Wednesday, 20 March 2013

Final Images - Miss Havisham



This is my final portrayal of Miss
Havisham:
I have depicted her not as an elderly frail woman, but due to research into the Victorian era, I have depicted her as a mature but distressed woman, where the signs of her emotional state have clearly influenced how her physical state – with hints of aging through latex around the eyes and then using both make up and latex created a skin type where it is drawn, and in need of repair due to lack of care as well as showing signs of how she is not eating properly due to her emotional anguish through the darkening and contouring of the collarbone.


Final Images - Estella






This is my final portrayal of Estella:



I have depicted her as a young women just before she is sent off into the city by Miss Havisham, and prior to meeting and completing her ‘task’ from how she was raised to entice men and leave them in a similar state to Miss Havisham.
And then again after she is seen by the protagonist Pip after she has been hit by his rival Drummle and the man she was to be engaged to.










"So," She said "The days have worn away, have they?" - Aging and Wounds with Latex


During the development of the character Miss Havisham, it was obvious to create the bedraggled hairstyle that looked worn and slept in so due to the prior Estella hair trials I was able to know that to help slightly age Miss Havisham’s character the design would need to more similar to the barrel roll look as this had aged the model before and I felt assured it would complete the look.

So when developing Miss Havisham’s character I decided to focus on some of the more subtle detailing that a TV/Film camera could pick up on and in the novel ‘Great Expectations’ Dickens portrays Havisham as having almost a nervous/anxious domina - it was shown in the BBC adaptation as her excessively scratching her hands so using Latex and grease paints I was able to create a to the eye subtle but obvious show of this self inflicted damage she causes to herself.




    

'after we had shaken hands, "I will never forget you" ' - Production Neccesaties / Styling


It is important to take into consideration the fabric for creating the looks due to production budgets, as they can either find more expensive or cheaper alternatives but still similar aesthetically to create a full costume, for the shoot's to show the looks I used:

Materials: costing from £2.99 - £5.99 (per meter)
Accessories: costing from £1.50 - £20

FlowersLillies are seen as a elegant and beautiful flower often well liked by women however they also have a close connection with funerals and death which would help portray when used in the bed-draggled wedding hair styling of Miss Havisham the death of her faith in men, love and marriage.




Materials:
Miss Havisham - Off white and peach tones so to create the fact that it is an aged fabric but combined with floral patterns, it would obviously depict wedding dress.

Estella -Purple is seen as a alluring colour full of passion and with white contrasts to showcase an innocence, while with a darker fabric it portrays a darker and anguished look.



Both characters – necklaces showcase how the two characters are interlinked and the larger heart on MH shows the authority. But also the fact that the character Estella is more pessimistic when it comes to emotion and love due to how she was raised.




Continuity key elementsare also a key aspect to consider, for example Estella’s bruising, the make up would need to be considered so that if scenes are re-shot or with the filming schedule the either prior or after the incident the make up would need to be the same, with the consideration of how, and what caused the mark from the impact so to create a believable addition to the look.

Tech File Sign Off



"He said, no varnish can hide the grain of wood" - Initial designs for Miss Havisham

In the majority of 'Great Expectations' adaptations , Miss Havisham is often portrayed in a very similar way; extremely aged, haggard and covered in dust and cobwebs. I wanted to create two alternatives to the standard Miss Havisham look though, so after discovering that the character could be any age, but old enough to look aged to the young protagonist Pip, I created these two initial designs for Miss Havisham.



Miss Havisham Interpretation 1:      Aging

Again this is more of a ‘Classic’ style towards the adaptation of Miss Havisham – with the contouring and use of latex aging this would give the character the well known haggard look, although to make it slightly more contemporary the eye make up has a slight flick to the eyeliner and the pale pink/peach coloured lip would then be a subtle addition so that the eyes and the facial contouring were the main aspects instantly viewed by an audience.










Miss Havisham Interpretation 2:        Dramatic



This is a more dramatic and attention grabbing design, so to be able to see on the template the eye make up appears extremely dark, however to create this look I would be showing a subtle design of a clearly ‘worn’ and emotional make up, where due to the fact the character has been abandoned at the alter the mascara running/tear marks would be visible on the face yet due to the time frame since that incident and then the fact that she is still in this manner of dress in case her runaway lover does ever return to her the eye makeup would look like she has reapplied it every now and then but never in the same manner as it would have originally been and always on top of the existing so the build up/flaking make up would need to be visible, along with this slight contouring to show age compared to the other characters, but not extreme enough to make her into the usual elderly thought of woman and a neutral lip to showcase and draw attention to the eyes.

"O the sense of distance and disparity that came upon me" - HD Ready Make Up



Technological advances of the 21st century brought the new way to filming known as High Definition television (HD TV), which shows extraordinary pixel quality which displays even clearer pictures.

Due to these advances in technology, make up has begun to be developed so help continue giving model's and actors/actress' the flawless skin look which is always aimed to be achieved - Airbase is one of the leading companies in this and have begun to create especially adapted foundations and blushers that with still give this look through the filming and photography with High Definition, through the process of airbrushing.


Knowing about this new development creating our looks for the MFS109 unit we have to remember that we are completing final looks for the characters of Miss Havisham and Estella for a romantic/comedy genre production television, set in a period drama filmed with the latest technology. I have included this idea during the whole process of creating both the characters of Estella and Miss Havisham. Remembering to create a similar 'perfect' base that would be seen as if using an airbrush application.

Thursday, 21 February 2013

"Admired by all who see her. " - Estella Hair Trials


























After learning some Victorian hairstyling I began to experiment with designs for Estella's hair -  to begin with I tried the learnt style on model was a softer version of the crimped and barrel roll styling (below), but due to the amount of hair my model has the look just aged her, and the desired interpretation was for a youthful, elegant Estella so after seeing more current adaptations and in researching hair styling for the younger women in the era I decided to go with second (above) for final look as you still get the elegant look, but in a more youthful and simplistic way.









Thursday, 14 February 2013

Victorian inspired editorials


Despite these images are high-fashion images for 'Valentino', 'Alexander McQueen' and 'Chloe' all shown as advertisements in latest issue of 'LOVE' magazine - published January 2013 I believe they still contain the element of an alternative version of Miss Havisham and Estella but in a subtle, yet couture design.



















Tuesday, 12 February 2013

"I loved her simply because I found her irresistible" : Initial face charts for Estella

In the majority of 'Great Expectations' adaptations , Estella is often portrayed in a very similar way; young and beautiful - with perfect hair and rosy complexion.                                   Due to this it is vital to ensure that in any adaptation  the character of Estella must always appear in some form, attractive and desirable to the viewers and the other characters in the story, otherwise the integral part of how Miss Havisham is raising Estella from a child, with the mindset to use her beauty to entice men, making them fall in love with her and then eventually breaking their hearts would not be seen as attainable to an audience. 






Estella Interpretation 1:      Classic
This look is based more on the natural ideal of beauty where the model would not have very dramatic make up applied, just what was necessary to accentuate their natural beauty, this design would then have a more stylised and intricate hair design. 



This adaptation of Estella would have light contouring of the face, a pale (but to the natural skin sue to camera/lighting- warming foundation) a peach/nude blush and complimentary eye-shadow hues, but still in a subtle smoky eye to help accentuate the eyes, brown liner on the outer lower lashes, groomed brows, minimal mascara application and a light/natural coloured lip.  




Estella Interpretation 2:        Dramatic

This look is based more on the obvious and 'vampish'  Estella, where through the application of make up the model would accentuate and add to their own 'natural beauty' aspects. I would consider this application a more modern version of the character as it relates to the make up often worn by women "enticing" men on a night out. With this make up because it was such a heavy application, to balance's out the look I would have a simpler hair design and minimal styling, however with the styling i would take the colour of the lip into consideration and find a complimentary if not exact colour match for the accessories.


This adaptation of Estella would have a noticeable smoky eye, with dark 'Kohl-like' lined eyes, a deep red/wine coloured lip, carefully groomed eyebrows that were slightly darkened and subtle "rosy-glowing" skin attained through blusher and some slight contouring of the face.            

                                                                        








"Remembrance of the Havisham days would fall upon me" : Current adaptations of 'Great Expectations'

Like many other Dickens novel's, 'Great Expectations' has been filmed for cinema and television several times, as of present day this has included:
  • 1917 - A silent film adaptation, starring Jack Pickford and directed by Robert G. Vignola.
  • 1922 - a silent film adaptation, directed by A.W Sandberg.
  • 1934 - 'Great Expectations' the first 'talkie' film adaptation, starring Phillips Holmes and Jane Wyatt, directed by Stuart Walker.
  • 1946 - 'Great Expectations' film starring John Mills and directed by David Lean
  • 1954 - A two-part television adaptation which aired as an episode of the show 'Robert Montgomery Presents'.
  • 1959 - A BBC television adaptation.
  • 1967 - A television series starring Gary Bond and Francesca Annis.
  • 1974 - 'Great Expectations' a film directed by Joseph Hardy.
  • 1981 - 'Great Expectations' a BBC serial television adaptation, directed by Julian Amyes.
  • 1983 - an animated children's adaptation, starring Phillip Hinton, Robin Stewart and Bill Kerr.
  • 1989 - 'Great Expectations' a film directed by Kevin Connor.
  • 1998 - 'Great Expectations', a contemporary film adaptation set in New York city, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and directed by Alfonso Cuaron.
  • 2000 - Pip - A South Park episode that parodies and retells the Dickens Novel with the animated characters of South Park.

  • 2011 - 'Great Expectations' a three-part BBC series, starring Ray Winstone as Magwitch, Gilian Anderson as Miss Havisham and Douglas Booth as Pip.











  • 2012 - 'Great Expectations' a film directed by Mike Newell, starring Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch, Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham and Jeremy Irvine as Pip. 

Monday, 11 February 2013

"In the endurance of her own trial, she forgot mine"

Gothic/Victorian Hairstyling 1

While creating my ideas of the face-chart, hair and styling for the Estella image we were given the task of creating this classic Gothic hairstyle, that also could be used in this Victorian inspired character.


I began with taking sections of the hair and crimping them to add volume, this results in the hair becoming more voluminous, as well as adding texture to the look. Following this I sectioned the hair into a T-section and then split the front into 3 equal sections, and repeated sectioning the back at the mid-ear height level.
To create the look I started with the top of the back section and back-combing the underside of the hair to add more volume, then barrel roll the hair section back against the scalp, then while holding in place two grips parallel to each other to secure the roll. repeat this in the opposite direction with the bottom half of the back section and roll the hair up to meet at the centre of the head.


Then I parted the front section into 2 equal parts at the sides of the head and then a smaller, due to the model's fringe, at the top of the head. Similar to the back section, in turn the two side sections were barrel-rolled to the head and then finally the top section. 

Due to the length of the top section it was necessary for the roll to be placed to one side, which made the look have a 1940's style in appearance rather than a Victorian one, so if I was to recreate this look I would try and gather some of the hair from the two parallel sections to create a larger section to barrel-roll straight back towards the crown of the head.