Real World Applications: costume design for animated films and video games, 1 July

Tyranny of Style interview with Grand Theft Auto 5 "costume designer"
Interview with Lyn Paolo, costume designer of shows like "Shameless" and "Scandal".  Michael Kane from Rockstar Games, GTAV's developer, watched the shows and hired her to do the costumes for the game.  She wasn't told which game she had worked on until the day of it's release, that's how tight secrecy was.  Actors were scanned and so were their clothes, just like for a show. The costumes didn't have to be fully altered to fit and pinning them to fit was acceptable.  After scanning, the colour and texture of the garments can be tweaked.  Lyn says that if this technology becomes available to film and tv, she will work with the union to make sure that costume designers still retain some creative control over the look of the show.

How exciting would it be, though, to be a designer who wasn't restricted by what was available in the "real world"?  Many times, our budgets are really tight and we have to take what we can get.  In the video game world, you can 3D scan the cheap grey suit you found at Goodwill for $10 and make it a $10,000 suit that Donald Trump would envy.  Fabulous.  And the technology that lets fabric look and act like fabric is only getting better and better.  It's going to be a whole new way to work.  Bonus: no video game character is EVER going to complain about what their butt looks like in your costume.



Tyranny of Style interview with Frozen "costume designer"

Interview with Jean Gilmore, costume designer for Disney's Frozen.  Jean is an animator and makes costumes on the side.  She was brought on to the project by her friend Art Director Mike Giaimo.  CGI animation offers the opportunity for costumes to be "made" using real-world construction techniques and materials.  In addition to traveling to Norway to research traditional design, Jean also collaborated with costume makers for Disney's theme parks on how fabrics and materials behave.  The result are costumes that are full of detail and act the way we think clothes act.

I blogged about the costume design work done for Disney's Big Hero 6.  The research and design process brought out some really exciting textures and pieces that didn't seem to be reflected in the final costume designs of the film.  The real pieces were gritty and complicated and the animated clothes were smooth and featureless.  Frozen's costumes are nothing but texture, texture, texture, just like REAL costumes.  Costume designers LOVE to play with fabric, and you can tell that this designer is thrilled with the results.