Costume Design for Film and TV

Uncover how the looks of some of film and TV’s most compelling personalities are created behind-the-scenes. From international films like Disney’s Mulan to successful Spanish series like Narcos and El tiempo entre costuras, professional costume designers Bina Daigeler and Pepo Ruiz Dorado have decades of experience creating signature looks for singular characters.

Discover the tips and tricks of Bina and Pepo, from the first read of a script to the first day of shooting. Learn how to organize a costume design team, how to accurately define the style of a script, and bring its characters to life through the magic of wardrobe.

Start your course by getting to know your teachers, Bina and Pepo. Learn about their professional background as costume designers and hear about how their different careers have evolved over the past three decades. Finally, get introduced to some artists that influence their work before briefly going through the structure of the course.

In the second unit, Bina and Pepo define the tasks of a costume designer and explain how they develop their work. Learn the first steps for making sure your designs are creatively aligned with the project. See how an effective costume design is created, the main titles, and the different roles they play both on and off set. Review the essential materials the couple uses to organize and present their work.

Enter the pre-production process and learn about different types of screenplays. Learn how to define the style of the project and why it’s useful to assign unique traits to each character. See the research process and why it’s important to define the time, locations, season, and social atmosphere indicated in the script.

Start developing your costume design with some practical exercises. Understand how to measure the size and scope of a project by breaking down the script, see how to create a costume breakdown, learn the best way to put together a budget for time and materials, and present the style of your costume design in a moodboard.

Finally, discover how Bina and Pepo coordinate a fitting calendar. See how to take accurate measurements of the different characters and how to start building your costumes. Learn how to present your final costumes to the director and make sure that they are aligned with the script.

Wrap up your course by getting some final tips on how to get ready for production day and being on set. Take a look at what a shooting kit looks like and get some final advice for helping the actors stay comfortable and ready to shoot.

Develop the costume design for a TV or film production based on the film Only Lovers Left Alive and the Spanish miniseries El tiempo entre costuras.

Anyone interested in the world of film and television, especially those with a passion for fashion or costume design. The course is especially useful for fashion design students who would like to explore a new outlet for their work, as well as directors, screenwriters, art directors, makeup artists, and other audiovisual professionals who would like to expand their knowledge of the art form.

To take this course, you should be interested in film and television, including its visual language and history. Some basic notions of photography, textiles, presentation software like Powerpoint or Keynote, and accounting software like Excel or Numbers are nice to have.

Regarding materials, you will need a computer with the above software installed, as well as a camera (a camera phone is OK), some basic sewing supplies, and the sketching tools of your choice.