When studying film and examining costume, follow these pointers: l Describe the costume.
l What material is used and what does it suggest? For example, velvet suggests wealth, leather suggests toughness, lace suggests formality or femininity.
l Does the character wear this costume all the time? Perhaps the character wears one type of clothing at the beginning of the film but another towards the end.
l Does the costume empower or limit the character? l Does the costume reflect the character’s personality or their profession?
l Does the costume make the character appear happy or sad, or some other emotion?
Choose one costume from your studied film and write a paragraph describing why it is important to the character and plot.
Make-Up and Special Effects
A film’s make-up and special effects crew are vital in bringing a character to life. Make-up artists can create the effect of flesh-eating skin diseases, gashes on a victim’s head or even alien features. They work alongside the special effects team, who create prosthetic limbs, face masks and computer-enhanced features.
Look up ‘Voldermort’s Makeup from Deathly Hallows: Part 1’ on YouTube to see the power of special effects and make-up. In your opinion, how does the make-up and special effects enhance the character of Voldemort?
FABULOUS FILM
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Fun FAct
The character of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings was digitally created using thirteen cameras pointed at different sensors attached to actor Andy Serkis’ costume.
