Hairstyling

Despite sending out numerous messages I was unable to find a hairstylist. I have therefore looked on Youtube for inspirational videos in the hope of doing the models hair myself. I have borrowed some Crimpers from a friend and I want to put it in an up-do 18th Century inspired style.

Me and my boyfriend, therefore spent the weekend attempting to make my hair have an 80's vs 18th Century look to it. I was really inspired by the photo-shoot done by Iris Brosch, in particular the models hair shown below. We therefore tried to recreate the look in an easy way that could be recreated when it comes to the shoot on Tuesday.
This is what my take on the above hair looks like.
We took two small bits of the hair from the side which we plaited first into two plaits either side of the head.
We separated the hair into two sections, the front and the back. We crimped the back section layer by layer, back-combing as we went and using hairspray to keep the texture. The back section was then taken up and put to the centre of the head fastened with hair-pins and grips.
The four plaits were then taken and put on to the middle of the head.
The front section was then put under the same process as the back (crimping, and back combing). This was then taken back to the middle of the head and also fastened to create a high fringe above the face. Because I have a short fringe we were only able to bring the front of the hair up to a certain point. My models all have long hair and long fringes so we will be able to create hair with more volume and height.
To finish off the look I fastened the hair with extra pins and completely covered it in hair-spray so it will hold. I also wore my hair like this all day to check that it would stay up and it surprisingly did! I will try and get some feathers, flowers and bows to put into the hair to complete the look but overall I am very pleased with it.

New Make-up Artist - Charlotte Millerchip

Like everything in this project, someone has cancelled as soon as I have everything planned. My make-up artists and hairstylists (Laura and Emily) that I used on my tester shoot are now unable to make the 4th of May photo-shoot at Kingston Lacy due to assignments. I have therefore had to find a make-up artist last minute.

What is really unfortunate about the full time make-up course is that a lot of the students seem to be reluctant to help out meaning they are not taking advantage of work experience and building up portfolio work. I do not know whether this is just due to the course being new but hopefully I will have more response from the students next year.

Luckily I have spoken to Charlotte Millerchip, a model maker student who is currently doing a part time course in make-up. As I will be doing make-up at 7am she will be able to help me before she needs to go to uni at 9am.

I am really impressed with Charlotte's previous work, shown below. From our correspondence I have found that she is really enthusiastic to help out and create a great look bringing together an strong 80's look with an 18th century take on it.

Unfortunately I have not been able to find a hairstylist but I shall keep messaging around, if not I will have to find another option.

Planning Location at Kingston Lacy

Me, my photographer Emily and my assistant Naomi worked out the plan for the day at Kingston Lacy. I printed out all of the outfits photographed in the tester shoot and the photographs we took on the location scouting day at Kingston Lacy. We then decided on how many shots we can fit during the day and when and where they will be.

My plan for Tuesday the 4th May is as follows:

7am Female models and make-up artists arrive at my house.

9.30am everyone else to meet at my house to load up cars and set off to Kingston Lacy.

10am Arrive at Kingston Lacy and set up first shot and get models into costume.

11am. Garden Walk.

Elise, Ilana & Emma.

18^th C Pink & Blue outfit. Blue Shoes & Headpiece.

18^th C Pink Dress.

18^th C Brown Dress.

Noon. Back of House.

Matt, Ilana & Emma.

Blue Shirt, 18^th C Waistcoat & Jeans with DM Boots.

Blue Playsuit, Stay, Lace Gloves with Blue Shoes.

Green Dress, Panniers, Long Lace Gloves.

1.00-2.00 Lunch

2pm. Parterre & Bushes.

Matt & Elise.

18^th C Green Dress with Pink Gloves, Pink Tights & Sunglasses.

18^th C Jacket, Breeches & Grey T-shirt with Hat, Pink Socks & DM Boots.

3pm. Fernery.

Matt, Ilana, Elise & Emma.

18^th C Green Dress with Pink Gloves, Pink Tights & Sunglasses.

18^th C Jacket, Breeches & Grey T-shirt with Hat, Pink Socks & DM Boots.

18^th Brown Dress.

18^th Red C Dress with Denim Jacket

4pm. Run from the House

Matt, Ilana, Elise & Emma.

18^th C Pink Panniers with Pink Slogan T-shirt, Pink Stockings, Pink Legwarmers & DM Boots.

18^th C Green Underskirt with Panniers, Fame T-shirt, Yellow Tights & DM Boots.

18^th C Pink Panniers with Denim Jacket & Stripped Stockings.

18^th C Breeches with Yellow Slogan T-shirt, Yellow Socks & DM Boots.

6pm Finish

Planning Location with Emily & Alex at Kingston Lacy

Me, Alex and Emily went to visit Kingston Lacy. As the grounds are so big we needed to have a good idea where we would want to shoot. It was really helpful doing another visit to the house as when I visited before it was a dull day. When I visited again it was a really hot day and showed how potential the grounds would be in sunlight! The grounds were also full of flowers, which hadn't bloomed the last time I visited. Visiting Kingston Lacy again has really helped me, especially going with Emily and Alex as they gave their professional opinion on where the best places would be to shoot. The next step for me will be to decide the locations and work out the clothing for each shot.

Me, Alex and Emily went to visit Kingston Lacy. As the grounds are so big we needed to have a good idea where we would want to shoot. It was really helpful doing another visit to the house as when I visited before it was a dull day. When I visited again it was a really hot day and showed how potential the grounds would be in sunlight! The grounds were also full of flowers, which hadn't bloomed the last time I visited. Visiting Kingston Lacy again has really helped me, especially going with Emily and Alex as they gave their professional opinion on where the best places would be to shoot. The next step for me will be to decide the locations and work out the clothing for each shot.

Behind the scenes at Stanmer House Photoshoot

Yesterday we did the photo-shoot at Stanmer House.
Me, Emily and Naomi (my assistant) left for Brighton on the Thursday evening, we also picked up one of the models Katie on the way and we stayed at my parents house. This meant that at 6:30am Friday morning I could drive Katie to Lydia's house where Laura, Charlotte and the other model Lizzy could begin make-up.
I was really impressed with the wigs that Lydia and Laura had set for the models, they also matched beautifully with the models natural hair colour.
I left the models having their make-up done whilst I went and picked up Alex from Brighton Station. Me and Alex then went back to the house to pick up Emily and Naomi with the kit. We arrived at Stanmer house at 9am ready to set up.
Something I hadn't anticipated was how happy the staff at Stanmer house were with us shooting there. We were able to use any of the rooms downstairs which left us loads to choose from. We therefore decided that the best way would be to shoot from each room to room. Me and Naomi left Emily and Alex setting up and went back to Lydia's to dress the models. We then had the difficult task of trying to get the two models into the cars, luckily Laura had her car which meant that the models had more room to fit their wigs and dresses, as they were unable to sit properly.
My brief for the Stanmer house shoot was for the models to act very refined and elegant. I wanted the photographs and film to give the impression that in the house they had to look as though they were under a lot of discipline. As Lizzy looked a lot younger than Katie we put them under the roles of the elder sister teaching her younger sister the rules of society. I wanted to show that inside the house there were rules they had to abide to where as when they get outside the rules could be broken and they could have fun, it will be at Kingston Lacy in the grounds that I would bring more of the 80's fun feel across.
I did however set aside 80's vs 18th Century costumes for the models as I am worried that having the two separate photographs for each shoot will not link with the whole photo-spread together. I think the film should work well as it has a story it can follow but with the photographs this may prove more difficult and the imagery may not look as contemporary.
We started shooting at 11am with Katie first as she had to leave at 1pm. Despite the time constraints once we got shooting we moved quite quickly and got all the shots we needed. I then dropped Katie to where she needed to go and picked up lunch so that the team could have lunch before doing the afternoon shoot with Lizzy.
This is a behind the scene shot of Katie teaching Lizzy to dance. They were very comical together and played their parts perfectly as it matched their personalities. One of the staff also had a small dog which were able to use in some of the photographs despite it being very scared of the wigs.
The above image is one of the 80's vs 18th century outfits I put together. Despite my first initial doubts about the outfit I think it worked perfectly with the traditional hair. We also increased the make-up slightly so that the models had stronger lips and cheeks for the 80's.
These last images were taken just before Lizzy changed into her 80's costume (the denim shirt Naomi is holding). We had difficulty throughout the shoot with Lizzy as she is quite inexperienced at modelling. It was apparent that she felt very self-concious and it was during the last shoots that I realised that with such a huge team this wouldn't help her, especially as Katie had just left. I therefore asked the other team members to sit in another room which defiantly helped Lizzy to relax and do a better job. I think during this photo-shoot I realised that sometimes the model can feel uncomfortable and they may need reassurance and some direction. I managed to keep it professional and make sure everyone was happy which is very important when dealing with a big team.
We finished up at 4pm with everyone feeling very tired but pleased with the days work.

Testing the Film Kit

Today I went with Alex (my film guy) to test the filming equipment. For the Stanmer shoot we will be using a HVR-Z7E which is a high-def camera that will enable Alex to plug the laptop in whilst we are shooting, this will instantly store a back up on to his laptop making each clip easily placed into a separate file. For the Stanmer shoot we will be using lighting equipment as we do not know the lighting condition of the location. We have also hired out a tripod which will help to keep the image in focus if the lighting is low.

For the Kingston Lacy shoot we will be using a HVR-Z7E high-def camera. Because it will be on location we won't be taking the attached laptop, we will use larger flash memory cards that will store the footage. We will be taking a tracking kit so that some of the movement is kept steady although most of the footage will be hand-held.