Costume Research

The themed setting for our 2 minutes long introduction will be 1970’s America or Britain, the idea of crime fighting and criminal justice was ripe in these ages and the genre of action crime dramas was thriving during this time period, so we decided to look at some very conventional outfits used in these genres that we could tweak to contain elements of horror movie mise-en-scene while maintaining that raw authentic feel from the classic 70’s crime drama. The main conventional piece of clothing seen in a majority of crime flicks is the trench coat, the most popular colours used in these dramas are greys and browns, which help reinforce our portrayal of the horror genre as these colours are already quite dull and not very bright which helps to convey horror conventions.

A typical 70’s crime drama outfit

The detective outfit (above) shows multiple conventions of both the crime drama and thriller genre of movies set in the 70’s, the brown trench coat is very concealing, stretching down to cover the entire wearer's torso and legs, providing a sense of mystery and enigma for the viewer, they will be wondering what the character is trying to hide the whole time, the use of this costume is very effective if the film director intends to develop some form of enigma, the outfit is useful in hiding the wearer's face as well as concealing objects, it creates a classy look but can suggest action and intelligence in the character too. We have multiple options for what we want the character to wear under the trench coat, the picture above shows the character wearing a full suit under the coat, the clothes worn under the trench coat can suggest other elements of the character's background or personality, for example, a full suit under the coat can suggest to the audience that he is very sophisticated and wealthy, while the complementary trench coat is effective in showing that the character doesn’t mind getting their hands dirty. The colouring of the suit under this characters trench coat is a greyish brown which complements the light brown trench coat on top, these greyish colours can be used effectively in the horror genre because of the extensive use of conventional grey-scale washed out dark colours used in horror movies, certain props can help to add to the personality of the character and assist in developing the character stereotype of a 70’s detective. A cigar can be used in the same way as showing the picture to represent class and sophistication since in this time, the world was dominated by the hegemonic belief that men were superior and had to carry out masculine behaviours, the act of smoking is seen as masculine and conveys a sense of dominance and wealth, suggesting to the viewer that he is a successful detective who is very dominant.

This second outfit involves suspenders a long sleeve shirt and olive trousers and a checkered tie. A much more simplified look that keeps the stereotypes of a 70’s detective while also developing new character portrayals. The lack of a trench coat in this costume provides a more violent theme to the character, since he isn’t wearing a large, heavy coat that isn’t holding him back, this costume style could be used for a more action oriented film style because of the rough look being portrayed across to the viewers, the use of a gun holster helps to reinforce this stereotype since he isn’t afraid to show the gun off to whoever he is talking to, adding minor action conventions that would be effective in reinforcing the stereotype of a “bad cop” character. Many microelements combine in this costume to bring desired views to the viewers of the movie such as the use of a tie and tucked in t-shirt to show that although this character isn’t afraid of a fight and is dangerous, he still shows class and sophistication as he is able to maintain a formal look while performing informal masculine acts.