CDG - The Costume Designer

Mayes C Rubeo pocalypto vatar oo Rabbit was entrusted with � s Warcraft lm adaptation The Warcraft franchise is well known for its heavily stylied character designs and the costumes of the original games were brought to life by their revolutionary cinematics ne of her many challenges was making character designs distinct In the games where these designs were derived doens of lowresolution character models are swarming around In a realtime strategy game characters are already small on the screen and identifying features become di cult to see In order to account for a loss of detail the games concept artists drew accentuated and enlarged armor and weapons Rubeos capacity to maintain believability while striking a balance between the oversied shoulder pauldrons of the games art style and something that could feasibly t a human actor is etremely commendable The entirely CGI characters also had their own completely uniue attire Most impressive were changes made for the sake of reality while remaining visually faithful to the video game ther media have no user input but a video game is a highly manipulatable and interactive eperience "In lm the cast isnt going to be changing accessories or garments midscene" eplains Garnet Filo whose clients include Serenity Forge and other indie developers "owever in a game you often see the character only from the back for much of the time so thats another interesting constraint to work with I often come in as a costume consultant early on in the creative process I will help to de ne the aesthetic of the world and make design choices" She added "I make sure that the clothing options work together avoiding potential color clashes so even when the player mies and matches items their overall out t looks harmonious" Two decades ago working in the gaming and lm industries were very di erent professions but as these two forms of entertainment evolve side by side the more they trade talent While they remain distinct forms of media their target consumers overlap s mass appeal and technology have made them sister industries it is easier for professionals involved in both to network collaborate and crossover Costume designers should consider the potential in this growing market in which their services are critical for worldbuilding I make su t c l h op ns w k , avoid po t • a l co l c l• • s, • e• n w• n pl• mix€ ‚ ma tƒ € i tems, ir o• ra l l … tfi t l‡ ks ˆ rm‰ Š ‹ . Travis Fimmel as nduin Lothar in Warcraft I make su t c l h op ns w k , avoid po t • a l co l c l• • s, • e• n w• n pl• mix€ ‚ ma tƒ € i tems, ir o• ra l l … tfi t l‡ ks ˆ rm‰ Š ‹ . 50 THE COSTUME DESIGNER | SUMMER 2022

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