Costuming is a vital but oftentimes overlooked aspect of amazing filmmaking. Let's take a look at some movies and see how the costuming added so much to their stories. Twitter: bit.ly/1QvLI0H Patreon: bit.ly/1UaO9MU Song: bit.ly/2tY5d1V
It is also the color palette/theme chosen for the movies...Example Wes Anderson and Baz Luhrmann For reference: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tILIeNjbH1E.html
Thanks for bringing some light into a very redundant perceived Oscar category. Sometimes people do not seem to understand costume design, if the movie is not set in victorian england.
Roland Deschain Fortunately as of late it does seem the winners have MUCH more variety than they did in the mid-late 2000s, with Great Gatsby, Grand Budapest Hotel, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Fantastic Beasts. Who's even seen Marie Antoinette, The Duchess, or The Young Victoria?
+Little1Cave That's right. It's just that for most people in my immediate environment, costume design and many other aspects of film are mostly total mysteries. Videos like this are educational in an art form i love. Of course for me too!
Roland Deschain Honestly ever since finding out about the Academy I never would've known the difference between Sound Editing and Sound Mixing or would've fully appreciated Film Editing. Lol. Knowing all of these categories have comparable nominees and winners got me to doing research in what they are. Now a good portion of my subscribers are related to Film Studies and I can judge each aspect in a film, even if it never gets nominated.
Reminds me of Heather Duke slowly incorporating more and more red into her wardrobe throughout Heathers until she looks exactly like Heather Chandler did. It's a small metaphor that holds big importance like you said, showing how the movie is progressing
I have wanted to be a costume designer since I was 10, and I wanted to be a fashion designer before that for as long as I can remember. I love costumes so much. They really make a movie and it always makes me sad seeing how little costume designers get recognition. I hope to make it in the industry one day and contribute to all the wonderful work costume designers have done before me
Autumn Ashli' well I hope you make it too :). I'm currently going to a boarding high school majoring in fashion design with an emphasis in costumes to try to get a head start in the career
+Autumn Ashli' (Styledbyfall) Good luck for both of you, and i really hope we can meet sometime in the film industry for i Will study cinematography in a school here in my country, so best of wishes for you too and let the love for the seventh art join us.
Another great film for costume design is The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Their outfits instantly lay out their character... Tuco is always dressed simply, often with his chest bared to show his shamelessness; Blondie's clothes are a mess of different attire, showing how he doesn't really fit in anywhere; and Angel Eyes' clothes are always well coordinated, his moustache perfectly groomed, which I think reflects his plotting and conniving nature. Great vid as always, I'd love to see you do a vid on make-up in cinema!
As you write the script, the right clips come to you. Here's a fun cheat though: use www.quodb.com/ and search by a keyword to find movie dialogue that may relate to your video. So I searched for the "costume" key word and I found the Elf dialogue where she says "I like your costume" and it was perfect for the video! Because no matter how many videos I make (41 now, jeez), I can't memorize the dialogue of every movie.
This is actually one of my favourite things about Fantastic Beasts. The costume design in that is AMAZING. Graves outfit in particular is one of my absolute favourites.
One movie that plays pretty obviously with costumes is Enchanted. As Adam's character gets more acquainted with the "real world," her demeanor, as well has costumes get more toned down (as opposed to her originally ludicrous white gown). Dempsey, on the other hand, wear's dark suits to reflect his pessimistic and unimaginative world view. In the final ball scene, when he is finally able to venture into his romantic side (and thus move towards Adams), he opts to wear a very costume-y prince get-up. Marsden's character, meanwhile, obstinately refuses to acclimate to the real world, and thus remains in his ridiculously flashy, poofy-sleeved, getup the entire movie.
I'm going to have to disagree with the "no capes" line. Back as far as humans had heroes, they wore cloaks to signify status as a traveler, but in the tale of Heracles, he wears the nemean lion skin as a cape. Not only as a symbol of having conquered the animal and taking its strength, but also in wearing it as a cloak. This shows up constantly, though the modern trend of clothing doesn't play into full length drapery, it still persists. Obvious examples are in Watch_dog's protagonist Auden Pearce wearing a trench coat that acts as a cape when running through Chicago. Same goes for the scarf worn by the racketeer. It's small, but modern enough and flowing out the back to give just a small hint at the form of a cape. It is a staple of heroes.
my dude! Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet has some of the most incredible costume designing ever! like how at the party Romeo is a literal knight in shining armour, and Juliet is a literal angel (both of these reference some soliloquy that they say about each other). Or how Mercutio isn't dressed as a montague, but by lord is he more montague than capulet. Or how each family has their own insignia to set them apart, but it isn't just boring red and blue. Or how the costumes bring them into a modern day, but a sort of timeless stylised era within modern day! I could go on, but i can not believe you made an entire video about costume design and didn't mention this at all!
Part of what's great about Star Wars and what makes it feel so familiar is that the original trilogy was done on basically a shoestring budget. Most of the blasters are real guns that have been dressed up (Han's famous Blastech DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol is a modified Mauser), and Luke's clothes in episode four are just a martial arts gi with a utility belt and boots. They're all things that we're familiar with already. Its the same reason that Baze Malbus's behemoth blaster and body armor seem so out of place.
i hope you make a part 2! costume design/ sfx makeup/props are really the artist that need to be recognized... and we remember characters because of their outfits
You are not arrogant, unlike most of the other film essay channels. Your videos are awesome because they are simple, entertaining and smart, without trying to have that intellectual shitty tone. Congrats!
THANK YOU! Costume design is such an important part of filmmaking, and yet it's the only visual aspect of storytelling I never see mentioned in video essays or criticism. Great video!
Thank you for the shout out to costume people! Most people have a close connection to their clothes and how they present themselves to the world. This translates directly to characters in a movie. I've done some acting, and I can solidly say costumes makes ALL the difference in defining a character. Then there's using the costumes to convey themes from a director's standpoint. I'm not a designer, but I love being in the room with actors when they put on their costume for the first time. They just transform before your eyes. This showed up in my recommended so I realize this video is older, but I still appreciate it.
Just watched "If Beale Street Could Talk" and loved how the costumes contrasted the colorful backgrounds but also provided important context to characters, time period, and class. Great video!
On the Star Wars thing, it's interesting to notice the change in color for Luke's clothing, with him wearing white in New Hope, grey in Empire and black in Jedi, symbolizing his path through darker and more dangerous emotional places as the story progresses. By Jedi he is closer to the dark side and Vader's path than he's ever been, wearing the same style and colors as his father.
Just realized how rarely this channel posts, but how good each post is. The analysis here is completely spot on and concise. Wonderful input, can't wait for the next one!
dude idk if you realise but it is honestly amazing to see movies deconstructed like this i love it so much. try to make more amazing videos like this one i really look forward to your videos.
As a performer who loves putting together her own costumes (and who has always had a love for fashion history) this is so expertly succinct. You're doing great work!
Costumes can transport you into a new world just as much as set designs and effects. It takes great imagination and skill and glad to see an unsung hero get their props...
incredible video! very informative yet you didn't include uncessary information! i wrote my thesis on costume design and wasn't taken seriously by my teachers so this video really made me feel better
Eminem's 'costume' was how rappers dressed in the mid-90s when the movie took place because it was a period piece. Around the time the movie came out he was wearing 'flashy' clothes like the rappers of his time.
This is a great video for fashion illustrators. I think one important aspect though is the fact that if you wanna make an "outcast" character, you can symbolize it with their color palette of their clothes, but don't go so "out there" that they stick out like a sore thumb and makes it feel just plain awkward
Great video as usual, I've been watching your work since I first started make shorts and I've learned so much over the years. Your video essays helped educate me when I had no formal film program to help me out, and now in a few days I'm starting film school at LMU. Thank you, and keep evolving as an artist!
I'm surprised this video didn't discuss Indiana Jones, especially given the way the movie incorporates Indy's outfit into scenes i.e. snatching his iconic fedora from underneath the closing door, him grabbing at his holster to find his pistol missing in the reference to his 1st movie duel, and the usage of enemy clothes to sneak around behind enemy lines.
My favorite use of costumes is in Jurassic Park. Hammond and Malcolm are polar opposites, wearing white and black respectively. Grant and Sattler are wearing boy/girl mirrors of each other: blue shirt, red bandanna underneath, khaki pants vs pink shirt, blue shirt underneath, khaki shorts.
I would like to point out that with your Robin Hood example the muted down colors of Russel Crowe's version aren't actually more realistic, we just think so since more serious period pieces have shown the characters in wearing barely any color and it was the understanding at one point it was really true for the poor but it's really isn't at this point.
The costumes for the students at Shiz in Wicked the musical were based mostly on what the costume designers thought the students would think like. For example, Galinda's school outfit was made with very light colors to represent her head in the clouds, but Elphaba's costume had very dark colors to represent that she was grounded. Other students were able to mix and match their outfits so they ended up with things that didn't match and even two jackets sewn together to make one. I just thought it was very interesting.
Fantastic video. One thing I enjoy is that with a period film, you can ALWAYS tell the decade it was made because the elements that are popular during that decade get integrated in details into the period clothes. I think this might also be attributable to the limits of materials, such that movies from the 30s to the 80s had more limited options for materials and sets, so are more "stagey" whereas current films have a higher realism (you can see this in any movies made in the 50s and remade in the current day). That being said, we'll still likely look at back at movies made today and think, woa, that was so '10s. :)
Glad someone shed some light on the brilliant of costume design. The wardrobe in John Wick is terrific because it represents each character perfectly by their choice in style and fashion. Just as the villain always dresses so dapper. After all, The Devil Wears Prada.
My girlfriend is a costume designer and she can sometimes tell by the costume what kind of character the actor will play, where they will go and so on. As a photographer I take these cues from framing most of the time yet by having someone around that makes you aware of how clothing tells stories in fiction you can sometimes read people in real life out of the sheer fact that we watch the same movies and therefor often find inspiration in familiar characters. Once I got this down my portrait photography reached a whole new level and I respected costume design so much more.
This was a super good video and made me think deeper about a lot of movies I know. Another interesting one when it comes to costume design is Baby Driver. They all have very specific colour scheme and the style of the outfit also adds to the character sometimes
Thank you for bringing up the subject of Immersive Costume Design. Speaking as a costume designer, most of the time, we've done our job well if our choices do NOT stand out as "costumes". The whole point is to immerse the audience in the world we are creating as part of a team with the director, the cinematographer, and the production designer. If an audience member stops in the the middle of the story to think, "Hey, I really love that costume", that's a failure. Even fantasy needs to be grounded in some reality to be immersive - thanks for mentioning "the rules as we understand them". This is the reason that the movies I love for their design are often different than the ones my friends love. Example, I don't like Wes Anderson movies because the production design pulls too much focus and by comparison, the characters seem underdeveloped, surface level, the production and costume design are distracting. But I do love many of the other examples you mentioned.
Loved this, costume design is so often overlooked...Colleen Atwood is my personal favorite, I can immediately tell when she's worked on a movie. It really does add another level to the movie experience
One rule (written or unwritten) of anime design is how a character design is recognizable from its silhouette. So it seems costume design is important wherever you go.
Thanks for this video! Teach me quite a lot. I'm an amateur writer and of course costume is not really that apparent unlike in comics or movie. Then again, I usually had a hard time to write the description of a character's costumes. This video quite give me insight of what to give my characters at certain moments.
Very informative and insightful. Just a request . Please mention the movie titles also along with the scenes , i think it helps in overall understanding . Like I was not able to catch on many scenes from which movie they were . I would have love to revisit them or watch them for the first time. Thank you for the work you put in your videos.
Now you see me too is a good example of this. The characters outfits don't particular stand out but they're definitely different to each other and reflective somewhat of the character's personalities.
I'm a big fan of your videos and have been subscribed for the last few months. And while I appreciate all the writing and editing you do for your vids, I really think you still need to work on your delivery. You speak like you're rushing to the end of your videos and you sometimes end up eating your words. And while you don't speak monotonously, you still sound like you're giving a presentation at a lecture hall instead of talking to a RU-vid video audience. Just know when to pause, and give the appropriate tone for the point you're trying to make. Just some criticisms I have with your vids. I still think your content is really high-quality and enjoyable, the delivery of it all just keeps me from getting sucked into your videos. Peace.
Just pointed out in a last video as well. He stated a 'spoiler alert', but without a pause or any brief moment to pause the video he went on to spoil it anyway. Completely taking away the sole use of a spoiler alert..
This is wonderful! there is a similarity in theme (and specific reference to Edna Mode) with the 99%invisible podcast episode "Fixing The Hobo Suit" - would highly recommend.
