wardrobe color pallete?

[azmyth]

How many of you guys take this into account when shooting or choosing wardrobe? I didn't think about it a whole lot on EXIT 101, but its one of the things I want to do differently this time because I feel like it makes a big difference in the final end product.

So for example, this teaser I am shooting Saturday. We are utilizing some really dreary looking woods, combined with a fog machine and some high powered lights gel'ed blue. The actress is hawaiin so she has fairly dark skin. She has jet black hair, and I'm trying to determine what color her top needs to be so that it will look good within the scene.

She's shown me a few options so far, but I can't decide which one would look best.. or rather what colors to stay away from. I want it to have a gritty edgy feel to it, so to me bright colors are out.

thoughts?

[Erik Bien]

Glad you brought this up. In my opinion, the biggest reason so many "low/no" budget projects look "cheap" is production design, specifically, the complete lack thereof. That doesn't mean you can't use a friend's apartment for a location or have actors provide their own wardrobe, but you need to at least try to tailor them to the specific needs of the project. That might mean selecting only grey, brown and blue costumes for a period piece, or avoiding reds and greens if you're going for the "orange people, teal backgrounds" blockbuster look.

In your example, a good costume designer would have many more questions for you. Who is this character? What does she represent in the story? Where in the arc of that story does this specific scene occur? Where else will she be seen in this costume? Is the leading man (and, by extension, the audience) supposed to fall in love with her? Will she be menaced? Chased? Injured? Are you planning to further manipulate the look of this scene in post, or use it mostly "as shot"?

[azmyth]

glad someone else sees this too.

in my particular example. This is what I've been planning and posting about for the past 2 weeks. Its not part of the movie per say, just a "concept" teaser of what the movie "could" look like. So I'm trying to do this keeping all of that in mind. The character is just a generic college kid who has ventured into this part of the woods with her boyfriend most likely to do "college kid" things.. only to come in contact with these haunted grounds. She finds her self in a state of panic, and is trying to desperately escape these woods before an invisible force gets her first. She happens on a lone single wide trailer, hoping someone is home. She's terrified by all capacity for rational thought, and is somewhat confused.. because she's running from "nothing".

Her makeup is runny, she's sweaty and dirty. You'll never see this character again after this scene.

[cgbier]

My wife is Micronesian, not Polynesian, but she looks very good in black.

[Almohada]

Well since its a nIght shoot, I'd want something that pops. So I'd go with white or greys

[azmyth]

she sent me some options, and only one had "white" in it.. but it didn't pop enough in other ways for my tastes. She found another option I thought looked good on her, but its greeen...

[Erik Bien]

Sorry, I haven't been keeping up here with my usual thoroughness lately (busy as hell with other things), so I haven't been following your threads on the new project.

For anyone interested in this topic, I highly recommend Patti Bellantoni's book, If It's Purple, Someone's Gonna Die (The Power of Color in Visual Storytelling). As the title suggests, purple can be a visual omen of death and transformation. According to the author, it also holds "a powerful sway in the realm of the noncorporeal, the mystical, and even the paranormal."

With a lighter-skinned actor you might need to use it in small doses to keep her from looking washed out, but violets and purples are often flattering to darker complexions.

However since she's supposed to be 'young and innocent,' you might also consider using purples elsewhere in the shots and instead costuming her in purple's complement, orange. Identified in the book as the "sweet and sour color," oranges can suggest openness and naïveté. A pale orange or soft coral would also make the sweat and dirt "read" well on camera as the scene progresses.

Either would "pop" against the browns and greens of a wooded setting.

[Jim E]

I'd go with a yellow. Maybe a very dark yellow or even an ochre.

[azmyth]

Sorry, I haven't been keeping up here with my usual thoroughness lately (busy as hell with other things), so I haven't been following your threads on the new project.

For anyone interested in this topic, I highly recommend Patti Bellantoni's book, If It's Purple, Someone's Gonna Die (The Power of Color in Visual Storytelling). As the title suggests, purple can be a visual omen of death and transformation. According to the author, it also holds "a powerful sway in the realm of the noncorporeal, the mystical, and even the paranormal."

With a lighter-skinned actor you might need to use it in small doses to keep her from looking washed out, but violets and purples are often flattering to darker complexions.

However since she's supposed to be 'young and innocent,' you might also consider using purples elsewhere in the shots and instead costuming her in purple's complement, orange. Identified in the book as the "sweet and sour color," oranges can suggest openness and naïveté. A pale orange or soft coral would also make the sweat and dirt "read" well on camera as the scene progresses.

Either would "pop" against the browns and greens of a wooded setting.

Yeah, she has an orange option as well.. thats the same as the green option I said that looked good on her. I agree with yellow being a good color as well.

[cgbier]

coral would match the skin tone very well.