Dates: Sat. 27th.- Sun. 28th Feb. 2010

This is a two day course designed for Make-Up and Hair Artist working in the industry, interested in updating their knowledge and skills in cutting and styling gent’s afro hair.
The course covers all aspects of health and safety, hair types and textures, a range of tools and equipment. All cutting techniques will cover clipper over comb, scissor over comb, creating neckline shapes using a razor, free hand and fading techniques for modern or period styles, range of suitable styling products.
Tutor: Joy Djadi No of Places: 6
Freelance fee £230 Full fee £765.

Ladies Afro Hair Styling Course

Dates: Sat. 13th.-Sun 14th. March 2010

This two day course is designed for Make-Up Artists and Hair working in the industry interested in up dating their skills and knowledge in styling ladies afro hair.
The course will cover all aspects of health and safety, handling different hair types and textures, create modern and period styles using a range of suitable styling products, tools and equipment to enhance, style dress and finish hair.
Tutor: Joy Djadi No of Places: 6
Freelance fee £230 Full fee £765.

Applying and Making up Vinyl Bald Caps to achieve different effects

Dates; Sat. 20th.& Sun 21st.. March 2010.

This course is designed for Freelance Make-up/Hair Artists working in the Industry who need to: update their skills in Applying , and making up bald caps made from vinyl material ,to achieve different looks and effects. Vinyl material is new and can be applied quickly and effectively, thereby saving time on the film schedule. It is proven to be safe and hygienic. Delegates will be able to view their work on a HD screen

Tutor: Shauna Harrison No of places 6
Freelance fee £348. £1159.

All aspects of Health and Safety will be covered.
50% of travel costs, plus £60 per night accommodation, will be reimbursed on production of a receipt for those who live 50 miles distance from the place the course is being held. There are also monies set aside to help with childcare.
If you need further information, or wish to book a place on any of these courses please contact Mary Hillman on:
Mob: 07710 412 961
Email: mary.hillman@iname.com

This post is about everyone to want to succeed, in any field.

I think it’s a goo read for everyone, you may want to bookmark it et come back to it anytime you feel down because work isn’t coming enough.

Here is the link : johnny talks about motivation

don’t hesitate to leave your feedback in the comments, as well as any other link you like regarding motivation.

The competition is open to students of a recognized make-up school and to those who have graduated 12 months prior to the competition date. Make-Up Artist will only accept competition entries postmarked Dec. 28.

There’s a beauty/fantasy category and a prosthetics category.

This year’s beauty/fantasy competition theme is Alice in Wonderland, inspired by director Tim Burton’s re-imagining of the classic story. The beauty/fantasy competition takes place on Saturday, and the time limit is two hours.

The character/prosthetic competition theme for this year is Grimm’s Fairy Tales, which pays homage to the classic stories from childhood. The character/prosthetic competition takes place on Sunday and deals with prosthetic applications and bald caps. The time limit for the character competition is three hours. No outside prosthetics are allowed, only the ones supplied by IMATS.

More information here

As they say “the most inspirational event in world hairdressing“, as there is also demos, education, and tons of stalls with great products. It’s in ExCeL, in London, from 17th – 19th October 2009.

You can book your tickets now online.

Tutor: Shauna Harrison 3 Places remaining
Freelance fee £318.00 Full rate £1060

STYLING & DRESSING LADIES LONG HAIR IN PERIOD STYLES

This is a two-day course for Make/up Hair Artists working in The Film Industry who need to update their skills in Styling and Dressing Ladies Long Hair in Period Styles. This course will cover.
Wet setting hair in finger waves.
Wet setting using pin curls and rollers.
Styling hair using heated appliances.
Dressing hair in different period styles, attaching hairpieces to achieve the appropriate styles.
Different Types of braiding.

Tutor Liz Mitchie No of Delegates 6
Freelance fee £235.00 Full fee 782.66

50% of travel costs, plus £60 per night accommodation, will be reimbursed on production of a receipt for those who live 50 miles distance from the place the course is being held. There are also monies set aside to help with childcare
If you wish further information, or wish to book a place on any of this courses :

PLEASE CALL
MARY HILLMAN on – Mob. 07710 412961
Or email.: mary.hillman@iname.com

When you start a film, you are given a lot of papers, and you make a lot of your own. Let’s list them and then go back to each one for details.

• The script
• the one-line schedule
• the call sheets
• the movements of order
• the days-out-of-days
• the locations list
• the unit list
• sometimes, a crowd breakdown

for money matters

• time sheets
• contracts
• mileage form

and some that depends more on the designer’s choice :

• make-up breakdown
• week board with the scenes and their main infos
• main events of the story
• list of main effects to be prepped and their deadline
• lists of specific scenes where loads of make-up is required with the dates of filming,

1. the script : as we said in the first article, you need to read the script and try to translate the script into make-up and hair infos.  if you come a few days to help, you won’t have it, and don’t have to think about it. At the beginning of the day, you’ll have a brief about what’s going on and what’s to do. Example : “it’s a posh restaurant scene, everyone looks good”, or” it’s a fighting scene, you need to think dirtying down, blood and bruises.”
2. The one-line schedule. As the name tells, it’s your schedule for the whole film, with the minimum useful informations : dates and area of filming, what scenes, what caracters, average times (day/split day/ night nshoot) for organisation.
3. the call sheet. For each day you are coming on set, you’ll receive a very precious sheet, with a few crucial infos :
   • where the unit base is (and the crowd base)
   • what is the call time (offical time for the crew)
   • the time of the first make-up (think you need to arrive sooner to prep the stations, warm up the appliances etc…
   • interior or exterior scene (really good to know what to wear. Always get some waterproof shoes and coat when shooting outside, and in your trunk anyway)
   • phone number of the HoD (head of department, which for you is the make-up designer)
   • phone numbers of production and AD (assistant director)
   • what scenes we are going to do (so you can prep accordingly and get the continuity pictures ready)
4. the movements of order. Along with the call sheet will be the movement order : it explains to you how to get to the location and unit base, and any problem you can encounter with that place (like parking space etc…)
5. the days-out-of-days. It’s a big spreadsheet that give every working day of your cast. Each line is a cast, every column is a day.
   • if you see “W”, it means that cast member works on that day.
   • if you see “SW”, it means he starts working on that day
   • if you see “WF”, it means he finishes on that day
   • if you see “SWF”, then he only works that day (“start work finish”)
6. the make-up breakdown (depending on the designer you work with, each team use different things) This is something one of the make-up artist will do, it’s not a production document. For each scene, you can see who is there, what is specific makeupwise, where it’s done, and how many extras you’ve got. It’s really useful to check quickly what kind of thing you need to prep, and take in your set bags for touch ups or if  part of the make-up has to be done on set, like during a fight scene, use of blood etc…)
7. the crowd breakdow. Another nice and useful spreadsheet, with the list of the scenes where extras are required. You get there more infos about the kind of extras/characters the director is after, and so you can see how much make-up could be needed. I say “could be”, because this also depends on the extra casted. For a period film, if they found men with nice sideburns and moustache are found, obviously, it make your life easier and the make-up quicker.)
8. the locations list. Every location is listed there, so you can see if you’ll be away, far from your place or just round the corner.
9. the unit lis. Names and contact details of everyone working of the film. Keep that next to you, and have a look regularly, it’s good to know the names of the people on set, and help to see who is doing what.
10. the time sheet. Each week, you have to fill in the hours you’re working, so any extra hours can be paid.
11. the contract. You are asked to sign a contract, which include the cnditions of filming, any non-disclosure agreement : read it well, it’s important. You sign two and one is given back to you for archives.

Quite a few papers will come in different colors : script, breakdown and one-line schedule are printed in a different color, each time they are changed.  You probably will put the new colored sheets in your team’s folder for them. Be careful !
More infos from set soon.

First, the make-up artists decide which station is more convenient for them and we unpack everything so we don’t have to lose any time the first morning of work. We need to dispatch the different bits of everybody’s kits in the shelves and drawers/cupboards of the make-up bus.

One of the trainee job is to put the stations in order at each change of locations, because before any journey, everything need to be lock down in the bus to prevent any damages.  Anything that’s on the station goes back somewhere safe where it doesn’t risk to fall and break during travelling. You can leave stuff in the shelves, that’s fine and safe. Usually, stay there the things that you use more often, and the bigger pots and bottles. Everyone has their own set-up, so it’s not a bad idea to take a photo the first morning : this way you can set up your team’s stations the way they like it when you arrive at a new location.

It’s good to be able to jump and get them anything they need quickly when they need it (and even better : before they ask for it). So take a bit of time to see what is where at the beginning.

You also have to prep the station every morning : It’s a good tip to get  onto the bus 15 minutes before you are needed to turn on any carmen rollers/hot sticks, clean the brushes, get the continuity photos of the day ready, check that they still have enough tissues, cotton buds, cotton pads, chemicals like IPa or surgical spirit, both on their station and their kit, put the kettle on for teas and coffees etc, …

Anything to help out and make the work/life of your designer and team easier basically !!!

Next article : film papers !

If you missed the first article, it’s here !

Let’s start at the source : prep time.

The big problem filming a feature film is making sure you do the right make-up at the right time, so it’s all about continuity and and having the right wig/prosthetics/ make-up fine and ready when you need it. As a designer, It’s also holding everything within the budget you’ve been given.

Prep time is made for that. You need to go through your script and check out any scenes with crowds, any character make-up, any fight, any ageing… etc  In a nutshell, translate the script into make-up and hair infos. Sometimes, an action may be discussed in the prep meeting to decide if it is better to get the effect on set, using makeup effects, or by CGI (visual effects).

After that, the designer will organize tests with the actors to decide about their look. Lots of talking with both the actors and the director are involved. Then, quite often quickly, the designer will order the things he wants to achieve that look like teeth, wigs, prosthetics. Once ready, there will be new tests done to be sure everyone’s happy with the result.

While all this was going on, as a trainee, I helped around with various tasks :

• checking kits,
• doing list of things to do,
• doing lists of things to buy, (or buying them directly)
• making boards with all the essentials informations to be seen at a glance
• running a few errands.

Everything is going fast once the film’s started, you can’t rely on your memory for everything.so you need quite a few documents to make your life easier.
A few documents I’ve been working on :

• lists of main actions,
• lists of specific scenes where loads of make-up is required with the dates of filming,
• week board with the scenes and their main infos
• crowd break down…

You can be filming the end of a scene before the beginning, and even weeks before.  You really need a lot of clarity about what’s going on and when to prevent any mistake.

You also need to have everything nicely set-up in your bus, and that’s the next article

There’s a show about afro hair and beauty at Alexandra palace (north London) the 24 and 25th of may. I haven’t been there before so I don’t know what to expect but what I’ve read on this website : Afro hair show.

It sounds like an IMATS of afro beauty. It can be good. I’ll go there at least one day, leave a comment if you want to meet-up.

hope you’re well, keep the mood up despite this bloody recession.

if you’re facebook and like the site, you’ve got a new way to show your interest and spread the love : http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/makeuptrainee.com/

The more people come to the site, the more I can get interesting stuff for you : free products for contests, saving coupons…

take care.