DISASTER 2

Day of location shoot.
Despite working extremely hard to overcome the set back from not being able to use my booked studio space, spending money on costume hire and trying to be as confident and prepared as possible, the morning of the shoot has arrived and my model has cancelled! I am at a loss as to what to do now, this is going to be a big set back for my project as I am going home to London on Sunday to do an internship at the Barbican until term begins again. My photographer and I have been frantically trying to find a replacement model but being such short notice and being Good Friday we have had no luck so far and it's not looking likely that we will find anyone. So now the only solution to this disaster of a shoot is to shoot this character in the studios on the 11th April when I am back from the Barbican. It could be very risky relying on this model again so for now I plan to give her the benefit of the doubt, but in the meantime I am going to get on to finding a backup model incase she lets us down again. Overall a very disappointing week.

Remaining Positive...

After talking over the plans for Friday with my photographer, she thinks it best to just get shots on location as the weather is forecast to be dry, although it will be very cold, (I will make sure to bring plenty of warm things for my model to wrap up in for moments when we are not shooting). I have cancelled the lighting kit that I had booked for hire. I am trying to remain positive about the situation, although I had imagined a certain look for my book that was to have all the shoots looking the same, with studio lighting and a plain black back drop, the feedback from my Major Project Proposal Report said not to rule out location shoots for narrative projects and it would be a shame to waste the day that both my photographer and model are available. So I have collected the costumes I have chosen to hire from Hepwright's and have organised with the owner of the bar Oasis, down near the Old Town, to use Oasis as our base for makeup touch ups and costume changes, ready to go ahead with what will probably be a very cold location shoot tomorrow.

DISASTER

I was feeling very prepared and finally confident about my next shoot for the character of Celia. I have my model and photographer ready and excited for the day and costumes on hold for hire. 

Today I received a phone call from the photography studio bookings office at university informing me that I would not be able to use my studio booking for Friday as it is Good Friday and the whole university is closed for the Easter weekend, despite the fact that I booked this studio space 2 weeks in advance, surely they must have known the university was going to be closed and never should have allowed bookings for this day. This is extremely bad a frustrating news and could prove to be a major set back to the production of my project. The university have offered to try and fit me in at some point on Thursday because there is likely to be cancellations or no shows but this is not a guarantee and my model and photographer both have work on Thursday.

My plan of action is to try and remain clam and positive to find a solution to this problem. My plan at the moment is to not waste the opportunity of having my model and photographer available and willing and get something out of Friday. I have white walls in my flat so I am going to go and hire a basic lighting kit to try and get some head shots at least at home and I have discussed with my photographer and we have agreed that, weather permitting, we will get some location shots done in the parks and down near the Old Town, as my story is set in the Victorian era and the rest of the city is quite modern looking. 

CELIA

Dark eyes narrow beneath her curls

All ribbons and lace, perfect as a shop-fresh doll save for a few unruly curls escaping her braids

Celia grows up in a series of theatres. Most of them in New York

Sixteen year old daughter

After months of it she is exhausted from the travel and the strain and the fact that her father barely lets her eat, as he claims looking like a waif makes her seem more convincing

Survived by a daughter of seventeen years of age, a Miss Celia Bowen

“I am already married” she remarks to the empty air, twisting the ring on her right hand that covers an old distinctive scar

She has no trunk, no cape, no birdcage or cane. She is dressed in a deep-green gown with a black puffed-sleeve jacket buttoned over it. A pile of brown curls is pinned neatly upon her head under a tiny and feathered but otherwise unremarkable black hat

“I am an illusionist, sir” the young girl says. Her voice is calm and low “I am here for your auditions”

Her Green gown is both sleeveless and strapless, leaving her shoulders and arms completely bare save for a long silver chain with what appears to be a silver locket around her neck

Creeping Black fade into snow-bright white at the bottom of the skirt

Celia shakes her head and her brown curls deepen in hue to a near black as glossy and ebony as the wings of her raven

Puffed sleeve Black jacket

“she’s perfect” Chandresh remarks, pulling a cigar from his pocket. “Absolutely perfect”

The eyes the loveliness – the shape of her face, the contrast of her hair against her skin

Hired clothing from Hepwright's...

Victorian style dress from the 1970's

Black and White theme. Victorian style shirt from 1970's

Week 10

Despite assuring me he would be around, my model for the character of Prospero The Enchanter has gone home for Easter meaning I had to give up my booked studio space yesterday and I will have to reschedule that shoot for one of the first days of the new term. Wednesday 10th April will be the last day I plan to shoot as I need to allow enough time for editing the images and putting my book together.
However, this Friday I will be shooting the character of Celia. This is the shoot I feel most confident about. I have now done 2 shoots so have a clearer idea of timings for hair and makeup (I have 3 separate makeup looks planned), lighting set up and shooting time. I have a really good aspiring professional model and have sought styling advice from Hepwright's Vintage store in Southampton for the costumes which I will collect on Thursday afternoon.

Mr A.H- Shoot

This was a challenging shoot as the character is so mysterious I found it even harder to give direction for poses than I did in my last shoot. I am very pleased with how well my moustache has turned out and  it definitely helped to have done a test shoot of this character. I took on board what my tutor had said about composition of images and because the character is mysterious and strict and powerful we took a few shots with my photographer crouched on the ground to give the impression of the character being tall and important looming over people with his cane in hand. I really like this effect. We had quite a bit of trouble with the lighting of this shoot so they require a fair bit of editing unfortunately. Costume and props were sourced from various friends who just so happened to have everything we needed luckily to keep my budget down as it is the end of term and it is still 2 weeks before the next loan instalment.

MR A.H-

He is a tall man of indeterminate age with indistinct features. He wears a spotless grey suit with tails and gives his top hat and cane at the door and a card with the name “mr A.H-“

The man in the grey suit

Ghostly grey reflection

Yet the man in the grey suit looks out of place.

The cut of his suit is too sharp. The handle of his cane too well polished beneath his pristine gloves