Coraline - Workshop 4

• How does the director  use costume, to create the other Mother?
• How do colour and, lighting, affect our view of the other mother?
• 'It's easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar - how does yhe other mother embody this saying?

    'Creating the illusion of the Other Mother'

Other Mother 1:

Boring clothes, Real mother look alike, Soft/Round/Curve

Colours - Grey, Black red

Lighting - Warms

Shade of orange and yellow

Other Mother 2:

Wearing red/black/grey

curve still there

Sharpening - apron/head

lighting - same

clothing style/changes

Other Mother 3:

Sharpiness - nose, elbows, clothing

eyebrows - emotions

red/white/black

show more skin

Other Mother 4:

Way sharper - head, elbow, joints, rear

taller

thinner

sharper

long neck

not very human

Other Mother 5:

Thin, spindly, skeleton-skinner

almost no clothes-raggedy clothes

sharp angular joints

head gets pointy

Color-shades of black/green/grey

Frightening creepy

lighting - doll/not alot of light - feel

Changes:

No longer human because

Taller, Angrier - posture changes

bodysape changes, needle like hands, legs,

grow extra legs, heads get pointy,

loses womanly shape

more beetle like

clothes get sharper,better fiting, less 

sharp angles - nose, head, elbows, rear

gradual change - little things change every scene

The director skillfully uses Costume, Lighting and colour to 

create the character of the other Mother. We see a gradual change

in costume from conservative casual clothes to short well fitted 

dressess and finally nothing but rags. Her clothes also become 

sharper around the edges and are predomiantly black with high

lights of red. When we first see the other Mother warm lighting

and used of a yellow/orange colour palatte make her scene warm 

and inviting. However, by the end the use of dim lighting and 

green tones make her seem evil and frightening.

These film techniques help us understand the film as a whole 

because they show us the changes from a kind and a loving 'Other'

Mother to her true form of an evil spiderlike soulstealing demon