Talking to Sue 29th March

I spoke to Sue about my idea and she had quite a lot of knowledge on the book my project is based on and therefore had a few ideas I could use. I mentioned that there are a couple of stories involving water and she suggested having a prop such as a fake fish to represent the fact that Jonny Air Head had fallen into the river. Sue also suggested using Vaseline with water sprayed on top of it so that the water droplets show up well on camera. I tried this technic and it worked really well so I am going to use it in my work. I also asked Sue if she could show me how to use fullers earth properly as I have considered using it for my Shockheaded peter shoot. She showed me different techniques for colouring it such as painting underneath and on top of the fullers earth which showed up well on camera so I think I could use it. I was worried about the product being harsh on the skin but Sue explained that this was not the case as it contains a lot of natural ingredients and is also a main ingredient in face masks and so is not too harsh on the skin. I am now considering using it for my Harriet and the matches shoot as I think I could make it look like ashes from a fire.

 Another technique I was shown was using cellophane or tissue moulded into shapes with either water or gel. This reminded me of the end of the harriet and the matches story where the cats cry and so I could use this idea to represent that they have been crying and trying to dry their tears with tissues but failing to do so because they are crying so much. Using glycerine for my water looks had been suggested to me by another tutor called Helen previously and so I asked Sue what she thought and she agreed it was a good idea and happened to have some with her that I could experiment with. The product looks very effective on camera as it is very shinny and so shows p well. However it is difficult to control as it is very runny and has a thin consistency so it would be good if I needed to cover a large area or skin or hair but would be difficult to use for more refined work. I think that using something else like Mac Mixing medium or Vaseline may work better as I find them easier to control. Also my friend and fellow make-up artist warned me that some types of glycerine that are not designed to be used as make up can become hot once they come into contact with the skin and be irritating to the model so if I use this product I will need to make sure that I use a types suitable for use as make-up. I showed Sue the work I have done so far and there are a couple of shoots she was very impressed with as she thinks the make-up, photography and model poses work well to create an overall image. The images she likes best are the ones where I have not over complicated the looks and she said that I need to remember that sometimes less is more and to keep things simple yet effective in most of my looks. I also experimented using gelatine to create different effects on the body such as the skin melting this worked well but again the material was difficult to control so I would need to practice a lot if I used that method. 

I told Sue about a couple of my other ideas and she said that in some I should focus predominantly on the hair and some mostly on the make-up depending on which suits the story the best and she reminded me that it was important to show off my skills in wigs and hair as well as make-up. We discussed how I was going to represent Fidgety Phillip using recognisable food in the hair and around the face to show that he has fallen off his chair and pulled all of the food off the table and over himself. Also for the story of the hunter and the hare we agreed that the make-up should hint at the hair but not be totally realistic and Sue liked my idea of making fake ears for the hare’s ears. Sue said that I have set the standard of my images quite high and so I should try and make sure that the rest of my images match this standard. Sue thought my idea was strong and she remembers reading the stories as a child and said how they frightened her so she likes the idea of aiming it at adults rather than children. Sue also suggested that I should keep the backgrounds of my look simple so that I do not have to worry about a lot of props and so that they do not detract from the model, she also said I should keep the styling simple so that again the make-up and hair stays as the main focus.