Costuming in Films

One of the many ways to establish setting in a film is actually the costume design. A few recent films hold great examples of this truth. 

THE HUNGER GAMES II: CATCHING FIRE

In this film costuming was actually shown in the film, Cinna helped Katniss win the adoration of the Capital and all the districts. Costuming was the primary means of winning that adoration.

THE GREAT GATSBY

The costuming in the Great Gatsby was a wonderful mix of both modern culture and those of the 1920's. Clothing styles were taken from the 20's and modernized to make the film more appealing to the modern generation.

LES MISERABLES

I would imagine any time you have to costume an old-time period piece the task is great. This film pulled off what was required of them with great skill.

Costuming is more than just simply appealing to the viewer, it helps to actually set the stage for what the film will entail. 

The Psychology of Horror

Fear and Society: 
Horror films of today are shaped by a few basic cinematic principles but beyond that, when trying to make a great horror for the day and age you have to consider your society.
What are the fundamental concepts that scare people in your society?
This is how you decide who or what the antagonist should be. If you want to truly make a classic than history comes into play. You have to determine what scares people, what did scare people, and what will always scare people.

Atmosphere: You wouldn't chose a bright and sunny 50's cul-de-sac as the setting for your horror film. Setting really plays a huge role in how your film is perceived, especially when it comes to a film that is expected to be dark and suspenseful.

Suspense: Similar to setting, suspense is paramount in a horror film. You have to breed this feeling with sound and environment in order to drag your audience into a willing suspension of disbelief.

Jump Scare: Jump scares are really the cheap trick of the horror film industry. It is a sure fire way to get your audience on the edges of their seats and wanting to see more. The use of too many jump scares however will defeat the purpose and numb your audience to what it is you are trying to achieve.

Hear us Roar

For the past few weeks Olathe Northwest High School's (my school) video production class undertook a project that came from a different source than usual. Good Morning America launched a contest for schools to participate in. You were to make a music video from the new Katy Perry song "Roar".

We had great aspirations for the video. We wanted to blow the other entries out of the water. Our plan involved excusing hundreds of students from their classes for two days, mass face painting, coordinated costumes and lots of decorating. The idea was to follow the average high school student as they transverse high school, find their inner roar and learn to be themselves.

This was the final product. The best thing about this project is that nobody from our class can claim the video as their own. There was one initial idea that grew and grew to the point where everyone had contributed something to the making of the video and every student that went into the production team, every student that took time out of their classes were instrumental to the video. Personally I was the gaffer but I didn't work alone. I was one of many people who worked to make the video look amazing.

Translation Values

When translating a text into a movie there are many factors to take into account. Primarily audiences will never be satisfied with a radical translation, that is, a translation that drastically changes the plot, characters, and/ or scene. To successfully make a book to movie translation, directors need to have a great in-depth understanding of the text. Books capitalize on an aspect of being a great deal more abstract than movies, leaving the character's physical appearances, clothing, scenery, props, and all other aspect of a story up to the imagination of the reader. Movies take away that ability and force upon the audience a crew of people's vision of a book. This is the reason why many people are naturally inclined to favor books over their movie counterparts, because movies take away people's creativity. When filming based on a book, exact translation, more than anything, must be valued.

Which is Better?

I have never been much of a novel reader, which is why I like film so much but I can easily say that from all of the book-to-movie adaptations I have always preferred the film version. For example.

Gatsby. The Great Gatsby was a fantastic book that I got to read in English class last year and though I usually don't prefer fiction this time I made an exception. When the movie came out later I was stunned by the fanciful scenery that was showed throughout the entirety of the film.

Though I greatly enjoyed reading the novel, I found that being able to physically see the movie was so much more rewarding as a audience member. I have nothing against books, of course. I mean my own mother is a librarian which makes my opinion on the subject almost sacrilege to her. 

So to answer the basic question here, the book- movie debate is truly one of opinion. Granted, sometimes the translation of a book to a movie is not executed well and that's it's own subject but when it comes down to the basic question of which is better when a book has been translated to a movie is simply up to the viewer and their opinion.  

About Me

Thank you for visiting my blog. My name is Alec, a student in High School in Olathe, Kansas. I have studied film for the past three years under the oversight of the e-Communication program and in my time doing so I have learned much about the creative process, the operation of cameras and editing. Follow this blog to hear more about a wide variety of film related topics.


(Title inspired by Katie Langton)