Qumra’s cinematic expert Jacqueline West stresses the importance of actors exploring the psychology of characters

Jacqueline West, the American fashion designer, stressed the importance of actors studying the characters that are given to them in film and television works in depth, and conducting extensive research and various readings about them, in addition to expanding their psychological knowledge of the characters they will embody in their works to convince directors and viewers. West explained, during a session in front of emerging directors at the Qumra Film Forum 2023, that actors are required to dive into the character and explore all its aspects to succeed in embodying it, pointing to the division of the art of fashion design into two parts: the design itself, and the psychology of design. She stated that she used many art books and looked at paintings that inspired her in many aspects of her cinematic and creative work, considering that the most important aspect of her work is "Having the right fabrics guide the look and feel"She also talked about her work "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", the film staple that allowed her to design costumes for over a hundred years. She also indicated that although she was interested in her studies in the field of science, she changed her major to the history of art in college, where this exceptional attention to detail grew in West’s designs for films, and her knowledge of art history was also the reason why director Philip Kaufman asked her to design Henry’s costumes. and June (1990), starring Fred Ward and Uma Thurman. She also noted that the task of designing the costumes for the film “The Return” was difficult, as she had to design ten sets of the same outfit for the first scene, in addition to that she had to use special techniques, such as mixing black wax in each dress to make it look dirty, but she only had Little reference material that you can rely on in the film because the hunters’ costumes are not documented, evoking their design for the costumes of the movie “Dunes”, which won wide admiration from the audience, as the film’s director, Denis Villeneuve, did not want to adopt a typical science fiction look, after he was He has already tried many other designers. In the session, the cinematic expert at Qumra said that she first seeks approval of her design ideas from the director, and then communicates with the actors. It is noteworthy that Jacqueline West, the American fashion designer, was nominated for four Oscars, and among her first works are the movie Quills (2000), The Strange Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Returner (2015), and the first part of Dunes (2021).