Costumes/Codes of Dress
Protagonist:
To create a series of enigma codes and symbolic references throughout our piece, mise-en-scene was a major factor to take into account whilst planning our production.
We wanted our protagonist to be portrayed as vulnerable and innocent; but also still have a darker side to her; to make our character more radical.
We needed to create two different outfits: one for the woodland scene, the other for the party scene.
The woods has a 'ream-like' quality to it, using pale colours and the idea of entrapment, as it is the hallucinations of the girl. For this reason we decided to pick an oufit that was white as it symbolised innocene and purity. The idea of the white boots and shirt becoming dirtier as she progresses in to the woods foreshadows the danger that she is in; as her innocence is being corrupted.
The dress is floral, child-like and floaty; that of a fairytale or young child. However, it is a dark colour and starts to fall down. This presents our character as becoming more sexualised and loosing her purity; foretelling her being led upstairs by the antagonist. It also sugests the darker nature of her personality, representing her as an unconventional 'heroic' character.
The makeup used was darker aroun the eyes, exaggerating the blue that is symbolic of purity and also coldness; juxtaposing the protagonist's personality. However, a coral colour lipstck was used instead of red, to portray her innocence as still being partially intact.
A subtle feature of the costume was the broken handcuff’s. This stands as an element of foreshadowing, later on in the narrative we want our protagonist to have been tainted by an unstable past; such as a mental institution. The handcuffs represent the instability of the protagonist.
Antagonist:
We decided to make our proagonist a complete contrast of our protagonist; to show a clear divide between the binary opposites of good vs. evil.
However, we made it a little less conventional by making the 'villain' a little less conventional by making them a female instead of a male.
We dressed the antagonist in dark leather clothing, and black jeans; connoting evil, sexual power and an eminent darkness. This foreshadows the events to come; whilst also creating a divide between the purity of the protagonist, and the power of the antagonist. It also symbolises the idea of rebellion and ghastly behaviour; suggesting that this character s a mirror of what our protagonist was trying to be; but became lost in her mental state.
The makeup sed was dark eyes and red lipstick; to link the character with sexual connotations, and rebellious compared to our protagonist. The colour red connotes passion and lust, as well as danger; which coincides with the themes of our narrative; foreshadowing the events that occur throughout the piece.