines characters within a story but also uses their definitions (ex. Sally likes bright colors) and adds nuance to them to illustrate growth within the narrative. Costume design is also a very tactile medium because costume designers create the clothes that allow an actor to move “in character”. If the stiff character’s pants are expensive and not stretchy, the actor walks with a careful tact that helps them get into character. Overall, costumes does a lot of understated work to make sure that characters display real and nuanced depth without saying a word on stage.
I find the parallels between designing to represent a character, how would they dress, in the case of this article, or what place they would live in compared to people around me. While that thought process is absolutely one that I’m engaging with during the design process for a given show or project but it is also one that I’m not thinking about in my life, it feels like in those cases it does end up as each person developing their own style sometimes from scratch or specific items that are from very specific moments of their life that do not exist in the backstory or script, I relate my designs strongly to the emotions that are displayed in the show onscreen, a challenge for myself to tie the two in. I also considered this idea of costumes changing through a show, same with designs, as intentionally as part of the story during a show, where I like the idea but especially when I think with scenic design that gets expensive or technically difficult very quickly.
Post a Comment