Costumes in a Student Made Production

For our student made production we went with a self made mask, which was a bloody sack that looked rather creepy in dim light, but my original idea was for a mask I already had, but it is better that we chose a self made one, for it was not already made by a company and with a self made item you can chose what you do with it. The original mask idea from me was something that came with the graphic novel 'Death in the Family'. This mask would probably be copyright though, as the rights are owned by DC Comics and Warner Bros. The mask is of the character The Joker, when he removed his own face and stapled it back on for sinister and a "new me" purpose. The reason I had this in mind is because in a dark room, the fact that it is joker might not be obvious, and we can always remove the annoying light green hair and hair cap, and just keep the mask and its strap. The sinister wide lip grin could have gone well with the lighting, and the eyes underneath the face would have looked creepy, but we could not use it as it may have looked ridiculous to some, or it would have been copyright for material we do not own. It was also very sweaty to wear, as it had limited space, and seeing was not the best, and it would often slip.

Costumes of Horror

Costumes play a huge role in any film, but especially horror. The costumes of a character define them, they show who they are. There is even an academy award for best costume design. To make a good film, the first thing you need is a good costume for the character, and to respect the actor / actress in what they wear and respect the source material. For instance, a good costume design would be Ben Affleck's Batman costume, and bad costume would be Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn for the way it deminers women and the character.

 A great costume for horrror was Ridley Scott's Alien, where it is haunting in size and figure, and remains as practical effects on the alien itself, without the use of CGI. This is a sci-fi horror though, and there are many types of horror, including supernatural and for that the best costume would be the main demon in Insidious Chapter I with its creepy figure and bent legs like a stag and its sinister "Darth Maul" face and appearence. This costume is scary to the audience, just as Alien was, except Alien had people cry and puke in the cinema due to it being the first of its kind, whereas Insidious' monster and supernatural demon is something we are used to, but that does not mean we do not get goosebumps when we see it on screen. For the other horror genre, slasher, we see many examples, such as Hallowee, which is just a cheap William Shatner mask painted white, as well as in the horror film Friday the 13th with its simple hockey mask that has become iconic, and one of the most iconic, Leather Face, who wears a real man's skin as a mask and a bloody apron, and the film 'Scream' in which the killer uses a typical halloween horror mask but is widely known for its appearance in the five movies with its cloak and ghostly figure. Costumes in horror no matter what sub-genre, are very important, more so than films other than comic book films, this is because the audience is supposed to be scared not just by the story of the film, but the appearence of the killer himself, so his look is very important to create a character that the audience would not like to see looking through their window at midnight with a knife in hand.

Costumes evaluation

For filming, I wore all black and my mask, Kelsey wore a white t-shirt and black leggings, and Lucy wore a white crop top and leggings - all exactly what we were planning on wearing.

Wearing all plain black makes me look more intimidating as the killer and means that the mask stands out more on the outfit as the defining characteristic that killers have in most films. Kelsey and Lucy wearing white allows us to make dirt show up better and their exposure makes them look more vulnerable, conforming to the conventions of victims in horror films.

To improve upon this if we did it again, I think we could have made the victims' outfits dirtier with mud and more fake blood, and also tear the material to look more worn so they were even more like they'd been dragged by a murderer. To improve on my outfit as the murderer, we could have got a more used coat that looked old and torn it, as well as putting more fake blood on the clothes. This would have made it more graphic and conform to the horror genre.

Practical: killer's mask

Inspiration

This mask will be reminiscent of the mask worn by The Scarecrow in Batman Begins. We think that this is effective because it is easy to make but still looks scary and makes the killer look more insane.

Things I needed:
- hessian sack
- needle and black thread
- scissors
- fake blood + water + black food colouring

To start with, I had to wear the sack over my head to get the marks for where I'd cut out the eye holes. When I took it off, I cut small slits where the marks were and pulled it to make it look ripped and messy.

Next I made a long frown-like cut slightly lower than where my mouth was and pulled parts of it again. I then used the black thread to sew up the mouth like the Scarecrow's with varying lengths of the thread for each line. When I got to the end, I went back over the lines again to make them thicker so they're easier to see.

 

 

 

 

Finally, I mixed a few drops of fake blood with a little bit of water and added black food colouring to make it darker. This would make a 'blood stain' that I spattered over the mask so it looked old, used and ultimately gorier.

 

 

 

I was happy with the finished product as it was easy to make and looks effective. However, it took a long time to sew the lines in, and the pictures I took make the blood stains look lighter and pinker, so I will have to make it even darker. Also, I may add more stitches scattered over the mask to be more like the Scarecrow's because it looks too new and not messy enough.

Costume ideas / inspiration

Killer

The killer in our film opening will wear clothes conforming to the conventions of costumes in a horror film. I own a pair of black combat boots that were originally my brother’s when he did cadet training, but he gave them to me after. I can use these to scuff up and make them messy and spatter blood on like they have never been cleaned.

Again conforming to the genre, black jeans and a black t-shirt will be worn that I can make look ripped, and a black jacket will be worn over the top.

Drawing our main inspiration for the mask from the Scarecrow in Batman Begins, a hessian sack will be used, torn in some areas and sewn up roughly just like the Scarecrow’s. Blood can be spattered on it to make it dirty and look like it is always worn, even after the bodies are brought back to the lair.

This is a very easy costume and will take no time at all to make, and will also look like an effective killer’s costume where the identity is hidden behind the mask.

Victim(s)

The main character and the victim of our piece will be in simple, casual clothing. Kelsey will wear leggings or jeans and a light coloured t-shirt. Her hair will be scruffy and matted by mud or blood, showing that she has been dragged there. This is the simplest outfit that we could think of, easy to make and will make her look as vulnerable as possible in the casual, soft clothing. In the lair, Kelsey will have bare feet and runs out, so she will be running in the field with no shoes on.

As for Lucy (who will be a previous victim in the lair), she will be inside and can wear clothing that makes her look more exposed to harm and doesn't have any sort of guard. She will wear leggings and a white crop top.

These are inexpensive outfits that have a lot of effect as they conform to the horror genre and highlight the vulnerability of each of them. Also, the bodies wearing similar clothing is effective as it shows that the killer thinks that they’re all the same and all there for the same reason.

Deconstruction of costumes in horror films

Killer

 

In a typical horror film, the killer wears dark clothes, mainly black with a feature that stands out against the rest of the outfit. In some cases, they also carry their weapon (if it is a slasher horror) and it has blood dripping on it.
 

For example, in Scream, the killer wears a long black cloak, black gloves and carries a dagger with them with blood on it, like they have just murdered someone. The defining characteristic is the scream mask that is the image of the painting called scream, where the face is long and the mouth is gaping open wide. This is effective because it is all very dark and adds to the sense of danger, and the mask being reflective of the famous painting adds creativity and an art-like style, suggesting that what they’re doing is like art.
 

In A Nightmare on Elm Street, the killer has many defining features. They wear a green and red striped jumper, a dark brown fedora, and have a unique glove that has long, sharp claws for each finger – like Edward Scissorhands. His by far most prominent feature is his skin on his face. It is like he has no skin and it is just showing the muscles underneath, or like he has many cuts and gashes on his face, also with rotting teeth. The outfit would be easy to recreate however the makeup would take a long time and would therefore not be effective for us to use.
 

The killer in the film ‘Halloween’ has a very simple outfit of just a navy blue jumpsuit. This is paired with an expressionless white mask that looks like a human face but is plain with no real emotion shown, so the killer seems to look like they lack remorse and feel nothing from killing. The hair is swept back and looks slightly messy. Overall this costume is very easy to recreate while still being effective by looking very scary.



 

Victim(s)

 

Contrasting to the killer in these films, the victim always seems to be wearing something casual and comfortable, possibly lightly coloured, that makes them look vulnerable.

In Scream, the victim wears a comfortable, light brown jumper and has short blonde hair and little makeup that makes her look softer and in a cosy environment. The colour is also lighter suggesting that it is easier to make blood show up to add gore.

The victim in A Nightmare on Elm Street also has blonde hair but more makeup, conforming to the pattern of the victim being a pretty blonde girl. She has a light blue top on that is tight to sexualise her more. This again reflects the idea that blood will show up, leaving a more horrific impact on the audience.

This time the victim has slightly darker hair and looks a few years older. She, again, wears a light blue long sleeved shirt that is rolled up at the sleeves. The shoulder of the shirt is torn where she has a cut there which obviously tore the shirt.

These victims’ costumes are extremely easy to replicate because we will just need to get soft, light clothing and make them look torn and messy, which is what we had in mind anyway.