TASK: To come up with the plot in order to decide what costumes we need

Written after discussions with Pete, where he said to come up with the plot in order to make elements such as costume come into place:

''Make a costume plot. Who is where, how many, work around 500 budget. Need to come from the same universe. Creepy not romantic. Masks good for doubles and quick changes. 1 becomes 2 becomes 4. Trick audience. Get a box of tricks to play with.

Doubles/chorus eg 4 nuns
The monsters aren't totally referencial so they have accents of the tropes. Eg the chainsaw is a signifier.

Each protagonist has their own fear. Then they get separated and isolated into separate rooms. Where the monsters come out according to the protagonist and the set matches the fear too.

So the monsters and set of the room match up to the fears of the protagonist.

Eg one has insomnia and issues sleeping so their monster is in a head mask and a smock. They could come out from beds and just walk across stage if we don't want a full plot for them. Set is bedroom, fear is sleeping, monster is vicorian smocked person with sleeping bonnet. Flashbacks are just in dark unable to sleep.

Another protagonist a fear around morals re religion, regrets around not living the way they should be so their monster is nuns. They could do a black mass.
Need flashbacks and dialogue to show their fear. Set could be like a church. (Surreal house)

Their fears are projected onto their monsters and they see what they don't want to.''

From this, we discussed it as a class with the editors of the film and it was decided what the exact visuals and plot would be. It meant the costumes were now clear to decide, how many and what they were. I enjoyed this way of working although struggled at first, as it was interesting to see how costumes can push the whole plot narrative and design. It took me a while to figure out this was what was necessary as usually i design costumes after being given a script and plot. This was in reverse but i enjoyed pushing my boundaries in doing so.

COLLECTIVE This page is part of the collection 'UNIT 9'.

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