My visit to the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) provided me a glance at the inner workings of the film industry. The Museum was as informative as it was historic. One of the sections of the museum that caught my attention was the costume section, especially the masks. I saw the makeup mask that Eddie Murphy wore on SNL, "The Mask" from the movie of the same title starring Jim Carrey, and the Chewbacca mask from Star Wars.
The Chewbacca mask is, of course, covered with fur, which I learned, is from a yak. Nowadays, if a movie was produced with a similar character, most of the visuals would probably be computer graphics, but being that the Star Wars movies were created before some of the sophisticated graphics we know today, the actors on set actually wore costumes. Although the Chewbacca mask is well proportioned and looks realistic, I still have a question about how heavy it must be. Even when an actor is standing still, it must get very hot in that costume with all the set lights and the lack of air circulation inside the costume. The Star Wars franchise, with all the production, costumes, and minutiae, was one of the most successful in movie history, which to me is very impressive. All in all, seeing the extra elements of some of what goes into the makings of a successful movie was fascinating to me, and costume design is just one of those elements.
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