Costume research

Costumes- Spy

For the costumes we decided to research stereotypical outfits associated with characters in spy espionage movies.

We first decided to look up characters that play spys, for example James Bond, ethan hunt- mission impossible, Agents J and K- Men in black and Aaron cross- The Bourne legacy.

From looking at two of the pictures (men in black and James Bond) we notice that the pattern seems to stay the same, they both wear suits, usually black with a white shirt, a dark plain or black tie and black shoes. They are represented as formal and clearly in control and seeming more important because they dress appropriately. 

In the other two pictures (Mission impossible and The Bourne legacy) they do not wear suits or ties. The fact that they are dressed in black or dark clothing could suggest that they may not be dressed like a stereotypical spy, but it could still suggest they are a powerful character. 

The suits definitely make the characters stand out and it is easy to identify who is the good guy, though there is a problem when you have most of the cast dressed in suits, it just looks like a banquet gone wrong. With the casual way of dressing, it is also difficult to identify who is in control because they blend in with the people around them, though it comes in handy if the 'spy' does not want to be recognised immediately.

For the spy we came to the overall conclusion of them wearing a suit, as this is how they are usually/stereotypically represented.

(done by shawnean)

My response 

From this we can come to a conclusion that we want to dress the spy in a suit due to it stereotypically being the type of costume a spy wears. We decided this because not only will the audience recognise him as the spy, we want to keep similar elements of an espionage character so that the audience feel comfortable and don't feel as if its anything out of the ordinary, so we want to keep similar elements. However we will obviously add in our own interpretations of espionage films.