Web Research for Costumes & Props

When I started researching for what types of costumes would suit the characteristics I've created for my characters it was pretty interesting. I was looking at different data and from what I constantly see in different media texts and the stereotypes out there. I was thinking to myself to make my final product be as real as possible you know bring out the realism in the media text, I had to implement something that is what I see everyday. So for example, I'm in the United Kingdom right now and my target audience group are females in general but, the style of clothing would represent United Kingdom. That's simply due to the fact that I haven't been anywhere else for as long enough as I'd like to be. Therefore, I decided to go with a look that the actresses looked good in. Let's talk about the main victim in my narrative. She's supposed to come of as someone that has a lot of potential within herself and also someone that is constantly getting exceptional grades in her exams and stuff. We often see in a lot of media texts but to be specific American which covey a character who tends to do well in school a nerd. What's the clothing style like for someone who is a nerd? Well their style will not really be fashionable rather a very smart wear or something that tells us that he or she is a hard-worker.

Initially what I did was got my main actress playing as the victim character to put on a little clothing show for me so I can see her in different outfits. By doing this I'm getting glimpses and tasters of what she looks like with different looks. I pretty much did this with all of my actresses because I found that way to be particularly beneficial and quicker. I didn't want to extend and take too long deciding what costume would be right for the character because at the end of the day anyone of these characters could wear whatever they like. The whole point of my music video is to create awareness of bullying. To have me focus so much on what my actresses have to wear and not consider my narrative as much would be ridiculous to me. I want to create something so real as if you'd literally see it everyday in a classroom in the United Kingdom. Addressing the issue at hand is my main goal so as for costumes and presumably what would look ideally look appealing for the characters wasn't so much brought to light. 

I picked out costumes that look relatively similar to the ones that the girls would usually wear. The reason behind this as said before is because I want to show that anyone and everyone can get bullied. It doesn't matter about what costume you wear or how your hair is done that day. You can still become a victim so easily and without consciously understanding that you're now a victim. This is what my narrative brings to the table. My actresses uniforms indicate them and their personal identities. So what I did to make things a bit more interesting for my work flow is that I told them about their characteristics that they will play in this narrative for my music video. With that been told I said to them with this information now been given to you I want you to go and pick out an outfit that you personally believe fits the criteria. With that being done these are the looks that my actresses came with for different shoots.

Some other styles that I researched on:

Most of the clothing style is inspired by Korean wear. All of my cast wore very casual looking clothing such as these. You know something that's not over fancy but looks wonderful! I've always been interested in Korean products and because my music video is inspired by a Korean drama it was the perfect fit. It was really fun researching on different styles. I mean I looked at the clothing types in United Kingdom but I felt like it wasn't exactly the approach I want to take. The Korean to South Korean look is very interesting and I really seem to notice how fashionable they are. I don't really know what it is but something about their dress sense feels different to the styles in United Kingdom. So initially we ended up going with casual but good looking clothes. For the character that was playing the physical bully role wasn't so much focusing on casual wear that looks good. She wore something that's not really appealing but automatically infers her characteristics.