It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's the Superman Costume Thread! - Part 1

[Llama_Shepherd]

Batman started wearing bullet resistant fabrics in 1940.

 

[ConnorKon-El]

I think Mike22's manip (along with many others) perfectly demonstrates that the classic suit can, if done correctly, look awesome and cool in live action.

Check out some of the BTS features on the Superman Returns DVD/Blu-Ray, when they were designing the costume. There are some mock suits designed that absolutely nailed it. Sadly, they ended up going with something more subdued.

Such a shame. I hated the red color on SR's suit. It almost looked Maroon. Anyway, i really am happy with this MOS suit. It's fresh but it's still familiar and overall faithful to the comics. It's a suit that looks like it came from another planet, which i really like.

 

[Rust]

Dont think I've ever seen the rejected suits for SR. Why's that?

 

[spidermanJLA!~]

Could you guys post some? I have the PLAY/ SCENE SELECTION/ SETUP version of Superman Returns.

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

Me either. If someone could post some screencaps or find a link on youtube to the feature, I'd appreciate that.

 

[sf2]

pls.

 

[McLarenMP4]

Ok I've ripped the scene from the dvd and uploaded to youtube.
I still don't understand why the went with the smaller S as the last suit with the larger S was just about perfect.
Not sure if it will stay up for long as it's a copyrighted dvd but I put a disclaimer in so hopefully it will be ok.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnQhEk6EZsg

 

[Super Kal]

the biggest problem that i heard from the clip- "a lot of gray, brown, and beige..." she said he's the red, blue, and yellow in the movie, but Bryan Singer completely destroyed that concept with the cyan color filter, and the overuse of an orange/blue tint to the film...

for the final suit that they used in the film, the blue by default, in natural light, was very light, grayish and desaturated, while the red by default, in natural light, was dark, muddy, and had a brown tone to it. both of these choices in color hindered the color flow of the suit. some of the designs before the tweaks looked great (referring to when Superman is walking through the corridor and the light is directed downward onto his frame)... just so many problems color wise..

this is what i hope MOS changed in their movie.

 

[DKDetective]

Ok I've ripped the scene from the dvd and uploaded to youtube.
I still don't understand why the went with the smaller S as the last suit with the larger S was just about perfect.
Not sure if it will stay up for long as it's a copyrighted dvd but I put a disclaimer in so hopefully it will be ok.

Thanks so much. I love how when the costume designer is talking about the impossibility of pleasing everyone, the first thing she mentions is the size of the S. She pleased almost no one with that choice.

 

[sf2]

ya. The red color looks right (blue too bright though) and the \S/ shield looks bigger during the production. On the other hand, the MOS blue is too dark. Though the suit won’t break the movie… so does the red briefs.

 

[storyteller]

When Brandon is lifting his arms at the end I think you can see why the went with an S with a huge bulge in the middle. You see much more of the symbol when he's coming at you. In the comics the artists can cheat. Real life harder to do. Again still images and manips work for that one moment. But do those changes carry over when Superman goes in the sunlight or goes into shadow. How does it look when you get up close vs far away.

I think the SR costume probably knew the size of the S wasn't the most desirable thing. But she ain't the director. Singer had final decision.

And she was surely right, can't please everyone. When someone says that the blue is too dark. Well what hue of blue is Supermans suit? Some artists like to use that baby blue while others use a much darker blue. Hell some artists take it near black. From there those artists who use the baby blue may use a nice gradation to a darker blue or black. And you know what, your not going to get that in real life. Artists can cheat so much and that makes adaptation difficult.

The Classic suit worked in the 70's/80's. Now it's too high red/blue and cheap looking. It looks like a joke, Reeve looks like a cosplayer right now.Though in the movie you might notice how a lot of Superman's scenes in the first film take place at night or in a room with controlled lighting.

 

[sf2]

No, he doesn’t. however I do think the MOS suit looks like a grayish blue diver’s suit with an \S/ and red cape. [FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[Micromind]

For SR, the costume designers made a mistake by taking body molds of Routh when he was not finished putting on muscle, he was still training.

The problem was that Singer should have waited for some time before taking the body mold and making his muscle suit, later on when Routh did train he got bigger and the SR suit kept tearing up. And he was told to stop that for a while.

The scene with Lex Luthor on the new krypton Island was the first scene that was shot i the movie (correct me if I am wrong) and you can see that he looks a bit bigger there than in other scenes in the movie.

The muscle suit was not right, and the rubber like glued on "S" shield was made smaller as a bigger shield hindered Routh's movements especially when he was required to lift his hands up.

The obvious solution was to have a "S" shield printed on the Suit so that it could have been larger.

A suit made of materials like Captain America would be something like -

Here's a rough manip I did -

 

[Micromind]

Louise Mingenbach could have done a better job, her design did not favor Routh's body type, he had a long torso which was accentuated by the costume design.

Lowering the neck line and increasing the shield size was needed, a different cape attachment would have resulted in a better color distribution, the briefs should have been a tad higher on the waist.

And the suit colors were wrong too, instead of brown Red, a darker shade of red would have looked good, the suit had "royal blue color" which was not right either, it suppressed the diamond shaped "texture" which would have added some shades to highlight muscle tone.

The Cape made up of heavier material prevented the cape from waving in the wind, and the muscle suit was not good either. *sigh*

 

[StarvingArtist]

Louise Mingenbach could have done a better job, her design did not favor Routh's body type, he had a long torso which was accentuated by the costume design.

Lowering the neck line and increasing the shield size was needed, a different cape attachment would have resulted in a better color distribution, the briefs should have been a tad higher on the waist.

And the suit colors were wrong too, instead of brown Red, a darker shade of red would have looked good, the suit had "royal blue color" which was not right either, it suppressed the diamond shaped "texture" which would have added some shades to highlight muscle tone.

The Cape made up of heavier material prevented the cape from waving in the wind, and the muscle suit was not good either. *sigh*

Just goes to show that it's the proportion of elements that make a good Superman suit, not just the elements themselves.

 

[Micromind]

Just goes to show that it's the proportion of elements that make a good Superman suit, not just the elements themselves.

Yup.

And, the muscle suit, suit materials, colors, and the design are important elements too.

 

[StarvingArtist]

Yup.

And, the muscle suit, suit materials, colors, and the design are important elements too.

Of course, agreed. Though I think all of those elements, especially the design, are more the concept designer's responsibility, not necessarily the costume designer. The costumer designer takes the concept the director chooses and executes it. I don't think they're responsible for things like hair and makeup, which are also important. The concept designer is in charge of crafting the entire look and feel of the character. I think Singer just went with an underwhelming design.

 

[sf2]

For SR, the costume designers made a mistake by taking body molds of Routh when he was not finished putting on muscle, he was still training.

The problem was that Singer should have waited for some time before taking the body mold and making his muscle suit, later on when Routh did train he got bigger and the SR suit kept tearing up. And he was told to stop that for a while.

The scene with Lex Luthor on the new krypton Island was the first scene that was shot i the movie (correct me if I am wrong) and you can see that he looks a bit bigger there than in other scenes in the movie.

The muscle suit was not right, and the rubber like glued on "S" shield was made smaller as a bigger shield hindered Routh's movements especially when he was required to lift his hands up.

The obvious solution was to have a "S" shield printed on the Suit so that it could have been larger.

A suit made of materials like Captain America would be something like -

Here's a rough manip I did -

No. that scene was among the last scenes to be shot if not mistaken. Then, they added another millions-dollar scene later because it wasn’t action-packed.

 

[sf2]

Louise Mingenbach could have done a better job, her design did not favor Routh's body type, he had a long torso which was accentuated by the costume design.

Lowering the neck line and increasing the shield size was needed, a different cape attachment would have resulted in a better color distribution, the briefs should have been a tad higher on the waist.

And the suit colors were wrong too, instead of brown Red, a darker shade of red would have looked good, the suit had "royal blue color" which was not right either, it suppressed the diamond shaped "texture" which would have added some shades to highlight muscle tone.

The Cape made up of heavier material prevented the cape from waving in the wind, and the muscle suit was not good either. *sigh*

We all see the problems and know exactly how to fix them. Funny, they just don’t / didn’t. and that’s matter all. Anyway, the SR suit doesn’t really look bad on screen.

 

[StarvingArtist]

We all see the problems and know exactly how to fix them. Funny, they just don’t / didn’t. and that’s matter all. Anyway, the SR suit doesn’t really look bad on screen.

You're right, it looks terrible

 

[spidermanJLA!~]

I found this in an old thread. I like it, personally.

 

[Super Kal]

even though i like the new magazine pic, i like this one better:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[Krumm]

Did you boost the saturation overall or just on the suit?

 

[Super Kal]

Did you boost the saturation overall or just on the suit?

it was more selective color, a color filter, and desaturating the colors a little to look a little more realistic with the lighting dynamic around it

 

[Krumm]

it was more selective color, a color filter, and desaturating the colors a little to look a little more realistic with the lighting dynamic around it

Gotcha. I was just wondering if it was an enhancement of the suit's natural colors but it's not.

Nice job