Costume research

Costumes 

Costume design is the fabrication of clothing for the overall appearance of a character or performer. Costume is specific in the style of dress particular to a nation, a class, or a period. The most basic designs are produced to denote status, provide protection or modesty, or simply decorate a character.

Period Dramas 

In period dramas clothing not only establishes the time period in which it is for example in the film Pride & Prejudice we know it is set in the 18th century due to the corsets and long elligent dresses, but also let the audience know the status and class of the characters due to the quality of the clothing. For example in the musical Les Miserable Fantines costumes show her decent from factory worker to consumptive prostitute, it shows her at times wearing dirty mended clothes which reflect her characters position in society. The people within these films wear clothing suitable for the time as a mini skirt would be highly inappropriate for a woman in the 18th century whilst it is considered a norm today. Men in period dramas can be seen wearing clothing appropriate for the culture as in the film Braveheart the protagonist wears a kilt and wears large amounts of leather as protection for when he is in battle. 

SCI-FI Films

In Sci-fi films costumes heavily insinuate the genre as they implie when and where the film is set. As characters may wear simplistic and highly technological clothing, or a costume which would be considered "out of this world." In this genre a chrome color pallet is usually used along with lots of clean looking block colors. For example in the film The Matrix most of the characters can be seen in all black and leather. The black could hint the seriousness and mystery of the characters within the film. In the film Avatar there is a contrast of clothing from the characters human clothing and his alien clothing. To fit in Jake wears things such a beaded necklaces and warpaint to fit in with the culture he is trying to get infiltrate, compared to his bland t-shirt and trousers as a human. In RoboCop the protagonist wears a big mechanical suit to show his robotic nature and the advancement of human technology. In the very popular series Star Wars the iconic clone troopers wear white prosthetic suits, they all match to show the uniformity of the Empires army and how the soldiers have no individuality. The modernness and alien look to the suit relates to the sci-fi genre.  

Post-Apocalyptic Films

The clothing expected to be in post apocalyptic films is outfits that have been over worn and look dirty from the harsh environment. Quite frequently they show a lack of resources and are quite practical to help the characters survive. 

In The Book Of Eli Denzel Washington's character Eli is seen to be wearing very brown dirty looking outfit, it has many holes in it from his time wandering the wasteland and the many fights he has endured. In the opening sequence he is wearing a gas mask which could imply the toxicity of the air in his environment, which creates a narrative enigma as the audience will wonder how the Earth became the way it did. As the film goes on we notice that all of the people in the film wear some form of eye protection, this hints at the backstory of how the apocalypse came to be as it is said that nuclear bombs blew a hole in the sky meaning all that the suns impact became more intense. The female lead is never oversexualised in her costumes, always wearing practical layers to protect her against the sun and is never heavily made up with make up as that would not be appropriate to the setting. 

In the film 28 Days later the costumes are less important to genre then The Book Of Eli as the film is about a set in the city of London instead of a wasteland in America and The Book Of Eli is also set in the future whilst 28 Days Later was set present years. The costume design in the film is simple but effective. They tell the protagonists situation from when he wakes up looking vulnerable in a hospital gown to later in the film where he is also animalistic, going on a killing spree wearing next to nothing but covered in blood. The infected are wearing the clothing they where turned but their outfits a unkemt and bloodstained. In a way this is a sad feature of the film as it shows that the zombies where once people with an identity, maybe this is done intentionally by the designer.  

In The Road all the characters have filthy looking attire, as they have to endure the harsh environment and the luxury of cleaning systems seem to exist or even seem important. The protagonist looks homeless with is thick messy beard and dirty outfit, this could be done on purpose to show the impact of the apocalypse as it has left people with no homes and they are left wandering along the road.