Costume lesson 06/10/14

06/10/14 

In todays lesson we started off by looking at the aspects of costume design. We started off by looking at a video from the National Theatre and how their costuming works. 
The video stated that in big companies the designer researches the character and the script and all sorts of background information. They then will meet with the people who will then make the costumes and have meeting on them on producing the costume. It is generally with the bigger companies that the designers will not be the ones who make the costumes but will have regular meetings on the process and how the costumes are coming along.
After watching that initial video, we then spoke about what is a costume bible? A costume bible is what contains all the information about the show. Every show will have a costume bible and the things that are included in it are:

Example of The Costume Bible

• Sketches
• Fabric Samples
• Costume plot
• Research of character
• Research of the play
• Research of the period and where it is set
• Age of character
• Actors measurements
• Records of meetings with the rest of the team ; Actors, Directors
• Make notes of lighting - lighting affects costume colours on stage
• Make up
• Cost and prices of fabrics

After our introduction to the lesson about the aspects of costume design and how this is what we should have for when we are designing costumes for the upcoming shows that the college are doing, it was then time to continue making our hat for our mini design unit and present it to the rest of the class. 

The final stages of the making process were to cover the rest of the helmet in the brown tape and then cover the rest of the horns in the yellow tape. After that was done we were able to pop the balloon and then we were left with the helmet. We then realised that the inside of the hat was sticky so we then had to stick some newspaper in the inside of the hat so that it wasn't sticky anymore. After that we then attached the horns to the helmet with some hot glue and tape. Once the horns were attached we then added the final detail of the grey tape to the helmet to create the last detail, it was then time to present our hat to the class.  

During our presentation we spoke about the requirements and considerations for our hat in relation to our brief. 


Appropriateness: We believe that our costume is appropriate to childrens theatre because it is easily recognised to be a viking. My sister is 4 and she instantly recognised that this hat was meant for a viking. Historically Viking helmets would not have horns however through education and children friendly learning vikings with horns is easily associated. It is big and bold and is appropriate to childrens learning and understanding because it is instantly recognisable. The materials used are appropriate for children as they are only card, tape and newspaper which are all children friendly. 

Personality of character: The personality of the character is seen through the hat in its coloring. We first designed the horns to be a red colour but then we changed our initial idea because red can be associated with bad and evil and our character that we designed the hat for is the hero of the story so we decided to change the colour to a bright bold happy yellow which can be associated with a nice character. 
The size of the hat is very large which can reflect on the fact that the Viking is supposed to be very important part to his tribe as he is the leader. So the size can emphasise his importance as it is very big and bold. The yellow colour can also be seen as a regal colour of gold which can also reflect on his importance.
Our brief stated to create a hat for an angry viking, we created his background story that he was angry within the story because a dragon stole his axe. The hat however doesn't necessarily show that he is angry however it is quite a fearsome looking hat.

Social Status of character: The social status of the character is that he is very well respected and the leader of his tribe/cult. He is very regal and important and this can be seen in the size of the helmet and the golden regal colour of the horns

Actors Measurements: Josh - 22.6 inches/57.4 cm

Physical movement of character: Depending on what sort of movement that the actor may do in this hat it is very stable on Josh's head and doesn't move very much and is a very good fit, however if it was to be used on stage and he needed to jump around a lot or do a lot of physical movement then there is the opportunity to add an elastic band to the helmet to put round the chin of the actor if it doesn't feel stable.

Suitable Materials/Fabric: The materials are suitable as they are children friendly and not harmful as they are neither sharp or dangerous. The materials are quite fun and give a good handmade look.

What Period: 8th-11th Century

Josh Modelling our hat