ANALYSIS OF "CLEOPATRA" COSTUMES IN THE MOVIE CLEOPATRA 1963

As a deliberation of social, personal, political events or future predictions, imagination, thought, and a multitude of life matters, cinema is in close interaction with the culture of the society. It can reflect and convey the interactions to its audience. When the movies are at stake, it is observed that the most effective narrative elements and means of expression are the costumes, providing visual communication. The fact that costumes are affected by periods, people, and events occurring in their environment has made costumes a significant narrative element for movies. Costumes are effective visual communication elements reflecting the scenario and conveying character traits. Contributing to visual communication, cinema and costume are interrelated. The objective of this study is to determine how costume narrative elements in cinema support the movie scenario. To elucidate the contribution of costumes, the Oscar-winning movie (1964) based on the Cleopatra era (Cleopatra VII), who lived between 69 BC and 30 BC, was examined. The study primarily focuses on the 1963 film Cleopatra and the costumes worn by the character Cleopatra. The “Document Analysis” method was applied to analyze the character Cleopatra's costumes. Written and visual materials related to the research subject were examined. To perform the document analysis, concepts such as color, silhouette, clothing style features, head accessories, ornaments on clothes, symbols, and embroidery were examined with the visual analysis guideline developed by the researchers, taking into consideration the representation of reality belonging to the relevant period. In concurrence with the obtained data, it was concluded that the character provided the desired perception according to the scene in the scenario with colors, silhouette, clothing style features, head and other accessories; and emphasized the mystical concepts of Egypt with the embroidery and symbols in the ornaments.