{"id":119713,"date":"2019-09-04T06:00:37","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=119713"},"modified":"2019-09-03T10:59:26","modified_gmt":"2019-09-03T15:59:26","slug":"simple-filmmaking-costume-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/simple-filmmaking-costume-design\/","title":{"rendered":"From “True Lies” to “Die Hard”: Simple-Yet-Brilliant Costume Designs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are two simple-yet-brilliant examples of how costume design can convey \u2014 and even dramatically transform \u2014 a character\u2019s arc.<\/h2>\n

Costume design is critical in film and video production. While some characters and scripts don\u2019t call for anything special, the characters still need to look a certain way. A fifteen-year-old girl in 1997 wouldn’t dress the same as a forty-five-year-old man in 1939. Sometimes, costume design is either very overstated (with ridiculous or over-the-top outfits) or terribly overlooked (with characters dressed too similarly or just not representing their personalities or ages).<\/p>\n

Costume design is necessary because it helps convey who the characters are. So, when a character starts dressing differently, this can be a critical moment in their development \u2014 when handled correctly. But your costume design doesn\u2019t have to be crazy complicated to pull this off.<\/p>\n

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True Lies<\/a><\/h3>\n

In James Cameron<\/a>\u2019s 1994 action-romance-comedy True Lies<\/em>, Jamie Lee Curtis<\/a> plays the epitome of a dorky, bored housewife. Throughout the film, her clothes are brown, drab, and frumpy. True, the style in the ’90s was pretty baggy, but her clothes aren’t flattering at all.<\/p>\n

Compare her fashion to the film\u2019s femme fatale, Juno Skinner (played by Tia Carrere<\/a>). Juno\u2019s clothes aren\u2019t terribly revealing, but her clothes are tailored to fit her form, which reveals her figure. As Jamie Lee Curtis said, “Juno Skinner is everything Helen Tasker isn\u2019t.”<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>

Image via True Lies<\/em>.<\/p><\/div>\n

However, when Helen gets a secret mission to pose as a prostitute and dance for an arms dealer, she chooses the sexiest outfit she owns. The outfit is ridiculous, with frilly lace collars, sleeves, and accents. It\u2019s like someone dyed a Disney princess\u2019s dress black. But watch the clip and see what happens.<\/p>\n