Pre-Production: Costume fitting

Costume fitting

We decided to complete a costume fitting with our cast in order to visually see what costumes work well on each individual, or which outfits do not meet our expectations, but also as a group we wanted to notably see whether particular hairstyles and makeup were successful or not. A costume fitting is essentially arranged to allow the character to meet the design. However, for our fitting, we were missing some small details, such as hoop earrings, small necklaces and ripped tights, although this was not a big problem. Similarly, two of our cast members, ‘Victoria Van Bruegel’ and ‘Emma Bokken’ we’re not able to attend this fitting and therefore we rapidly gathered two extra girls. Due to this, we understand a further test shoot is needed next week with all the correct details and accurate cast members to gather a closer representative test of our final product. However, with a bit of rearranging, mixing and matching costumes between the girls, our costume fitting went to plan and our intentions were met.

Juli

For example, firstly, for our main cast member, Juli, we made her try on many different outfits in order for us to see the best results. Finally, we placed her in khaki dark green, long pegged trousers, a black, lace basic crop top along with a dark green, furry, long jacket. We felt this outfit worked well and was aesthetically pleasing as when Juli tried the green jacket, she immediately gained a sense of authority, intimidation and maturity. This was our intention look for Juli as she needed to stand out from the other members. However, we felt for her jewellery, she needed silver rings, a black choker, and silver hooped earrings. Similarly, her hair will maintain throughout as the bobbled ponytail showed good results.

Charlotte

Charlotte's outfit fell to minor struggles as we were all fond of her first outfit she tried on, consisting of the woollen, turtleneck jumper and blue-patterned dress, however this outfit fell random. For example, this outfit was too young and looked very sweet instead of our intentional ice, cool look for our girls, therefore we need to alter this. This outfit also stuck out amongst our other girls and we disliked this. Therefore, we altered this and allowed Charlotte to try on our other back up costume, consisting of the low, cut, velvet, short dress and this suited her best. Alongside this, Charlotte will wear ripped black tights and similarly for her jewellery we feel she should have a small necklace or bracelet and a nose ring. Similarly, two French plaits worked well amongst her auburn hair.

Louisa

Our third cast member, Louisa, swapped costumes numerous of times but eventually ended and best suited the outfit of the shiny, silver, sparkly skirt with a black, simple crop top. This look fitted well with other members of the group and generally worked successfully. Although, her top might change to a black lace one considering on how it will look. However, we wish to embrace one of our colours on our colour scheme, of silver and try a silver jacket with her outfit. We feel Louisa should have a small necklace and effectively keep her hair in two space buns, falling onto the ice, cool look.

Victoria (Fleur)

As we our original, correct cast member Victoria could not attend this fitting, our extra friend Fleur stood in for her and took on the role. Although Fleur and Victoria are different sizes it was still effective to see what worked and what didn’t. As we are aware, Fleur is a lot smaller and more petite then Victoria the outfit still worked. We placed Fleur in the silver, shiny, t-shirt dress which worked a treat. No problems were raised with this fitting and therefore this was an easy visually pleasing look. However, we intend for Victoria to wear black fish-net tights with this outfit and bracelets. Similarly, Victoria’s hair will be down so we didn’t need to test this.

Emma (Ellie)

Our last model, Ellie was standing in for Emma. Considering their different sizes, it was still good to notably see our intentions and plans. For example, we primarily suited Ellie in the elaborated, white top with the silver, holographic, shiny skirt, however this did not work. The top fell unflattering and the silver skirt clashed with other member’s outfits. Therefore, we altered her outfit and allowed Ellie to try the bottle green, transparent, long, t-shirt dress and this fell to success. However, we plan to supply a denim black skirt and black leotard underneath the green long t-shirt dress. As this outfit is quite detailed already, we felt no accessories were needed for this outfit. Emma’s hair will also be down as we feel this will be best suited for her.  

Overall, throughout the test shoot, our models were very patient and therefore this was very beneficial for my group and I as it sped up the process and allowed a sense of relief for our choice of models. For instance, this was also good to see as on shoot day our cast members will be hopefully be patient throughout and therefore we will not need to worry as much about them. This costume fitting test was also successful as we gained further time to work with our cast members and to get to know them, allowing them to become more confident and comfortable, potentially leading to a better performance. At the end of the fitting, we took a group photo to visually see if the costumes worked well together or not. As a group we notably thought Charlotte and Ellie look considerably sweeter and young then our other members and this was not the look we are going for, so therefore with the correct costumes, makeup, hairstyle and accessories our team will work well together and meet our demands. However, our cast members look good together and our pre-productive aspects seem to be successfully falling in place. We decided, a further test shoot with our actual cast and altered costumes would be beneficial and therefore we will arrange this.