COSTUME

AND PROPS

For the film Mantis

THE MAIN

CHARACTER

(PHASE 1)

When the main character is in his first phase he is represented as a weak character. This will be shown through his costume. The character will wear an old 70’s style shirt and school trousers. He will also wear smart shoes. This makes him an easy victim as he juxtaposes nineties era style. The shirt and shoes were both bought in a charity shop and I bought them because they look run down and create an image for my character. Compared to other characters he will be very out of place making him stand out even more in the storyline. The choice of clothes fits my genre as they look cheap and can help represent the hardship of working class life.

I chose the shirt because of its dated pattern. The shirt looks like it could be the characters dad’s shirt, this could help emphasise the weak financial situation of the characters.

THE BULLIES/

AGGRESSORS

I want to create an aggressive representation of these characters. The use of the Harrington jacket on the far right has negative connotations. They are associated with skin heads and football hooligans. This will be useful in creating an aggressive representation. The Adidas original jacket is retro, this will fit my era as during the nineties these were heavily worn, sportswear became increasingly more popular throughout the nineties. The cagoule is also retro, this style of jacket was also worn a lot. The camouflaged hat will also work well as camouflage has aggressive connotations such as war, it also represents the army and I would like my characters to be represented as a strong force, so this will work well.

This will fit my genre as the use of clothing represents youth culture of the era. They all have similar connotations which helps represent the relationships between the characters, this will emphasise the theme of friendship which is common in most social realism films.

THE POLICE

This character is ex army so he will wear military based clothing. I have based this characters appearance on Morell from Room for Romeo Brass. He will look rough and quite poor. I want him to be represented as a quite shady character and a large ex army jacket will aid this. I am deciding weather he should wear torn jeans or jogging bottoms, either will make him look quite run down.

THE

CHARACTER

THAT HELPS

THE

PROTAGONIST

My dad is a policeman so I can use him to play the role of the police in the film. He will wear his Police uniform. The jacket is seen to the right.

THE MAIN

CHARACTER

(PHASE 2)

When my main Character decides to get revenge he transforms his image. He gives off an aggressive representation and makes himself physically intimidating. He does this by creating home made tattoos on his hands and face. He wears shirtless t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts to intimidate those who have given him abuse in the past. This makes him part of the grunge/ rocker subculture which have connotations of intimidation and aggression. This subculture was quite large in the nineties.

The use of the retro sports brand also fits the nineties era. The brand Everlast is a boxing brand which helps represent his hard violent image. The Doc Marten shoes also help represent this subculture. The Metallica shirt also strongly represents the subculture . The band at this point were extremely famous in the metal scene. It also helps represent youth culture as bands are stereotypically idolised among teenagers.

The tattoos can be drawn on with black pen. The tattoos help represent his personal transformation in the film. They also help make the character look aggressive to add to his violent image.

Influence for my character came from the main character in ‘A Place Beyond The Pines’. Even though this is not a social realism film and its set in America, the subculture is represented well. The character gives off an aggressive image and shares similar style.

PROPS

The weights will be used in the trailer to help represent and inform the viewer about the main character’s transformation, this has a key role in the narrative. The main character will be made to look quite feeble and nerdy in the first half of the film. In the second half there will be an obvious juxtaposition .

The sledgehammer will be used by my character

when he looks for revenge. Sledgehammers can be used very violently and this will add darkness

to my film. The use of a sledgehammer had a very effective effect in the film

Tyrannosaur therefore this will represent my

genre well .

I own a retro road bike, hopefully I will be able to feature this in my film to try and emphasise the nineties era. This could be used by a background character or in the training scenes.