Research: Mise En Scene - Costume, Hair and Make-up - Mrs. Quinlan

Costume, Hair and Make-up

What are costume, hair and make-up and how can it help with character representation and understanding?

Costumes are used in thrillers to help the audience understand more about the character and it guides the audience's attention to particular personalities or traits. Usually, different costumes have different representations. It is a very important convention as it stops the audience from getting confused between protagonists and antagonists, especially as in thrillers protagonists don't generally 'follow the rules', some may even be anti-heroes. Examples are, if a character is wearing light colours, it captures attention and therefore can connote innocence. Whereas dark colours do not seek attention and it can portray the character as sad or closed off. Different costumes have different representations, for example if a protagonist wears a suit, it can come across as smart, strong and wealthy, the character could be a detective with power, knowledge and experience. Similarly this can apply to antagonists wearing suits, although it can be used to portray wealth or for persuasion and to impress people, by extension to deceive people as you would expect an antagonist to wear darker, more casual clothes. 

Hair and make-up is used to present the character and their mood or emotions, for example an antagonist would have pale makeup so they do not stand out. Whereas a protagonist would have makeup making them stand out and look more attractive as the audience will be more comfortable with the protagonist this way.

Costume, hair and makeup does vary by thriller sub genre. For example, in a science fiction thriller, characters may be wearing space suits or very light clothing so that they can be seen, also the designs will be very different from the conventional thrillers. In action thrillers, characters may wear leather jackets or darker outfits in general as there will be fight sequences or sequences where a lot of running is involved and therefore they will not want to gain attention. Makeup varies as in horror films, characters will generally be more pale as they need to show fear therefore the appropriate makeup will be used. 

Stereotypical victims, protagonists and antagonists

This still from It Follows (2014) shows a stereotypical victim. She is a white, blonde young girl who appears to be a hostage. She is wearing light coloured clothing to present innocence, no or very little makeup is used to show the bags under her eyes which clearly show that she is distressed, as well as her hair being messed up to demonstrate that she is being abused and is not comfortable in the position she is in. Her lack of clothes also could suggest that she is or will be sexually abused, this gives the audience a very strong uneasy reaction as they sympathise towards the victim. This is stereotypical for a horror thriller as the woman is clearly a victim, makeup is used to make her look as if she has been abused, and her costume is stereotypical for a victim and is therefore stereotypical for a horror.

In this still from Prisoners (2013) we see a man who is a typical protagonist. His hair is cut well and he is clean shaven, this shows that he is an organised man and has certain goals he needs to accomplish. As well as this, he is wearing a mixture of dark and light clothing, the light clothing is to stand out and the darker clothing is to show that he is bold or brave, from this we can assume that he is a detective of some sort. The audience should feel trust towards him as he is clearly not the antagonist. In this mystery thriller their costumes are stereotypical as the clothing is stereotypical for a detective, as he is has a clean look which shows order and this is reassuring as this is what is needed in a mystery thriller.

This still from John Wick (2014), we can observe a typical antagonist. He is wearing all black clothing which can represent darkness, he is trying not to draw attention to himself, possible due to the fact he has bad intentions. We can see that his hair is scruffy and he has facial hair, this shows that he does not care about himself much and does not care what other people think of him, this can present a big ego or vanity. He also has his hoodie up which can be quite intimidating, for further diversion of attention. The audience would feel intimidated when seeing him and uneasy as this character's presentation is generally unpleasant to look at.  This costume hair and makeup is stereotypical for an action thriller as the black costume and the hoodie being up can be intimidating and this is very effective for an action thriller.

Scene Analysis

This is a still from the film Se7en (1995) which clearly shows two protagonists and one antagonist. The antagonist is wearing a plain orange jumpsuit which is the biggest factor which we can deduce that he is the antagonist, it is orange to show he is a criminal and he would be wearing the same colour as other criminals, there is nothing special about him. Also it diverts attention to him to show the audience that there is something wrong with him and that people should stay away. This creates suspense for the audience and gives them a frightened reaction. The protagonists behind him are both wearing multiple coloured clothing to show that they are wearing whatever they want, they aren't the bad ones yet they are wearing suits. This can demonstrate that they are smart, strong and have knowledge and experience. The contrast between the two protagonists can also suggest that they have different goals. The protagonist on the right has a very stern look on his face as well as his dark clothing which can suggest he does not want any attention drawn to him, he is making his police badge on his waist very visible to establish authority as he escorts the prisoner or criminal. The other protagonist is wearing lighter colours and a hat, suggesting that he does not have much at stake here and he is also looking away. The audience would naturally place a lot of trust in these two characters to show responsibility as the antagonist could do something bad, this can bring out a fearful reaction amongst the audience.

Conclusion

I have concluded from my research that for my protagonist I will use a mixture of dark and light colours, this is to convey confidence as well as to attract attention so the audience can clearly see who my protagonist is and can trust them. In contrast to this I will use dark colours alone for my antagonist to give the audience a agitated reaction as my character will be unpredictable in nature due to his or her dark tone. In addition to this my victim will wear very bright clothing to draw attention to themselves for the audience to feel sympathy towards them, this will make it clear who my victim is in my opening. In terms of makeup and hair, my protagonist and victim will have clean, styled hair to make them seem comfortable to be around and for the protagonist to look organised. My antagonist however will be very scruffy and will show that they are simple but scary with their hair.