Low Budget Film and Video Tips 5: Costumes

From Horror Flicks to Fantasy

You may not be Peter Jackson with a "Lord of the Rings" budget, but that does not mean that you cannot create realistic makeup and costumes within your budget. With some practice and lots of imagination, your film can reflect your artistic vision of an insectoid alien world, an 18th century swashbuckling caper, or an edgy urban tale.

Before you begin purchasing costumes, do a hefty amount of research about your film's historical location and time period. Of course, for science fiction, many of these ideas will come entirely from your imagination, but even science fiction and fantasy worlds are derived from well-known comic books, conspiracy theories, novels, fairy tales, and science. Think about your characters and location logically. For example, if your main character is a female solder in 1764 New England, what difficulties would she have to face hiding her true identity? What costume and makeup considerations would you have to think about to make the story more convincing? If your alien warriors are derived from nuked cockroaches, what do they use to communicate? Should their antennae be enhanced to demonstrate this? Where would a peasant or a noble live in a Germanic village a thousand years ago? Was does the color red or blue mean in the various cultures represented in your film?

Once you have a done your research, begin some concept drawings of costumes, landscapes, and makeup. After discussing ideas with your creative team, narrow down your focus and decide on what is most important. For instance, Peter Jackson emphasized the detailing of the main characters and prominent extras' costumes, but relegated the hundreds of extras in the distance to simplified masks and basic costuming. Will your main characters be getting wet, fighting hand to hand combat, kissing, or be covered in ooze? How will that affect costuming and makeup choices? Will you need multiple versions of each costume?