Edexcel GCSE Drama: Designing Drama

THE WRITTEN EXPLANATION FOR COSTUME Your finished costume will be seen in the performance. In addition, you are required to provide information about how your costume design fits the artistic intentions of the scripted piece. This written explanation allows the examiner to match your intentions to your costume designs. It should be between 100 and 200 words for each extract. Including the information so briefly is often tricky, so an annotated sketch of your design ideas could be useful. You could add notes to the sketch to explain how your design interprets the extract or add a list of bullet points. For example (for seven-year-old Edward in Blood Brothers ): ASSESSMENT CHECK Your supporting documents should show that you have developed skills in: • ‘interpreting content, narrative, style and form’ • ‘communicating intention to an audience’ and can ‘apply theatrical skills to realise artistic intentions in live performance’ (AO2). FOCUS How to approach the explanation of your costume design. DESIGN TIP The written explanation should show how your designs match the artistic intentions you set out with. Check this carefully. A further list or paragraph should explain what your costume should communicate to an audience. For example: The shoes, button-up shirt and bow-tie contrast strongly with Mickey’s rather tatty clothes. The smart white shirt, shiny shoes and bow- tie indicate that Edward is not dressed for playing outdoors. The main point that I want the audience to understand is that Edward comes from a well-off family who are concerned with appearances. The way that Edward’s hair has been so carefully neatened should help the audience to imagine the type of mother he has. Similarly, the choice of garments and accessories suggests a clean and well-ordered household. The red bow-tie adds a touch of class and suggests academic aspirations. Along with your 200-word explanation, submit a list of costumes and accessories worn by your chosen character(s). This should include details of when and how they make any costume changes during each extract (for example, ‘Edward takes off his tie’). Chapter 6 Component 2: Designing for the Performance from Text 191