Fashion

The clothing is a vital factor that needs to be carefully considered within our trailer as most of our non-linear trailer features in the past, the representation of each character needs to be considered appropriately so that it fits in with the norms and values of the society we’re attempting to express from the past. The audience will view and perceive each character featured in the trailer differently and it’s important for us to present them in the correct way, clothing and fashion will allow viewers to consider what type of individual or character they are playing. An example of this is how the audience would typically view someone wearing provocative clothing; they’d ultimately associate the clothing with someone who acts in a challenging way paired with the provocative clothing.

By creating a conventional thriller trailer it means we have to strictly stick to viewer expectations and real conventions of a thriller film, thus meaning a mysterious feel needs to be used consistently throughout to build viewer tension and excitement. By sticking to general conventions of a thriller genre we have included an antagonist and what appears to be a protagonist. Becka and I wanted to visually suggest which roles went with which characters and this would be presented in the clothing they are wearing; an example of this would be the dark clothing protagonist Jason (father) is wearing. Usually people would associate dark clothing with someone they need to watch out for, whereas challenging this would be those who are in white clothing who are usually presented as the ‘good’ or ‘innocent’ individuals. To give an indication to the viewers of the narrative and what characters would fit each role we specifically featured our antagonist in dark clothing, however we also had to ensure it fitted in with the 90’s theme as most of the trailer featured in the past.

As our trailer would be non-linear Becka and I ensured that the characters fitted in with the values and fashion sense of the modern present society and in the past scenes, I had reviewed and analysed the fashion sense of the 90’s, the internet became a vital source of secondary information and opened our minds to what we needed to achieve in order to give a give suggestion of how long in the past our main characters daughter was abducted. I heavily relied on images in order to give a visual description of what Becka and I needed to replicate, it gave me a deeper in sight of what was worn within this era of time. I’d soon discovered that the 90’s welcomed the ‘preppy’ fashion sense with open arms, the outfits consisted of groovy shirts, bright-ish colours, baggy t-shirts, denim jeans and of course Converse trainers. A lot of the clothing requirements were easily available and therefore meant we would be able to replicate a 90’s outfit with ease; the only adjustment we’d have to make is the bright colouring because we wanted to visually suggest the antagonist by his dark clothing, creating the overall pre-conceived idea of a kidnapper or stalker. To reinforce the idea of ‘stalker’ dark clothing would be essential; in any thriller film I’ve watched or analysed I’ve noticed that thrillers tend to stick to the conventional look that a viewer would expect a stalker or kidnapper to have.  

The final outfit/costume we’d chosen for main character Jason was denim jeans, converse trainers, a baggy t-shirt and a black coat, the coat needed to be worn because of the weather outside, on a cold day of course we’d expect someone to be wearing a coat, it also meant the risks of the cast being affected by the weather was kept to a minimum. We subverted the conventions of a thriller film that’s set in the past by not using sepia or black and white for the past events means that we have to alternate the fashion so that the viewers are able to see that it was a past event. We didn't want to use black and white or sepia because this could represent a negative tone, in the real scene it was the fathers happiest time of his life as he's cherished the day with his daughter, we want our viewers to know that this was the happiest time of his life therefore colour could represent this. However it means that we need to stick to the 90's theme ensuring that the costumes we use don't challenge the convention in any way, we desperately wanted to reinforce the idea of these scenes being set in the past within the 90’s.

The outfit our actor wore was being simple and reviewing back I don’t feel it gives the 90’s feel, however there isn’t anything we could have done differently due to the lack of materials, however we’d stuck to the general fashion sense of the 90’s era, additional research was supplementary and broadened our knowledge.

The change in Jason’s outfit was critical because it would show the audience that it was a change in time and events, because thriller trailers generally never expose the identity of the ‘killer’ or ‘stalker’ we had to change his appearance so that his identity would not be revealed however give a clue to the audience that two different scenes in the trailer interlink. Becka and I didn’t want to change the outfits of the main character completely because we wanted to give slight clues that the male figure in both scenes is the same person, however with a slightly deteriorated appearance due to his developing mental instability. To create a more masculine and mental look we filmed these scenes first making our actor grow a beard, the effect this would have is making him look more rugged and the typical ‘stalker’ appearance that thriller films support. We obviously don’t have great knowledge on mental people and their appearance so we gave our own impression on how we’d feel a mental male would be, the more rugged look could give the audience impression that the lack of pride in his appearance suggests his character as being disorderly.

I wasn’t completely concerned with the clothing the young actor who played ‘Annabelle’ would be wearing, as she was already the age of the girl she was playing it meant that the clothing style would be suitable for those of a 3/4 year old however little research was done on 90’s fashion for children because we felt it was insignificant as she’d be covered by her coat. The only element which needed to be exposed to identify her and ultimately create the storyline was the heart locket as this would connect the younger actor with the older one that I’d played. The young actor wore a red coat, a Hello Kitty onesie (that wasn’t exposed) and Lellie Kelly shoes; the brand wasn’t identifiable and meant that if the brand wasn’t created in the ‘past-era’ then it wouldn’t matter.

The teenage girl that features in our trailer (who is played by me) was specifically dressed in clothes that wouldn’t be seen as provocative or exposing in the slightest, we’d realised that thriller films involving abductions tend to use females that aren’t overly obvious so we wanted to recreate this by making the female look innocent to make the audience question ‘why her out of everyone?’.

The outfit we’d chosen for this character was jeans, a jumper, a leather jacket and of course the heart locket, this outfit would be something I’d generally wear to sixth form, this is effective because I’ve followed the typical fashion sense of those who are of the same age and culture as I am. Reducing the amount of colour in the outfit allowed the thriller film conventions to be reinforced because we wanted to create the dark and mysterious approach that thrillers do. 

Here is a print-screen of the outfit choices for our antagonist and youngest actor, we'd specifically filmed parts to ensure the fashion sense was exposed during the 'past' scenes.