Make-up Continuity – or how to keep it all in check!

The students have studied a film script for 2 weeks, and this week they will work on bringing their characters to life.

After checking script breakdown and make-up charts, the students had to decide which character they would assign to each actor. Then they had to apply and complete the make-up for each character and use standby techniques, which included taking photos and using professional terminology to notify a crew of this intent by calling “Flash”. The photos of their work were printed and attached to the completed make-up charts.

The next exercise was to swap the make-up charts and each student had to recreate another person’s make-up work using the detailed charts and photos. They all found the task difficult at first but the overall results were very pleasing. The exercise was repeated with a new script, giving the students more experience with the Continuity process.

Also this week, Penny Clements taught the art of Wig Knotting and it was a whole new world. The students started the day by learning about the many different wig blocks there are to use. They also discovered that the lace used to make a wig varies in thickness and size depending on the different mediums you are working in e.g. film wig knotting is very different to theatre work. Penny showed the students the different ways to take head measurements. Next, they had to mix hair colours before they began knotting on the fine lace. Their first task a pair of eyebrows or a moustache to be used for a make-up.

Professional Make-up Photo Shoot a Buzz!

This week’s exercise was how to create Make-ups for a Professional Photo Shoot.

The students were involved in all aspects of the Photo Shoot, from meeting their models, to discussing the look to be achieved, hairstyles and wardrobe, before putting their work into practice.

Thanks to our great models, who were so accommodating and willing to allow the students to try a variety of different looks in preparation for the shoot at the end of the week.
The students worked on hairstyles with hair guru Warren. They quickly realized that recreating a successful style and look was hard work and required a lot of concentration and attention to detail.

Our photographer, Gavin Douchkov, arrived on the day with his camera and lighting equipment and the school was a buzz with excitement. They had two looks to produce using two different models. The students learnt how necessary it is to be well organized and efficient with their work, as there is no time for hold-ups in this industry - time is money.

The Photo Shoot ran smoothly and the students produced fantastic work. Gavin’s encouragement and practical advice on how to make a photo shoot work was inspiring for all involved.

Back into the Make-up boiling pot!

After a two week production break, it was back into the fire when we had Garry Siutz come in to inspire us all with his high fashion class. Garry also has his own make-up line and it was good to again try a new make-up range. What we find exciting is with each new tutor we are introduced to new ideas and equipment. We did simple but effective make-up’s, and was really pleased with our final looks. A big thank you to Garry for a really great day.

We have now hit the paperwork with the students receiving their first script for breakdown. Learning about continuity for film and television drama will be an on going exercise over the next few weeks with lots to cover.

In the art lesson we covered make-up designs based on paintings. We researched and selected our painting as inspiration for our make-up design, then executed the design on the face.

To complete the week we had Karen Playel from The Make-up Business come in to show us her Era Spray make-up. We again had the chance to look at how another make-up artist approaches her craft. It was good to see how her make-up was so quick to apply with great results all round. The covering of tattoos was also amazing with this great make-up line. Then it was back into the workshop to make sure the students prosthetic sculptures were up to a high standard so they can move forward to the next stage which is mould making.