Creating the Pagan Costumes


First Ideas

From researching websites, films and documentaries, I have now seen a lot of different pagan groups and their styles and different costumes, ranging all over Europe. I have gathered from my research that many of the materials which are used to create these costumes are easily accessible, some customs use simple cloth or burlap dyed different shades. Pagans also tend to blend in man made materials with natural, such as a normal fabric base layer covered in leaves, feathers or fur. Some Pagan wildmen also wear goat horns on their heads and in some costumes they may wear a full animal skull. Another natural material incorporated with the costumes could be vegetables, wearing a necklace of chilis or garlic is part of some pagan traditions.

With all that I have gathered, I sketched some ideas I thought of to create the costumes with:

Concept 1

This costume idea uses a base layer of normal fabric clothes. These clothes will have different colours of fur sewed to them.

A largish sized helmet will be worn when wearing this costume (such as a hard hat or american football helmet), by attaching many pieces of fur to the top of it so it hangs down and makes the pagans head look big will create a frightening character. 

To also create a more unusual looking costume which is what I am aiming to do, I designed the top of the characters head to have stray pieces of rope coming from the top. On the eyes of the character I designed, it shows goggles being worn, as goggles are man made and usually come from store and are branded, it does not completely fit the pagan codes and conventions, but I designed them to like very hand made and amateur, using ropes, and wood carved in to circles for the eyes of the goggles.

Concept 2

The second drawing is a more humane concept to the first one. With more of mixture man made and natural materials.  The head of pagan shows a simple fabric mask with an odd slice above the eyebrow region, again just added this to make it look more unusual. I also designed this mask to have horns of a goat, to display a more a satanic effect to the costume.

The base layer of the costume is a tunic made using fabric, and over the front, shoulders and upper arms, hangs some seaweed, which is relevant to our story as it takes place on a seaside island. Thin brown ropes are used to keep the tunic tight and on the legs I designed fur shorts that will be worn. On the characters feet normal shoes will be worn but will be wrapped up in bandages and when worn for a while when walking around, they will look quite fray and used. In the characters hand is a small brown pouch prop that fits the outfit.                 

                

The third concept would be designed to fit a smaller person for the role, Using a large white fur overcoat with a large fur mask, again using the helmet method to make the head look bigger. Black leather gloves would be worn to keep the heat in. This design is more fitted to a snowy environment. I sketched this 'wildman' with a spear type weapon with a bag similar to the bag held in concept 2. These pouches I've drawn may or may not be used in the film with a sacrificial significance, maybe the hearts of those sacrificed will be put in the bag. Rope again is used as a belt but more for the hand made pagan aesthetic. Below the waste of the character is a skirt/kilt made from straw, In my research I came across many different pagans with different tradition but many had straw in common, so I believe that it is well fitting to our short.

Next, Going to Start the Costumes 

My group along with the rest  of our media class went to the Crawfordsburn Beach in order to collect some materials needed to make our costumes back in the school art department. 

The whole class helped us collect seaweed and shells to be used for making the costumes. For all costumes, a burlap material base will be used. The seaweed and shells will be glued on to the burlap to create different costumes for the pagans, with a shore / 'washed up' feel to the costumes.

We collected all the seaweed and seashells in black bags, to bring them back up to school and store them until they are needed to create the costumes. With the knowledge that it would smell, the seaweed was stored inside our school's greenhouse.

We drilled a small hole in each of the shells using the equipment in the technology department. When all the shells had holes in them, we threaded string through them and tied a knot after each. These shells will be suspended from one of the costumes and some of the other shells will be glued onto another.

This idea comes from our favourite of all the Pagan Wild Men costumes, where small rocks were suspended from one man's costume.

As stated, we used shells rather than rocks to give the pagans a more seaside / 'washed up' look to their attire.

These are two of the costumes almost completed (shown above and below), modelled by Rachel and Rudi in the art department. Each costume will be worn by the pagans along with a mask or a hood. The costume shown (left) is a real pagan dress that inspired the first costume. As you can see, the costume contains a large amount of hay joined to the body.  Instead of using hay, we decided to use seaweed as the main decoration of this costume.

This is the pagan costume that our second costume was modelled on, which all members of our group have decided is the favourite of any (Pagan Wild Man) costume that we have seen. This dress used clam shells or rocks suspended on strings but we decided to use more generic, white shells instead.

Location Research

Donaghadee Pier

Donaghadee is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is in the northeast coast of the country and is about 18 miles outside Belfast and about 6 miles outside Bangor. We plan to go to Donaghadee to hire a boat and film the entire project.

The Donaghadee Pier has some history surrounding it too as it is the nearest port to Scotland and in the early times of the port was the landing point in Northern Ireland for travellers from the British mainland. The majority if Ulster-Scots settling in Ireland will have traveled through Donaghadee. At one stage, Donaghadee was the province’s principal port before Belfast became the major city and much of the town’s development resulted from ships and shipping. 

The Donaghadee Pier and the nearby islands are the ideal place to set our film. The open water gives us the perfect opportunity to get some great shots on the boat, of surrounding coastline and of the various nearby caves and animals. The large, deserted islands create the perfect, spooky place to set the main part of our movie. This is where the movie will end, with the protagonists being sacrificed by pagans.

Copeland Islands

The Copeland Islands are a group of three islands in the north Irish Sea, north of Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland consisting of Lighthouse, Mew and Copeland Island. Until the twentieth century, the islands were used by smugglers who brought tobacco and spirits through the islands and into County Down. Over a century ago the Lighthouse Island had a population of about 100, including a school master with 28 pupils but now there are 0 residents.

This is the preferred location for filming our short film. We have got a quote from a Donaghadee boat company for filming, where we will need to spend around £160 in order to hire a boat and visit the island for filming.

Possible Alternatives

West Strand Beach (Portrush)

West Strand Beach, also known as West Bay or Millstrand is a popular resort beach in the heart of this busy seaside resort. West Strand Beach is bounded at its northern end by the busy habour and flanked along its eastern boundary by a well used pedestrian/cycle promenade.

We may use this beach if the boat services in Donaghadee or Bangor are unavailable at a time to suit us and the filming of our project.

Possible Problems to Consider with Location

The weather may not be suitable for filming our movie. If it rains, we cannot go out on the hired boat to Copeland Island. The wind may also be a problem for the audio of our movie. We are using a Rode microphone to record the audio, but the recording can be disrupted by wind. The audio is also going to be recorded through an iPhone 6S's Voice Memos application, and the best audio will be chosen to use for the film.

The boat may also not be available for a day that we need it to be. There are a total of seven actors in our movie and we will need to choose a day that will suit all seven actors, the boat rental company and the weather for filming.

Prop Research

Most Importantly, a Boat

A boat will be needed for a large part of our film as we would like to film the characters travelling to the 'pagan island', the coastline and nearby islands. We will also be doing some filming of the sailor speaking on the boat about Irish mythology and the pagan holiday of Samhain as a way to explain the backstory to the audience, and foreshadow what is to come.

Our group have found two potential companies that may take us out on their boats for filming. Both boat companies are giving a similar quote of between £150-£200 for a half-day on the boat. As filming is weather dependant, we will have to wait until nearer the time to decide on a date for filming the short film.

Halloween Decorations (The Fake Props)

We have written in our movie plan that the three characters have decided to create their own short film, titled 'Monsters and Caves' that is to be a very amateur Media Studies project filmed on an island. This is why they have hired the boat in the plot of the short film.

These props will be used to show that the film being produced in our film is very amateur and is lacking quality. The characters in our film will be in the same situation as us and plan to shoot a scary movie on the island. They will have various props and costumes for their movie that are clearly not up to a high standard.

Car

We will need a car for our film. The first scene may consist of the three main characters getting out of the car and one of them taking equipment out of the boot. This is the only time the car will be used in he film and therefore the model and colour of the car isn't important, it will not be needed for another day of shooting the movie.

Camera

A camera will be needed for when we are filming on the boat. One character will be filmed taking photos of the sea and surrounding cliffs, caves and islands. This will be used to establish who the sensible character is and will show that one character actually has a genuine interest in what the group is doing.

Backpack

Each character may have their own backpack as they will be on a school excursion to record their Media Studies project and this will make it more genuine. These could contain the things needed for their movie, such as the inefficient props that one character will bring.

Sacrificial Weapon

Celtic-style sacrificial weapons will be needed when we are filming on the island. The pagans will have these weapons to show that they are going to kill the students that have came to the island. Weapons like the dagger shown above were used in sacrificial ceremonies to cut the thoughts of animals and sometimes, even humans. 

St. Brigid's Cross

We will need a St. Brigid's cross to put on the side of the boat. These were usually set over windows and doors in order to protect homes for any harm. As we will have these crosses around the boat, it would suggest that the captain is trying to protect the boat form something in particular.

Costume

The sailor will wear glasses similar to these in order to make him and his style look dated and like a typical fisherman.

The sailor may also wear a pair of fisherman's trousers to give him the look of an authentic sailor. These will be worn over regular, casual clothes such as a wooly jumper, boots and a wooly hat.

Favourite Costume

This is a 'Pagan Wildman' from eastern Europe. His costume is made from burlap, string, stones and bits of wood. This costume is definitely our favourite costime that we seen, and we hope to create something much like this.

Shells

We will need shells in order to create one of our costumes. Our costume has been inspired by this pagan dress made with rocks and bits of wood. We will drill holes through the shells and hang them from pieces of string.

Seaweed

We will use seaweed in this costume as well in order to make it more relevant to the setting. As our movie will be filmed near the seaside and contain many shots of the coast, it would make sense to give the costumes a seaside related aspect. We put forward an idea to collect seaweed and shells from a local beach to use for the costumes. The costumes will be created in our school's art department.

• Burlap Fabric

We plan to use some burlap fabric to make the base layer of the costumes for the pagans on the island.

This is a 'Pagan Wildman' from eastern Europe. His costume is made from a straw-like fabric and has several cowbells hanging form it. The cowbells could be to symbolise nature or maybe just as decoration.














Cowbells

We have taken some inspiration from this costume and have decided that we would like to use some cowbells for one of our costumes.

Foley

Foley will also be used in our movie for some of the actions. When the protagonists are killed at the very end of the movie, we will create new foley for the movement of the pagans when they kill the characters. Other foley may be needed in the movie, but this will be decided and added during the editing stage of our short film.

Pagan Wild Men of Europe

We decided to combine inspiration from The Wicker Man with inspiration from a real-life group of pagans known as the Pagan Wild Men of Europe. So we are now going to create three costumes for the 'antagonists' of our film to wear. These are the characters that live on the island that are going to sacrifice the film maker protagonists of the short film.

The Pagan Wild Men of Europe

"Every winter, something strange happens in the snowy mountain communities across Europe. Between December and Easter, tiny villages spanning all the way from Romania to Portugal become overrun with humans who shed their human form completely. Dressed like bears, goats, stags and monsters, the people of the village jump, shout and reenact wild hunts as part of the annual festivals that celebrate the winter solstice and beginning of spring.

Watching humans undergo the transformation from person to bizarre beast is an interesting sight, but it’s even more fascinating once you realize how intricately gorgeous each of the costumes are. Most of the get-ups look menacing, with their sharp teeth, wild fur and weapon-like accessories, but the festivals are actually a way for humans to usher in spring and celebrate life. “The animals bring fertility—freshness,” Fréger explains. “They shake death away.” In many of Fréger’s photographs, you’ll see people dressed as bears, which he explains was believed to be the pagan god before Christianity came into the picture. But the Wild Man, and its various names, is represented differently in almost every country he visited."

This description is taken from Wired's article, 'The Bizarre, Eye-Popping Costumes of Europe's Wild Men', where we found all the images of the costumes we are taking inspiration from.

When we use the aesthetic of the Pagan Wild Men, we plan to put an Irish Folklore / Mythology twist on it. One idea is to have a a pagan in the movie use a Boron in order to signal the beginning of the sacrifice.

The images shown below are some of the costumes that we plan to take inspiration from.

Starting to think of Shot Ideas

Starting to think of Shot Ideas

Shot Ideas

We have been inspired by some of the techniques used by Alfred Hitchcock to create suspense in the film. We read that to make the camera movements human-like as if in search for something will create suspense, with shaky timid movement of the camera it can build an awkward and potentially scary atmosphere for the audience. This way of using the camera will also build a better connection with the audience as this will bring in to the film more, as they will be put in the situation where they feel as if they are involved in uncovering the story.

Another method we researched to create suspense in film is to give the main characters of the film extra screen time, even if it is an extra 4 or 5 seconds than the shot would usually be, this will begin to create an atmosphere. These elongated shots go hand in hand with close up shots, creating a tense atmosphere allows the audience to study the character and identify the emotions they are feeling.

Characters' Expressions

The characters' facial expressions and body language is key to creating suspense in film. This shows the audience the type of character that the acting role is playing and how they react to a certain event in the story line. The actors' body language is important to creating suspense. The audience will know how they are reacting to something in the scene and can judge how tense the scene is with the characters' movements and mannerisms. The look of shock, language, heavy breathing, these are all different ways in which the audience can detect panic of the character adding suspense to the film.

To accompany the shots and expression creating panic, sound is a huge component to creating an intense scene in film. By using extended minor keys, this can create a negative sad effect on the film. Playing these sad keys at a slow pace progressively building speed into a large thud that will make the crowd jump. Sound is key in film as it can manipulate the audiences' opinion on characters.