Costume, Hair And Make-up Ideas

Existing Costumes in Horror:

Slasher movies consist of very specific costume choices for example the antagonist usually wears a mask to hide his identity which delivers to the audience fear the unknown, masks are also memorable therefore the audience will feel haunted by them since they reflect a demonic look. To top of the mask the antagonist usually wears heavy black, dark clothing that just enhances the fear of the person, the colour of the costume are dull which reflects the horror genre and also makes them look more sinister. 

The protagonist is usually female in horror movies. Females are most commonly the protagonist in lots of other sub-genres too, as the audience are more likely to accept a female who is terrified and screaming as she battles against the antagonist, rather than a male. Especially in the slasher genre, she usually wears sophisticated, un-revealing clothing which makes her stand out as the final girl, whilst her friends (the victims) tend to wear more provocative clothing like miniskirts and low cut tops which makes us think that they are an easy target for the antagonist. The protagonist generally tends to dress in a male fashion, but still maintaining her female qualities.  There clothing tends to be really plain and simple with dull colours as well which again reflects the horror genre.  

In supernatural horror movies, the costume tends to be very modern, which shows that the footage within the movie is recent, and could still happen to anyone. For example, paranormal activity involved a demonic spirit, which cannot be seen, until someone is possessed. The characters within the movie are generally dressed very casually, however when the antagonist takes human form, the costume changes generally to all white, but the white tends to be tainted, which perhaps blood. In movies such as The Devil Inside, the antagonist is dressed in an old fashioned grey gown, which makes her look ghostly and dull, which reflects the fact that she is possessed. 

 In supernatural horror movies, the costume tends to be very modern as it is a more modern sub-genre. In "Paranormal Activity", the characters all wear average, every day clothing similar to that which the audience may wear so as to make the "found footage" seem much more realistic and therefore more terrifying.

Our Ideas For Costume

Our movie is a supernatural, based on a possession. Our costume ideas are similar to The Devil Inside, because we feel they created a frightening antagonist look. Our antagonist, Mary, for the majority of our trailer will be wearing a very Victorian white gown to make her seem ghostly and other worldly, along with an old, rag like cardigan on top that will add a human quality to her that reinforces that the antagonist is actually human, and actually the protagonist's mother, making her more scary. The white gown obviously ages her, but the main reason for the white gown is to make her seem pure and innocent which contrasts to the demon that has possessed her.  The rest of the family are a modern twenty first century family, therefore their costume within the trailer will be casual, everyday clothing, most likely winter clothing because weather patterns in horror movies tend to be dull and cold. 

Make up in horror movies:

Make up in existing horror movies tends to be very basic for the general characters. The makeup is generally used to enhance their look for the camera, or to make them look older or younger. The antagonist usually has the most make up, to give them a distorted look, and to add flaws to their skins to add to the horror effect. Special effect make up is used in every horror movie, to create things such as cuts, bruises, scars, burns, blood etc. 

Our Ideas For Makeup

 Our makeup techniques will include aging our main actress, in order for her to look very worn out and old. Other make up techniques are very minor within our trailer. For the beginning of the trailer, three photos of the murdered victims will be shown, and we plan to use make up techniques such as gun shots or slit throats. The other characters will just have basic make up, to enhance their features and generally look good on the camera.

Hair styles in existing horror movies

Generally in horror movies, hair doesn't play a big part; this is because you can’t really do much about the hair. The protagonist has straight or wavy hair that is either tied up or if it is short it will rest on their shoulders.  This is because they want to create a plain look and so people don’t focus on the hair, they want to present a normal, everyday look. The antagonist usually has very scruffy thick hair; it is never groomed just to reflect the whole edgy side to them which again links with their overall look and the horror genre. 

In regards to hair colour, the main protagonist of horror movies tends to have brunette hair as brunettes are stereotypically smarter, and will therefore last until she is the "final girl". Darker hair also connotes a darker spirit, as those with blonde hair are seen as innocent and pure. Just as there are different connotation to hair colour, the state of the hair also says a lot about a character. Taking the two images above as examples, the image of Liv Tyler on the left shows her with well-groomed, straight hair, whereas the image of the antagonist in "The Devil Inside" has wild hair that is unkempt and straw like; the lifelessness of the characters hair often reflects the lifelessness of the characters soul. Drawing from this, we have decided to style our actress a hairstyle that is similar to that of the antagonist in "The Devil Inside".

Our Ideas for hair styles

We have decided to give our main antagonist a very rugged look; her hair would be a natural colour with streaks of grey. This is again to age our main actress and make her stand out from the main characters. The victims will have basic hair styles like pony tails or natural waves. We aim to have an actress with long hair which will allow us to use a range of hairstyles within the trailer for the protagonist.