Thriller evaluation: costume

The costume we used not only was chosen to reflect the characters; we also used it to reflect dominant ideologies. The costume for the girl was a light pink robe and a floral, pastel light pink robe. This was done to show her feminine side, also it is done to reflect her is innocent and pure- this angelic nature would cause the audience express sorrow for the girl and emotionally invest in her character, and consequently our film. The costume was based on a 1920’s woman- we felt this would be necessary to add an almost vintage style element to the film. Further to this, this suits our thriller by the artist having some fetish about olden style girls. Moreover, we wanted the costume to be revealing to attract a male audience. An attractive female in a film is a key feature of attracting an audience; so dressing her in a slightly provocative outfit would attract the male audience, as well as suiting the theme of sexual exploitation. We based her look on specific 1920’s showgirls, their natural glamour and poise, such as Marion Davies and Mary Pickford- using these, as our inspiration would also entice an older, more classic audience.

  On the other hand, we portrayed the artist as dark, creepy and dirty. This would reflect the evil nature of him- it is almost a version of pathetic fallacy, but the outfit reflects the personality and mindset of our character, not the weather. As he is an artist, it was crucial that his outfit was covered in paint, blood and inks. We did this by buying overalls, then splattering them with paint, inks, fake bloods, charcoals and mud- this gave them an authentic feel, which also related to the dirty nature of the character. Characters in films that inspired our costume choice are the paedophile in Evilenko, and Pollock. The costume choice was to portray to the audience, his dark mind, the blood exclaims his death ability.