Costume - Men

I think it is important that the characters personality is shown through their clothes but also I think it's important, especially for the men, to have a uniform look to show the idea behind the story. Below is the costume I thought would be suitable for the men to wear as both the top and trousers are practical and plain. I think it would be a good idea if the shirt for Drake was more fitted to show he is more muscular than the character of Mallory who is meant to be physically much weaker.

Costume - women

I thought it would be a good idea to have all the characters in a type of uniform but with each character having some of their personality shown through the costume. Below are the women's costumes.

Strong woman:
I thought this character, as a seductive strong woman, should have a more fitted look to her costume as that would suit her personality more. I have opted for quite fitted combat trousers and a tight vest top.

Clever woman:
This is the costume I thought would be good for the clever woman role. The outfit is still attractive with a reasonably low cut top but it is a lot more practical than the other two outfits as it is slightly loser and more uniform based.

Peaceful woman:
This is the peaceful woman's costume. She has the same looser trousers as the smart woman but she has a vest top with some lace around the top to show she is more girly and doesn't want to fight.

Costume research - women

it is important for the representation of the character that we chose the correct type of costume. I have looked in to the costumes used in similar films and have looked into the idea of uniforms or just normal clothes for the characters.

This is Emilia Burns in 'The condemned' in which prisoners fight it out for survival and freedom. Her costume has some traits we could replicate:

• It is quite tight on the top half to show she is athletic 
• The low cut top is used to make her look attractive but we could use a similar idea to show off wounds or bruises. We could also use this type of costume for our more feisty female roles as they will need to look more attractive. 
• she is wearing practical combat trousers.
• The trousers and top are both green - mimics the colours used in army uniforms.
• She is wearing practical army boots. 
• Her hair is down to emphasise her distress and her movements when running. It also shows she was not entirely prepared for the situation.

This is Devin Kelley in 'Chernobyl diaries' in which a group of tourists find that the site of Chernobyl is haunted. Her costume has some traits we could copy:

• her top is loose but actually quite low cut.
• She is wearing normal clothing - means that the audience believe this is just a normal person and we can relate to her more. 
• Her hair is down (like the first example) and messy. 
• she is wearing simple make up but enough to make her attractive.

 This is Katie Cassidy in 'Nightmare on Elm Street' from 2010 in which a man gets revenge on the children of his enemies by attacking them in their sleep. Her costume is simple but we could still take some aspects from it :

• She is wearing a low cut and ver short night dress to make her look young and sexy - it also shows off her reasonably athletic frame. 
• The white shows she is innocent and will also show off any injuries or dirt well.
• Her hair is up in a loose ponytail - this has slightly fallen out to show she is distressed and has been running. 

Costume research - men

To maintain a constant look for our trailer, controlling the appearance of our characters is vital. Costume tells us a lot about  character and is hugely important for the representation of the character. I need to look at other films with similar themes to ours to see how they use costume to show who our characters are. 

• This shot from 'The Hunger Games' shows the costume of the character Peeta. He is part of the games and so is a perfect role to look at for our costumes as our characters will be in a similar situation. 
• He is dressed in simple khaki combat trousers, a dark navy t-shirt and hiking boots. This a practical outfit designed to be suitable for the running and fighting involved in the film- he also has a black rucksack and black waterproof jacket at the beginning of the games. 
• The make up is actually more important to the costume as that is what shows us he is actually doing something dangerous - with the dirt, blood and cuts - than the clothing. However the clothing is important as it shows us that this is just a normal person but, when shown with the other characters, we can see it is a sort of uniform. 

• These shot show the main costumes in 'The Experiment' (2010) - the character '7' is in the top shot and the second image shows the clothes given to the prisoners to wear. The white vest worn by 7 ( he also is wearing the pale green/grey trousers given to the prisoners) makes him appear innocent and vulnerable - the amount of flesh on show makes him look even more vulnerable as well. 
• The pale green of the prisoners uniform makes them look vulnerable and almost weak.
• The loose fit also makes us see them as weak because it hides their muscles and makes them look small and thin.
•  The number and, later, 7's shaved head is reminiscent of how prisoners looked in the holocaust.

• This is a shot from 'Saw 4'. This costume is very simple - the man is wearing a relaxed shirt with a white t-shirt underneath. He is dressed like a normal/average man to allow the audience to relate to him - we can more easily believe he is just like us. 
• The blood splatter is the only sign (obviously ignoring the glass tank on the mans head) from the costume that this is not a normal, average situation.  
• The character is in pale colours - this is for two reasons : the first is that it shows the character as innocent and undeserving of what is happening and the second is so that the dirt and blood shows easily. 
• The blood splatter across the white and grey shirt could be symbolic of how the character appears innocent but Saw knows what bad things he has done and is revealing them to taint his clean image. 

Make up Research - Fake wounds and injuries

Due to the film we are making the trailer and promotion for being a acton/thriller film with a lot of action involved in the narrative, it is important we know how to effectively use make up to create fake wounds and generally make it the effect of the 'games' on the characters look real. 

I have looked up some different ways of creating these effects but most of them looked over exaggerated and more suitable for halloween than a professional film. However some step by step tutorials I have found on Youtube have been really useful and show that making the injuries look real doesn't have to be expensive and laborious.

Below is a short tutorial made by BBC Blast on how to make a small wound that looks very realistic:

I really liked how simple this tutorial made the make up so I decided to look through the other videos by the same make up artist, I think his name is Gregory Vicks, and I found that he has made another tutorial for BBC blast that is really useful for making another wound we may need. 

Below is a tutorial for a fake burn - I think it could be interesting to try this with one of the characters as it would be a injury that would make the situation obviously more serious:

Make up research- Scratches and bruises

As well as wounds, our group are looking to use make up to create smaller injuries and bruising, to make realistic mise en scene. I found a lot of online video tutorials  to help with this; here are some of those most effective guides.

This one I particularly liked, as it was simple and achievable to do in a short amount of time, but produced a good dark bruise effect. We are looking to use tips from this tutorial on the character Nyla and Della.

Below is another video that is useful,  it shows how to make small cuts and facial wounds using ordinary makeup. The woman in the clip is precise and shows how this could be created using simple make-up which we can easily buy. It is also a quick technique which will make it viable to do when the actors are on location, as we will be filming outside for some of the scenes, and wont want to be spending too long on makeup.

It is likely that we will use both of these techniques, too great a range of wounds in our film.