Costume Research- Antagonist costumes in films

This research is to show how we came up with our final choices for the outfit/ costume for our antagonist. This is very important as we want to portray our protagonist as being scary and frightful, as they are usually the scare factor of a horror film.

Jason Voorhees Costume

This is the iconic antagonist from the film ‘Friday 13^th’, which his name is ‘Jason Voorhees’. The use of mise en scene through clothing portrays a very powerful murderous figure, which is ideal for a horror genre. The use of the dirty white hockey mask makes the audience feel uneasy and petrified as we do not know who this is as it hides the identity of the antagonist; therefore creating an enigma. Also it doesn’t provide the audience any facial feature of the character, due to the miniscule holes, meaning all you can see is his murderous eyes which are full of hatred. However, having used a dirty white colour used for the mask, connotes that may be the antagonist was once innocent but has now become torturous. The use of the oversize, moth eaten, torn, brown jacket, enhances the broadness of the antagonist, making him seem strong and powerful. Having it ripped and worn suggest he has been doing this for a long time, or that he will do anything just to find someone and kill them. This would make the audience feel extremely scared. Furthermore, having them ripped could imply that the antagonist is like any normal person as usually when clothes get this bad, people usually find or purchase need better quality clothing. The jumper and the trousers are of similar dark colours, which means the antagonist can hide away in the darkness waiting for their next victim, like an animal. The dark colour used connotes to death and fearfulness, which describes the antagonist perfectly. These dark clothes means that the antagonist can jump out in shots as they are camouflage into the background; we could use this for our trailer. The big labour boots furthermore suits the rest of the costume due to them being dark. The antagonist is also wearing gloves which could suggest he doesn’t like getting his hands dirty, but due to genre of the film, it’s highly doubtful that he doesn’t mind the mess. They could be used so that the antagonist doesn’t leave any fingerprints on victims, therefore hiding his identity. All the clothes used are dirty and worn, suggesting he would go into great depths and measures to get to his victims…

Scream Costume

Everyone, no matter what genre film you like, knows this is the antagonist from the horror film franchise ‘Scream’. This costume used is very simplistic as it only consists of a black cloak, a mask, gloves and black boots. The black cloak drapes over the antagonist, allowing no insight of the figure the antagonist has, meaning the gender is unknown. Having the cloak black means they can hide in the darkness, which would be terrifying, especially as the location is a household. The blackness of the cloak connotes to death and evilness, suggesting he is some sort of devil in a cloak. The cloak is generally frightening as if they were running at you the cloak acts as though it is engulfing you when you get caught. Gloves are used which could suggest that the antagonist wants his identity to be unknown, creating an enigma. Finally the masks, which has given the film the iconic symbol for the film. The mask is obviously used furthermore hide the identity of the antagonist, which creates a further enigma. The mask is in a screaming expression, which associates with the title of the film, ‘Scream’, but also could be seen as onomatopoeia as this is what protagonists do when they see this figure. The expression is very frightening making the audience feel uncomfortable and scared. The whiteness of mask allows the audience to see the mask clearly therefore used to emphasis the mask.

 The Strangers costumes

The costumes used in the film ‘The Strangers’, to me are very effective and an approach which I think we should consider when choosing our costumes. The use of everyday clothing such as, the denim jacket and the suit, makes the antagonist seem as though they could be any normal person, which makes creates the scare factor for the film. Having the antagonist not only being, stereotypically male, but female, subverts to the stereotypical horror films and convention, as traditionally it is males who are the antagonists. This could be a way we could make our trailer unique. The pink colour used for the far right antagonist, makes her seem youthful and young, which makes the audience feel horrified as it could be a child behind that mask. The types and colours of the clothing suggest that ages of the antagonist, for example due to the pink top it suggests that the girl

on the right is the youngest. Due to the denim jacket and violet top it suggests she is more sophisticated, therefore older, and due to the brown velvet suit it suggests that the man is an average working class man, creepy. The masks used are what makes the antagonist scary as we do not know who they are but also the faces on them create a disturbing atmosphere as they are smiling and acting all happy, when they are doing a horrifying action. The china doll makes, which we presume them to be female due to the hair, to be innocent as china dolls are seen as a child’s toy, which is precious and breakable. This idea may be very effective for our trailer as it will make our film seem very disturbing which we want to achieve, so it attracts or target audience. The man’s mask is a bag with smoked burn smile, which adds to the disturbed atmosphere. This would be easy to get our hands on as we used a mask similar to this in our AS production. Although it is simple the mask does its job by hiding the antagonist’s identity and reinforces the disturbed atmosphere. The blondeness of the left antagonist makes her seem innocent, which contradicts with the terrifying mask. This could suggest that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover…

The Shining

This is Jack Nicholson who plays the main character within the psychological horror ‘The Shining’. He is not a traditional or stereotypical antagonists as it’s up to the audience to decide if he is one or not. The absence of a mask means that you know his identity which means he doesn’t come across as become an antagonist.

initial scary. The use of clothes are every day like clothes which is similar to the approach ‘The Strangers’ used. The use of the red jacket connotes to danger implying he is a dangerous man who you shouldn’t mess with. The checked jacket is as normal as any other piece of clothing, which could be a convention we could follow for our trailer. This is because then the audience would feel unnerved as anyone could

Freddie Cruger

This is the antagonist from the film ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’, which as you can see also does not have a mask covering his face. However, his face isn’t like any other… The use of the hat acts as though he is trying to hide his face, suggesting that he only reveals his face to his victims. The black and red striped jumper is similar to a ‘Dennis the menace’ style, which could symbolise he will make trouble you will not forget! The red colour connotes blood and danger, which reflects the characters

personality and what he does to his prey. The black connotes to death, which means blood will be shred, which links to the use of the sharp prop used in the picture. The use of having the 'claw accessory' adds a sense of cruelty and violence, which most horrors consist of. To make our antagonist frightful for the audience we could include some kind of deadly accessory similar to 'Freddie Krueger's (See prop post to find out more).The jumper is also worn and has numerous of holes in it, implying that the antagonist wears it a lot. This could mean that he this outfit is he’s trademark, therefore you should look out for it. Although it is not a mask, the skin of the antagonist, creates a massive enigma as to if it is his actual skin or if it’s fake. This would disturb the audience as they do not know what or why his face like this, but most of all it would scare you if you saw his face down a dark alley…

 This costume is from the film called 'Hostel', which is a gruesome horror film, which consists of this person present in the picture, kidnapping individuals and torturing and teasing them. The use of costume demonstrates the action the antagonist does. The use of the long black apron implies that what they do can get messy, and the red long shirt implies blood is involved as red is commonly related to either blood and gore or love and romance, which due to the genre of the film probably means horror. Similarly to the 'Scream' antagonist, they are wearing a mask which hides their face and adds a scare factor as no one knows who they are. 

Overall, I believe we should use a mask to hide the antagonist face as that would create a huge enigma within our opening two minutes of our film. Although I may have not made my mind up about what they should wear, I am leaning more towards the casual side so the audience would relate as this could happen to them as the antagonist could be anyone. See 'Antagonist Costume- Final Costume' to see our costume we ended up with.