Costuming & Make Up - On Set

For our costuming and make up we thought it would be important to have metaphorical reasonings behind certain aspects of each characters costume, making the scenes and characters easy to interpret and analyse, as well as giving the audience some background to their everyday lives.

In this scene of Alex and Stuart arguing we decided to have Alex wearing very casual clothes, with her hair tied back in a messy bun and no make up on. This implies that at this current moment in time she is not intending to go out, which is reflected in her actions as she is doing housework. She is also wearing a mans sweater, which belongs to Stuart. This, as well as her casual look, implies the two are very close and comfortable around each other, giving the audience an insight into their relationship. We decided to have Alex wear a white t shirt to metaphorically represent innocence, presenting her in this situation as pure and the victim in the argument. However, it could also be ironic, as the ring implies she is cheating on Stuart - appearances can be deceptive.

For the dinner scene we wanted to make it obvious to the viewer that this was a special occasion. To do this we chose Alex's outfit to be very dressy - a smart black dress and black heeled shoes - the 'little black dress' being a typical date/special occasion outfit for women. However, in this case we did not want to present Alex as innocent, and so we chose a tighter, short dress which is more flirtatious.

In terms of hair and make up for the dinner scene we decided to put Alex's hair half up to imply she was trying hard to impress someone, and also to pull her hair away from her face for practical reasons so it is easier to see her facial expressions on screen. We chose basic eye make up and specifically red lipstick, representing lust and love as well as the possibility of danger, which is then later shown when Stuart texts to say he cannot make it and Alex slams the plates down, implying she may the dangerous one.

The ring was incredibly important to the shoot as it implies that Alex has been cheating on Stuart as a ring is usually linked with the idea of marriage or promises. This is shown by the lengths Alex goes to to hide the ring from Stuart. We had Alex's nails a pale pink to imply femininity.

We wanted Stuart to seem fairly smartly dressed in comparison to Alex, so we dressed him in a shirt and smart work trousers. This implies he may have been out or working whilst Alex has been at home.

For the detective we decided to dress him in a simple green shirt and a black blazer with work trousers to show professionalism and imply he is working. The wedding ring implies he is mature or older. However, this could lead the audience into a false sense of trust in the detective due to his appearance of professionalism and security, adding to the mystery of the movie, as in the narrative of the real film it is revealed that he is not a real detective. The green of the detectives shirt could also represent jealous, which links with the jealousy he has of Stuart.