Faculty professor develops free film costume course with BFI
The course is one of several outputs from Professor Bell’s three-year AHRC-funded project, Film Costumes in Action
A free training course developed by a researcher at the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures is bringing the creative processes behind film costume design to life for learners and highlighting the work of costume teams in the film industry.
The course is the work of award-winning scholar Melanie Bell, Professor in Film History at the School of Media and Communication, and is available on Into Film, the UK's leading charity for film, TV and games in education.
Developed by the British Film Institute (BFI) in partnership with Professor Bell’s Film Costumes in Action project (FCiA) and available to all UK-based teachers, ‘Film Costume Design: Making for the Screen’ introduces learners to the costume journey, from first ideas to the finished garments on screen. Users learn from two award-winning costume designers as they share their creative practice and reveal the craft of historical costume making.
Professor Melanie Bell said:
“We launched the Film Costumes in Action project to raise awareness of the central role that costumes play in film imagery and broaden understanding of the artistic and craft practices behind making costumes for the screen. As part of that, we’ve been delighted to work with the BFI on this new course - Film Costume Design: Making for the Screen - which provides an invaluable introduction to the world of costume, including interviews with some of the industry’s leading professionals.”
The course brings together archival material from the BFI with newly-filmed footage of the costume house CosProp and downloadable resources, such as costume glossaries and team structures, produced by the FCiA team.
Learners can see behind the scenes at a London costume house and meet members of the team, gaining insight into their skills, experiences and roles within the industry, while undertaking practical tasks and making activities.
The course is one of several outputs from Professor Bell’s three-year AHRC-funded project, Film Costumes in Action, which investigated how costumes have been designed, made and used in British film from the 1960s onwards.
The FCiA team are also developing a book titled Film Costume in Twenty Objects, bringing together the archival and oral history strands of the projects to illustrate the costume journey.
Read more about Film Costumes in Action.
