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Gracen Kay

Entertainment Technology

Mr. Johnson

9 September 2019

Annotated Bibliography

How Characters are Developed Through Costume and Makeup

“Costume Design: Defining Character.” ​Teachers Guide-Costume Design​, The David​ ​C.

Copley Center for the Study of Costume Design, UCLA., 2014, ​g

https://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/teachersguide-costumedesign-2015.pdf

This textbook chapter is all about how costumes can define a character. The chapter talks about

the process that a costume designer goes through in order to create costumes. Costume designers

work to tell a story through a costume. They study every aspect of the script to design costumes

that are accurate to the character type, time period, and setting. They research newspapers,

paintings, yearbook photos, and magazines to try make the costumes fit the screenplay. They also

are able to add their own artistic touches. Every costume designer must research the character and

script before creating their costumes.

This textbook chapter fits in with my mastery because my mastery topic focuses on how

characters are developed through their costumes and makeup. This source will also help me during

my filming process when I’m writing characters and planning costumes and makeup.
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Freedman, Jeri. ​Makeup and Styling in TV and Film​. Cavendish Square, 2019.

This book focuses on what sort of makeup is used in film, from special effects to light

touch ups. Makeup artists use prosthetics, cosmetics, and countless other tools to turn actors into

their characters. Just like costume designers study the script and characters in order to accurately

portray the director’s vision, makeup artists do the same. They research time periods and what the

character will be doing to create an illusion with makeup. They are able to create gills for actors

playing mermaids and snouts for actors playing beasts. They’re also able to make actors look older

or younger depending on the role. Makeup artists work to create a character.

This book will be helpful to me in my senior mastery because while costuming is a large

component of my mastery, makeup is also another important piece. I love costuming and I feel

passionate about it, but makeup is something that I’m excited to learn more about. Hopefully with

the information I learned from this book, I can get better at creating characters with makeup.
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Henson, Jim, director. ​Labyrinth​. 1986.

This movie has some of the most beautiful costumes in all of cinematic history. The detail

of the costumes is insane and the characters are shaped largely by the costumes. ​Labyrinth​ is one

of the most classic 80’s fantasy films to ever exist. The different characters and settings create

some of the most beautiful costume designs in history. The costumes and makeup of Jareth the

Goblin King, played by David Bowie, were heavily based off of rock stars with their teased hair,

dramatic eye makeup, and tight clothing. The main protagonist, Sarah, wears a casual 80’s look of

jeans, a blouse, and a vest, but her classic ball gown outfit is a trademark of the film. The ball

gown is huge, the skirt alone has 6 layers of different fabrics from cotton to cellophane. The ball

gown, in the film, made Sarah seem of high importance at the ball and made her fit to dance with

Jareth. Her outfit, along with the Goblin King, made them stand out as royalty.

This movie is a huge inspiration for me. The costumes, specifically the ball gown Sarah

wears and Jareth’s blue-green coat are so detailed and they make the characters so much more

fleshed out. I want to use this movie as a reference when talking about how to develop a character

through their costumes.

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Crist, Brianne. “The Art of Costuming: Interpreting the Character through the Costume

Designer’s Eyes.” ​Digital Commons,​ 2014,

https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/honors/443

This article is about how characters written in the script and envisioned by the director can

be interpreted through a costume designer, and how they create costumes. A costume designer’s

job is to create an illusion for the audience. They create pieces that make the audience believe that

the characters are in that setting and time period. They do this by listening to the director’s vision,

researching the script thoroughly, and also researching the character themselves. Clothing can tell

the audience what purpose the character has. A character in all black robes with sharp, angular

details tells us they’re powerful and maybe even a villain. A character in an all-white ball gown

with lace and pearls tells us they’re innocent and good. Color, personality, class, texture, age, and

gender are all factors that costume designers need to take into consideration.

This article is similar to the textbook that I sourced above. It will help me when I first begin

writing a script and creating a character. I can use the steps that a real costume designer uses to

create costumes for the character’s I write.

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Landis, Deborah Nadoolman. ​Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design.​

Harpercollins, 2011.

This book is a collection of the most famous costumes in films from the 20th century.

Costume design in Hollywood has changed so drastically over the last century, but at the same

time, the process is about the same. Designers research and slave over garments until they’re

perfect for the character and the director is happy with what the designers have created. Even in

the early 1900s in films like ​Cleopatra a​ nd ​The Rise of Susan,​ costumes were elaborate and an

important part of the filmmaking process. It’s been a known fact since costume design first

began that characters are developed through what they wear.

I will use this book in my senior mastery as inspiration for creating costumes for my

characters. When writing a script and creating characters, I need to take into account the time

period and setting, so I can use films and costumes that were created in the specific time period

I’m writing about.

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Ross, Gary, director. ​The Hunger Games.​ 2012.

This movie has two distinct styles of costumes, the costumes used in the districts and the

costumes used in the capital. The costumes in the districts are more earth-toned and simple to

represent the lower class and the working class. The costumes in the capital are more flamboyant

and bright because it represents the upper class and luxury. The costume designer took into

consideration the time period of the movie (the future) and also the type of industry that the

district was centralized around. For example, district 2 had more fishing-style costumes because

it’s the fishing district, and district 7 had lumberjack costumes because timber was their industry.

The costumes of the capital were gaudy and excessive because the capital was all about living in

luxury.

This film is helpful to me for my senior mastery because the type of costumes that the

designer created were specific to the location of the characters and their socio-economic status.

The world building process that the scriptwriters go through is also useful to the costume

designers because they are able to create costumes based on the world the director envisions.
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Aria. “Sarah's Labyrinth Ball Gown: A Costume Study Pt. 1.” ​Aria Couture,​ 17 Apr. 2019,

ariacouture.com/sarahs-labyrinth-ball-gown-a-costume-study.

This article was written by a lady who went to the Museum of Pop Culture. She designs a

lot of clothing and analyzes fashion pieces. Sarah’s gown from Labyrinth was on display and

Aria examined it. The skirt is 6 layers of all different fabric, and the outer layer of the skirt and

bodice is this iridescent cellophane that was cheap in the 80s and expensive nowadays. From a

distance, the dress looks intricate and expensive, however with a closer glance, the fabric is

cheap, the seams are an easy zigzag and most of them are temporary, and the gems on it are

plastic. Also, Jim Henson loved to use feathers so most of the flowers that Jennifer Connolly

wore were not fake flowers but feathers.

I can use the knowledge of this dress in my senior mastery. It shows people that even

though costumes look expensive and impossible to make, they’re actually a lot simpler than you

would expect. Small tricks and cheap craft supplies can make a costume stand out and make it

striking.
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Nance, Deirdra Rhianna. “An Analysis of Fashion and Costume Design Processes.”

Repository Home​, 13 Aug. 2009, repository.lib.ncsu.edu/handle/1840.16/2905.

This paper gives a lot of good information about fashion in general. It has vocab words

that costume designers need to be aware of and familiar with in order to succeed in their field.

And also just like the rest of my sources, they give the process a costume designer goes through

when creating a costume. This paper also determines the difference between a fashion designer

and a costume designer. It also gives an in depth description of the two jobs and what their

separate responsibilities. A fashion designer makes clothing for stores and the general public, or

specific models while a costume designer works with a film/theater crew and creates outfits for a

character. They still involve sewings and designing a garment but they’re making clothing for

two different reasons.

I can use this research paper in my senior mastery because costuming is a large part of

my mastery. I can talk about what costume design is and basic vocabulary that I used when

creating a costume. It gives me a more professional look if I know vocabulary and exactly what

I’m talking about instead of just rambling.

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Tejero, Alba. “Crimson Peak: Dressing Edith Cushing. The Butterfly.” ​Crimson g​

Peak: Dressing Edith Cushing. The Butterfly​, The Costume Vault, 21 Nov. 2015, ​g

costumevault.blogspot.com/2015/11/crimson-peak-dressing-edith-cushing.html.

Crimson Peak is another movie that I believe has some of the most beautiful costume

design. The attention to color and style is amazing and it fits in so well with the time period and

the setting. Edith Cushing, the main character, changes clothing based on her mood and the

setting. For example, at the party, Edith wears a cream-colored silk gown that drapes across the

floor and has pearls draped across it to show that she’s graceful and elegant. The villain of the

film is also in this scene and she wears a blood red dress to contrast Edith. When Edith moves to

Allerdale, she slowly starts to wear more gothic style clothing. Her “Nancy Drew” dress is

mustard yellow and was made to resemble a canary in the coal mine. The special effects of this

movie are also amazing. The red ghosts aren’t special effects or computer generated, they’re

actually people with twisted red prosthetics all over their bodies.

I want to use this dress and makeup like I’m using Labyrinth, except Crimson Peak is

R-rated so I won’t be able to show clips. The detail and thought put into the costume and makeup

is something really unique that I’ve only seen from a handful of modern horror/fantasy films.

They think about the mood and what the character is representing in the scene and I want to use

that knowledge when making my costumes.

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Brown, Susan. ​Fashion : The Definitive History of Costume and Style.​ 1st ed., DK

Publishing, Inc.

This book is basically a large edition of costumes and fashion throughout history and the

importance of the styles that developed. There are important style icons that are listed and their

styles are taken apart and examined. It also shows how fashion changed based on where people

lived, for example, royalty in Egypt wore lighter, gold clothing while royalty in Scandinavia

wore darker furs and heavier metals. Lower classmen of Egypt wore simpler linen tunics and

shorts and lowerclassmen of Scandinavia wore thicker cotton pants and dresses. Costume

designers can use this book when researching the time period and setting that the script takes

place so that they can create costumes that are accurate to the film.

I can use this book for my senior mastery because even though it’s targeted more towards

fashion design, it gives good information about historical fashion and its significance. I want my

fashion pieces to not only reflect the characters I write into my films, but also the setting and

time period that I write.