Major Project Production Unit - Costume Fitting/ Hair & Makeup Trial/ Poster Photoshoot

I wanted to arrange a day to meet with the actress and try on pieces of costume that we had brought to ensure they fit. When thinking about this, I felt I could try and fit other aspects of the production that would be really helpful making full use of the day. After speaking to our hair and make up artist, she also agreed to come down so she could try out a couple of looks that I am thinking about. I then began to think how this would be a good idea to get some shots done for the poster that we have to create. Rather than a poster thats just a still from the film, I wanted it to have its own striking image creating the character as more of a statement. I felt if we did the actresses hair and makeup and got her into one of the outfits from the film, we could place her in front of a green screen and then use this image. Andreya hired equipment such as a DSLR, Green Screen and Lighting the day before and we went to a converted barn which had a lot of space for us to work with to set up.

On the day of the shoot, myself and Andreya went to the barn an hour early to ensure everything was set up correctly and it was all in order. We tested the camera again and all the lighting to make sure the green screen was evenly lit and the actress would also be well lit. You can see some of the test photos below:

I picked Claudia (the main actress) up and arrived back to the shoot and the hair and makeup artist arrived too. Once everyone was there I conducted a short meeting expressing what I wanted out of the day and went through with Claudia and Rebecca (Makeup Artist) the type of looks I wanted to achieved. I have researched some of the looks before hand so I knew exactly what I felt fitted well for the character. Once this was explained everyone got to work starting with the hair and makeup. This part of the process I massively underestimated. Since Claudia's hair was really curly and needed straightening, this took up a lot of time. Overall, to achieve the look I wanted it took 3 hours to achieve. Although this was long, It looked fantastic and was perfect for the shoot. I had a chat with Claudia and she said she will straighten her hair before she comes to hair and makeup to help cut time before actual shoot days.

Once the look was achieved we then got the actress into costume and began shooting. I was standing next to Andreya as she took the photos making sure we was achieving the right look. I was also directing the actress in terms of facial expressions and poses. Once we had done a couple of outfits I then decided to change the hair and add a smokey eye to the make up to match the more glamorous outfits. Once this was done we began shooting again as I carried on directing Andreya and Claudia. I would also call the hair and makeup artist in at certain points to adjust hair to make sure everything was looking perfect.

Overall the shoot went great. I have learnt how to minimise time in hair and make up but other than that everything else went really well. The costume fitted well, the looks were great, we got a great range of photos and everything was really positive. I was told by everyone I was very professional and gave great direction over all aspects. Im very pleased with how this went and look forward to seeing how the shots work with the poster.