Costume And Props Final

Resources: Costumes, props and settings This document will cover the various costumes, props and settings featured in our TV Advertisement for the soap opera FAMILY INC.

Costume Here are the all the characters and their costumes

Introduction- revisit Below we have given some information regarding elements that can be scene in all costuming for our advertisement: From the very beginning we wanted our actors to wear the clothing that they would usually wear for a school day. We chose to do this because when we discussed our actors after casting and we all agreed that the choice of clothing by our actors fitted perfectly with the soap’s characters, style and time frame. We had decided that our advert would be set on an ordinary working day in the afternoon when people would be coming home from a work. So the teachers from our school that we used were dressed for work already, for example we planned that our main character would be wearing a suit and so luckily, Mr Harris wore suits to school anyway. But also we wanted the clothing to be formal to help make our actors look more upper-class and business to reflect the families stature and link to the family business featured in the show. Also we had to consider the autumn setting that we had chosen, so having our actors wear their autumn clothing made perfect sense. In fact the autumn clothing was useful in reflecting the mood of our soap advertisement as we wanted a sad, mellow and all round dark scene that hinted to idea of death. So the cold weather clothing featured a lot of black which was perfect for conveying this mood. This was not the case for every character as we used lighter colours on our main character so that he stood out and symbolised his power or status above these other characters. Finally, it was simply convenient for the group that the actors sorted their own clothes as it saved time and effort that needed to be placed elsewhere. It could have proved difficult to get everything perfect without borrowing or maybe buying items. But everyone wore almost exactly what we wanted, so we are pleased with the outcome.

Main Character Costume for Mr Harris: Grey suit with pale pink shirt and tie. The suit immediately makes this character of important as he stands out from the rest. We want this character to appear wealthy and middle class as he is part of middle class. Also he is a particularly wealthy character, so a suit helps express this, especially as he is wearing it casually. Also he is part of a family business and suit can easily symbolise this. All of the characters apart from our main character wear black and dark and colours. This is because we wanted to create the sense that this character is different from the rest, the light colours make him seem happier and more relaxed reflecting his easy going character. But we have been sure to use a pale pink so that it still looks dulled to keep with the dark mood.

Teen 1 and 2 Costume: -Lee Carter: Ripped blue jeans, t-shirt and black hooded jumper and black hat -Connor Horton: Black fleece, black t-shirt and stonewash jeans We simply wanted these characters to look like typical teenagers and the clothing reflects this as this typical clothing for a teenager, items like these appear is the usual choice in British soaps. The incorporation of a hood makes Lee seem criminal or aggressive, as the public have often associate trouble with ‘hoodies’ as it covers the face. Also this clothing we chose is casual so that they appear separate from the middle class characters.

The kids Costume for three Chelmer valley students : School uniforms Having the shirts un-tucked and tie undone makes them look like a typical British school child to make these boys look young and childish. Which is used for effect when the boy pretends to shoot a weapon. Although the costumes and behaviour appear normal. For the audience this has a darker meaning.

Man leaving house Costume for Tom Pullen: Black skinny jeans, blue checked shirt and checked black and grey jacket This character is meant to be quite young, as was originally friends with Mr Harris but is not part of the family. So he appears in modern and fashionable clothing to reflect his age and also business connection to the family with the formal style. Also the clothes remain dark to reflect the mood and status of this character.

Woman in house

Costume for Miss Russell: Miss Russell: Black cardigan, low cut tshirt, trousers and necklace. In keeping with the dark mood and winter setting, also the all black clothing is formal for middle class buisness appearance as she is a member of the family.

Women in Car Costumes: Kim Howard: Black blazer and purple dress Abby Kennedy: Black Jacket and t-shirt Yet again a focus on black to reflect the winter and mood but Kim’s purple dress shows that she is not embroiled in the Family issues. Basically we wanted these two characters to be look young, modern and formal as it is a working day, unlike other characters Abby’s clothing is formal but more casual than the rest as she is middle class but not part of the family.

The Props

Gun Symbol of violence, aggression and a shooting, hinting to a murder.

The idea for the scene is that whilst Harris walks through the street, a boy would pretend to shoot a handgun without Harris noticing. The Gun appears to be playful and harmless as it is child playing, but for the audience it symbolises a possible murder.

The car This car has no specific meaning, the car is there to make the advertisement more interesting to watch as most people are walking around. Also we used the car as a device to reveal and trigger panning as well as working as a way of changing the audiences focus start and end of the advertisement. But having a vehicle makes it more like a normal street then as if it has been staged. The car is also newly bought and a modern model which is in keeping with the middle class family background.

The set

Street and House Street We originally set out to find a middle class setting for our story, so we wanted something similar to a small mansion to be the families home, so this meant the road would also have to be of a higher class. This was as close as we could get but it was modern and well kept and newly built which helped to generate the middle class look. Also this street is directly outside the school so getting to location was simple and quick. Finally we had sections of the street places where there were no houses, so that characters had places to stand House We had little choice with housing but on the street we had a friends who's house was equally modern to keep within the middle class theme. Positioning was perfectly situated in the middle of street so that we had enough walking room for our main character before he reached the house. Also the driveway gave us time to film Tom leaving the house before the main character arrived which led directly onto the road where our main character would come from.