Costumes can greatly affect how people see a movie or play, and so you need to make sure that costumes reflect the tone of the production. For example, a serious or dark production should not have brightly colored costumes unless they have a specific purpose, and a humorous production can use exaggerated costumes to emphasize the lightness and silliness of the plot.
Costumes help indicate the time period of the production. This is because when watching a play or a movie, viewers often try to put characters and plot into a perspective that includes the time in which the action is taking place. If the costumes are not appropriate for that time period, the audience will be confused.
Visually characterizing the actors and actresses is another crucial objective for the costume designer. Adding details to costumes can help determine how viewers understand each character. For example, costume can show whether a character is wealthy or poor, conservative or a free spirit.
Costumes can also be used to create relationships between groups of characters. If you are clothing a gang, a family or a group of friends, you can dress the groups similarly so that the audience makes an instant connection. You can choose the same colors or the same color tones, such as warm or cool, or you can choose similar or identical clothing in different colors.
In addition to setting tone and character, you also must base costume choices on the type and amount of movement each character has to do in each scene. For example, if a character has to perform a dance, the costume should help highlight the movements of the dance. You should make the costumes as comfortable for the actors as possible so that they are thinking about their lines and their character rather than about what they are wearing.
Costumes can help tie a production together and create consistency., Costumes should be similar and appropriate in design and mood so that they help the production appear unified and well-planned.