How Costumes Are Destroyed For Movies & TV | Movies Insider

Breakdown artists, sometimes called agers, dyers, or textile artists, work behind the scenes to fake all the damage on a character’s costume. Sarah Blostein has done breakdown work on “The Boys,” “The Strain,” “Ready or Not,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and “Station Eleven.” Because movie and TV show scenes are frequently shot out of order, sweat stains and rips have to be replicated. Sarah walked us through how to create convincing fresh and aged blood stains on a shirt, what materials look the most like dirt, and the very specific way to make a bullet hole look realistic.

Check out more of Sarah Blostein’s work:

Editor’s Note: The fake sweat Sarah uses in the video is a mixture of water and paint. Baby oil or glycerine are commonly used to create fake sweat on set. Additionally, Sarah used dark brown paint, as opposed to black, for the dried blood in “Ready or Not.”

MORE MOVIES INSIDER VIDEOS:
How Old Movies Are Professionally Restored | Movies Insider
How 5 Movie Props Are Made To Be Eaten | Movies Insider
How Mirror Scenes Are Shot In Movies & TV | Movies Insider

------------------------------------------------------

#Costume #MoviesInsider #Insider

Insider is great journalism about what passionate people actually want to know. That’s everything from news to food, celebrity to science, politics to sports and all the rest. It’s smart. It’s fearless. It’s fun. We push the boundaries of digital storytelling. Our mission is to inform and inspire.

How Costumes Are Destroyed For Movies & TV | Movies Insider

[antowane]

The movie industry has some of the most specific and outlandish jobs. I love how much effort and care goes into film and TV shows.

[MissMisnomer_]

This along with Foley artistry have got to be some of the coolest and underappreciated artforms in cinema

[antowane]

Its funny how if she does her job well we wouldn't even notice it, but if she got it wrong it would end up in a Watch Mojo countdown video.

[amandasnider]

I was in a Fibre Arts certificate course in College and at the time I wanted to further my studies and go into Costume Design after I graduated my first college. For my final projects I decided to explore how realistic Costume destruction can be. I sewed a simplistic nightgown and a wrote a short scene describing a pioneer woman running from her drunk abusive husband in the woods. I wanted to see just how much damage could be done to the outfit. So, I put the nightgown over some ratty clothes, I put some protective goggles and a helmet on and I ran like my life depended on it through the forest around my apartment.... turns out practically no damage whatsoever other than some strains but it actually was difficult for the fabric to catch on stuff and it never ripped.

Actually, there was so little damage that I was afraid my teacher would think I didn't do anything to test it so I very stupidly jumped into a bush...what I thought was a regular bush.

Turns out there was a massive hole under the bush and I really fell and I gashed my leg badly.

The ironic thing is that the broken branch cut me through the fabric... without ripping the fabric. All I had to show for evidence was a little bit of blood present on the fabric (which looked more like a little scab had been picked vs a wound) and the wound on my leg.

[glorygloryholeallelujah]

Dang. My school’s old career counselor really let me down…
He never ONCE told me that there was a career path that would allow me to destroy rich people’s clothes for a living!!🤣❤️

[rafaelperalta]

This job and the people who do it are amazing. It requires a lot of knowledge and effort that usually ends up unnoticed by most.

[toastthemost]

I never knew how much I wanted to be a breakdown artist.

[yokelengleng]

It's very complicated.... You have to imagine how clothes damage in scenarios that rarely happens in real life.... And you need to get the right colour and know the right chemicals to put on the clothes.... That's a lot of knowledge

[beamanlangit]

I'm amused by how great artists they are, they really made every film more lively and worth watching for.

[shayne_has_landed]

I remember destroying a thrifted jacket to turn into a zombie costume. I used files and razors to tear the jacket in specific spots, dyed it with watered down acrylic paint, and rolled around in the grass with it to deliberately deliver grass and mud stains. It turned out pretty nice; you can use whatever you have on hand to create something and turn it into your vision.

[nofool]

If realistic bullet holes aren't easily visble, then I suppose making it a bit bigger(visible) and more dramatic even though it's unrealistic, would make it more realistic to the untrained eye which is the majority of the audiences. I guess that would do it for many.

[kirstenpaff]

That lady must have a very shady looking search history.

[Mrstealth]

Smart idea making separate damaged parts for a special expensive costume.

[sonikboom]

I have a couple pairs of breakdown boots and two breakdown philson jackets from man in the high castle. I wear em daily! They look rat bagged but are near new otherwise. The joys of set sales!

[Pionike]

I could never be able to do this job. Ruining clothes very much hurts my heart 😭

[Melissa]

Such a cool video. I haven't seen anything like this since I visited the studio in Texas, where they shot Dallas and the Problem Child movies, on a Girl Scout field trip in the early 90's. I forget what it's called, but they used to have a big museum there with all kinds of exhibits about how movies are made. It since went out of business and Glen Beck took it over. That's where I first learned about how they use exploding blood packs to do gun shot scenes. I learned so much that day, that I still remember all these years later, but I'm surprised they never said anything about this clothing destroying thing that was talked about in this video.

[Musty_Moth]

can confirm, bullet holes look like cigarette burns. However, having been shot in my leg at point blank, the entry looked like a bullet hole, and the exit looked like a blown open stovetop popcorn covered in blood. It honestly wasn't too far off from what I saw here
This is beautiful work.

[theysay]

This is one of the reasons why i love watching behind the scenes/ making of videos more than the actual movie/drama

[sasisaipim]

She did an amazing job with her talented heart. This is new to me as I have never thought of costume designers who creat ruined clothes in movies. Thank you for sharing 💝✨🙏

[owlislike]

Previous costumer here. I have:
Set a dress on fire ( multiple times)
Made fake dirt to slather onto props
Distressed fabric with sand paper, needles, steel wool, rocks, old screw drivers, palm sanders, and cheese graters
...the list goes on 🤣🤣