Lizzie Hodge – a final year BA (Hons) Design for Costume and Performance student – reflects on her experience as “costume designer” for Paper Tiger (2025) and “co-costume designer” for Water into Wine (2025), two graduate films produced by Bournemouth Film School. Students across several courses are brought together to collaborate, offering practical, portfolio-building experience in line with individual career goals.
Paper Tiger, as Lizzie explains, is a film based on the idea of physical differences being seen as wrong or impure. The project tackles the superficiality of human judgement, the stigma around physical differences, and the dark power of herd mentality, using survivalist aesthetics to reflect a dystopian world full of oppression and hostility, but ultimately offering a positive outlook on physical diversity.
Water into Wine is an experimental film with themes of alcoholism and religion, and the Welsh language and culture. It blends unconventional cinematic imagery with varied shooting formats to dive deep into the tortured mind of a young woman addicted to alcohol. The film aims to challenge harmful assumptions and social beliefs around alcoholism in young people – something the filmmakers point out is a growing issue contributing significantly to death, illness, and disability among 15–49 year-olds in the UK.
Reflecting on her roles, Lizzie breaks down the responsibilities of a costume designer:
“You’ll take on basically every costume role in the film industry. I experienced: measuring, designing, budgeting, sourcing, buying, doing costume breakdowns, crafting skills, alterations, dressing, and on-set skills too.”
These responsibilities might be one sole designer’s responsibility, or the shared duty of co-designers; for Water into Wine, Lizzie collaborated with co-costume designer Jess Noyes, whilst Paper Tiger incurred solitary leadership.
When it comes to the on-set side of things, Lizzie adds, “There are loads of responsibilities you wouldn’t even think of, like fixing things on the spot and laundering or stain-removing costumes.”
One of Lizzie’s favourite parts of the process is sourcing. Sourcing means “trying to find the perfect garments within the budget to fit design ideas, while staying in contact with the director to make sure everything works.” She explains that it also involves “cross-referencing this with actor measurements to deliver fully realised costumes.”
Another part of the process Lizzie really enjoyed was the costume breakdown. This is all about “taking newer-looking garments and helping them feel like they belong in the world.” For Paper Tiger, Lizzie and her team “had to break down 15 coats” for a crowd scene. “We used tools like graters and files to distress the clothing, and sprays and dyes to age the colours.”
For Water into Wine, Lizzie recalls “experimenting with costume props, like creating helmets to make characters’ heads look like eyeballs.” She reflects, “That was a really fun learning experience.”
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Like most things at uni, film production comes with its fair share of challenges. Lizzie says, “Everything about this experience was challenging. For Paper Tiger, it was my first time costuming a crowd. I had to source, alter, and break down 22 costumes in total – and stick to a strict budget.
“It’s also quite a challenge learning to be assertive in my role. Coming from the BA (Hons) Design for Costume and Performance course, lots of the film students didn’t really know what skills my course covers, so it was a learning curve becoming more confident in what I do.”
Lizzie reminds herself, “I’m the costume designer. I have my skills, and I know how to use and apply them to make the costumes as good as they can be.”
Sustainability is a big talking point when it comes to developing major productions at Arts University Bournemouth. Many students take ALBERT training (a sustainability accreditation developed by BAFTA). Lizzie says, “In most of my work, I try to stay as sustainable as possible.” One way she does this is by “sourcing second-hand clothing, which is both more sustainable and cheaper overall.”
When asked what advice she’d give to incoming students, Lizzie replies, “Push yourself! Going into this, I wasn’t that confident with menswear or military clothing – and now I’ve costume designed a film with three main, male, military-style characters.
“Also, take on any experience that comes your way, and be confident in your role. With the skills you’ve learnt at uni, you do know what you’re doing – you just have to apply that knowledge to a real-life film and make sure your voice is heard as a head of department on set. And don’t be afraid to ask for help. Having people assist – whether on set or in the alterations/breakdown process – is really valuable. That’s something I learnt while preparing for the grad films.”
According to Lizzie, working on graduation films produced by the BA (Hons) Film Production course is a great way to build experience. “The collaboration with film students is incredibly valuable. I’ve learnt so much about the film industry – and working with actors and alongside makeup has been valuable too. It’s all about professional practice and making connections for the future.”