Costume 1 - The Costume Bible and Plot

What is a Costume Bible?


A costume bible is a book created by a designer at the start of a process of designing for a show, this is a good resource to have as people can refer to the book to find out anything about the shows costume and the characters. For example if a costume supervisor left a show, a new costume design could come in and just make the costumes and understand the needs of each character, just from the bible.


 In the costume bible it should include:

• Costume Plot
• Where to find all of the fabrics, and add in samples of what fabrics you would use, and price ranges of the fabrics.
• Costume inspirations and starting points
• Initial costume designs
• Final costume designs
• Details of specific items to add on; EG- jewellery, buttons, zips
• Photos of the character in actions
• Different location

Reference to what is a Costume Bible








What determines a costume designer?

• Practicality - is it practical for the space or what the character has to do. (Dance?)
• Time period - Costumes are fitting to when the show is set, (EG- Downton Abbey would were older clothes, however We Will Rock You would be futuristic
• Templates Character profile
• status - what the character is trying to portray to the audience and is measured towards the other characters
• lighting - Can change the colour of a costume and reveal a different side to a costume
• set
• context of production
• era - See time period
• Fitting with show and other character
• colour scheme
• budget - How much you can afford and other ways of getting the same effect but for a cheaper price, other ways of creating status rather than buying elaborate fabrics.
• personal preference
• personality - for example colours reflecting the personality
• Original Costume - How much from the original production do you get inspired by and how much do you discard.
• Character Profile - One accent costume that can immediately show an audience what your character is, for example, the queen would wear a crown and footballer would wear boots or have a ball.
• The audience - Children's theatre, would be appropriate costumes, yet with bright colours, that can make them interested, for example light up and making noises, textures. Costumes that include all of the sensory features. In contrast a show like Chicago, you would not take a child to this as the costumes are a little more revealing.

What is a costume plot?


A costume plot is a breakdown of a certain characters costumes, and it shows a designer and the dressers what costume is needed for each scene and it says what clothing, headwear, footwear and accessories. Unlike the bible, which is all about designing and creating the costume, the plot is a practical document that has it down what it is that the character has to wear.

S CLub 7 presentation evaluation

In groups we all explored ensemble bands like S Club 7, we had to explore how well they worked together and significant moments in their life. In my group we set it out as if the group were in a rehearsal and each member would speak about what happened next in the groups timeline.


In the group I played and researched the part of Bradley McIntosh, in the group he was quite a big character, and would always voice his opinions, I showed this through, being quite forward in the performance and making it know of what I was feeling about what was going on.


When it came to devising different scenes to go into the play, we just explored lots of different scenes and how we could include the researched information into the scene using improvisation, through this we got some really solid scenes. when it came to blocking out the scenes I felt that I came up with a few ideas on how to make each scene interactive and comical for the audience. for example I came up with the section at the start where we all say a character profile, I felt that this worked well as from the start the audience could tell what members we were all playing.


When it came to researching about the band i was left to look up about my own character and thier first hit song, 'Bring It All Back'. Others in the group had to look up different subject in the group history, for example how their music developed over the years, and how they split up. By us all looking into these different subjects, and then bringing them all together to start piecing them together, it made the devising process alot quicker and slicker.


If we were to do this project again i would have liked to spend more time on making all of our research link up, and making it really clear in the jumps in the timeline of the performers life. However i feel that as a group we all worked really well together and brought a side of comedy into the piece, which i felt reflects how the band worked as a team.

What is Freelance

For an actor the first priority is to get a great training at a drama school or university, and through that learn all of the key essentials to perform successfully. Most actors would think that with a good training and the opportunity to perform in a showcase in front of agents, producers and directors. Actors think that this is enough and would come out and jump straight into a acting career. As actors are not always taught how to build an acting career, this can help to get specific goals, marketing yourself and working towards putting yourself out there for the roles that suit you.

For new and up coming performers the rise in technology has really improved the way in which we can sell ourselves, involving for self promotion, for example show reels are much more common, where they may not have been necessary for an actors portfolio. In modern auditions, a headshot is not enough for a casting, as it cant show all sides of your skills.

Before technology was common your reel was your reseme, and your would maybe include some clips of your past productions, and this would just remind the casting team of your past work and could include a range of your shows, that contrast. Now days your show reel can include clips from things, that are purely just there for your show reel, for example if you felt that your show reel did not include anything that shows off your straight acting enough, people would go out of the way to film a extract of a scene to include in your reel.

For a really good start into the creative industries, it is really good for a performer to get a head start into the business, a really good way to get a good first impression is to