Audiences ought to anticipate the movie show to be a jungle due to GOAT which opened on the field workplace Feb.13. Blending international sports activities tradition, next-generation animation and fearless creativity, the Sony Pictures Animation movie arrives with critical pedigree, backed by the artists behind Okay-Pop Demon Hunters and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and a manufacturing crew that features four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry (who additionally lends his voice to Lenny the giraffe).
While audiences are certain to be enamored by a solid of athletic animals, the movie’s immersive world is stitched collectively by Emmy-nominated costume designer Dominique Dawson—a multidisciplinary artistic whose daring, story-driven work has helped form tasks like Ava DuVernay’s Origin, Donald Glover’s Swarm, and Jordan Peele’s HIM.
With GOAT, the San Francisco native steps into new territory: animation. The authentic action-comedy facilities on Will, a small goat who has an opportunity to attain his wildest dream—taking part in skilled roarball, a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport, dominated by the quickest, fiercest animals on the earth.
Dawson says she approached the GOAT mission intent on constructing a world that felt culturally grounded and visually genuine.
“I actually wished to step into the world of Vineland,” Dawson tells BLACK ENTERPRISE. “The local weather and the precise landscaping of the city may be very jungle vibes. It’s scorching. There’s a variety of hills—so much to navigate. So we knew that we couldn’t do a variety of layering with large coats as a result of it simply wouldn’t make sense.”
To assemble that realism in GOAT, Dawson immersed herself in analysis.
“I constructed out decks and jumped into animal actions and anatomy and understanding the totally different species,” she defined. “Then we jumped into what do these animals do for a dwelling? Being in a position to have that hierarchy—careers, legal professionals, medical doctors, building employees—that dictated a variety of their appears to be like.”
For Dawson, animation unlocked a stage of artistic freedom not often doable in stay motion.
“Typically, I must work out how I can get my fingers on this couture piece—is it going to reach on time? Is it going to be two occasions smaller than what they stated initially? None of these worries had been a part of my pondering, which is so liberating,” she says. “I actually simply received to have at it.
That freedom proved particularly necessary when designing Jett Fillmore, the league’s celebrated MVP, voiced by Gabrielle Union.
“I wished Jett to really feel highly effective,” Dawson says. “I performed with energy fits to start with. What I discovered is by exhibiting extra of her body, you really get a greater understanding of her swag and femininity.”
She provides, “It nonetheless appears like she’s on that line of masculine, female vibes.”
The scale of labor was large.
“Even only for one rendering of Jett’s appears to be like, we might do like 60 variations that had all totally different colorways, changes and detailing—and that’s only for one outfit. The essential concern was the catwalk appears to be like. That was actually the place we wished to make a press release.”
The consideration to character prolonged throughout the roster, notably to Will, the undersized rookie decided to show that “smalls can ball.”
“I studied a variety of avenue ball—courts just like the Rucker and West 4th,” Dawson says. “He’s the one small who, when he involves the court docket, desires to look not less than as large as he can. So entering into a slimmed-down silhouette isn’t going to service him. He desires to bulk it out.”
Dawson’s resolution was to place Will in a baggier hoodie, layered over longer tees to magnify his presence.
“Showing his development and progress as he will get drafted, he stays in apply gear out the gate, then you definitely get to see him step out in a deconstructed bomber jacket and quite a lot of appears to be like that present he’s received some paper now, and he can categorical himself in that method.”
While roarball exists in an all-animal universe, it’s aesthetic is deeply rooted in recognizable cultural touchpoints. Dawson’s personal experiences helped anchor that authenticity.
“I grew up taking part in basketball, so I’ve a extremely sturdy data of the game,” she says. “I checked out gladiator-type vibes and attending a variety of video games myself. I’m a sports activities fan. I simply received off doing two soccer films back-to-back, so I’ve a really clear understanding of fandom and all of that. The gladiator factor added a bigger part as a result of it is a international league…The stakes are excessive and it’s do or die, so we actually wished to showcase that.”
The result’s a movie that feels each imaginative and acquainted. Animation additionally allowed Dawson to discover design potentialities that might have been impractical or unsafe in stay motion.
“Modo is one in every of my favourite characters,” Dawson says, referencing the Komodo dragon voiced by Nick Kroll who is likely one of the movie’s most kinetic characters. “If an actor was carrying tight denim pants with all these belts and piercings, there could be concern about security…Him doing flips and all of the motion and quirkiness he does. We had been freed from that, and that’s when know-how actually got here into play.”
GOAT’s filmmakers leaned into superior instruments throughout productions. Recent technical beneficial properties have made it doable to render “complicated characters, with fur, hair, layered clothes and equipment,” a problem that required groups to rigorously stability visible element inside every body.
For Dawson, these instruments, enhanced the emotional influence.
“There was a holographic impact placed on the jerseys…it sort of entered this surreal area,” she explains. “Those moments actually hit and had an influence.”
While her work occurs largely behind the scenes, Dawson sees costume design as foundational to narrative.
“The union that I’m a part of has a complete working marketing campaign known as ‘Naked Without Us,’ and that basically says all of it. If there have been no costume designers, it actually could be a bunch of actors simply strolling round bare. We are an enormous story part.”
As a graduate of the director’s program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Dawson approaches every mission by way of a storytelling lens.
“Every alternative that we make for the display must help and elevate the story and push it ahead,” she says. “I all the time look to the textual content—the script—however I additionally have a look at it like portray. If there’s an excessive amount of crimson over right here…there’s a stability in wanting on the energies of characters.”
After designing greater than 160 episodes of tv and collaborating with visionary filmmakers, Dawson stays motivated by artistic danger.
“I really like the bizarre. I really like unusual,” she says. “I’m very a lot into exhibiting issues that we don’t usually see. I’m not identical to, ‘Oh, I need to do the usual business vibe.’ That’s not me in any respect.”
That spirit made GOAT a pure match—a mission she describes as grounded in empowerment.
“The essential goal is actually physique positivity and embracing all sizes and empowerment of everybody,” Dawson says. “We actually wished the costumes to mirror that.”
Dawson sees extra animation tasks in her future.
“Most positively,” she says when requested about returning to the medium. “You’re on Zoom with illustrators in South Africa or Paris or Canada, and also you’re attending to make magic over the pc from residence. I like it.”
As animation continues to push the boundaries of know-how, tradition, and storytelling, designers like Dawson are shaping how audiences join earlier than a single line is spoken. And if GOAT is any indication, she’s solely simply getting began.
RELATED CONTENT: ‘Sinners’ Makes History Scoring First-Time Nominations For Many Gifted And Black Talents
About The Author
