How Work Experience Helped

Over the last week I have been assisting with the make-up for a theatre production of Beauty and the Beast at the Bournemouth Pavillion. This involved me doing a lot of ageing make-up, from light to extreme, and this got me thinking of how I can apply this to Miss Havisham. The experience helped me understand the structure of an ageing face which is very important for this project as I want Miss Havisham look like a woman who is aged prematurely, rather than just being old and decrepit and this helped me understand how I can apply makeup to show the difference between the two.

Hair Dilemas

Having discovered during my trial tests that I was having problems with hair I decided to look at some Victorian hair styles and came across some hair tutorials from 1871 for both children and adults. This has come in really handy in the process of deciding whether to portray Estella as a child or young adult.

These drawings have also helped me understand the deference between child and adult styles of that era, which will help me understand my design a lot better.

Victorian Nonsense. 2013. Victorian Hairstyles and Tutorial [online] [viewed 14th Feb 2013] Available From: http://www.victoriannonsense.com/2010_12_01_archive.html

Estella Hair and Make-up Tests

Today I began my initial tests for the hair and make-up design that I have done for Estella.

I wanted to do two looks - a young fresh faced version of Estella and then add some bruising to create a look for her when she was being beaten.

 

Test number 1: Young Estella.

I am happy with:
Her complexion. I think I applied a good base and although the picture quality was bad, we did test using proper equipment and lighting and the base appeared almost flawless and fresh on film.

Lightly filled eyebrows worked well as did the light blush applied to the cheeks and the pale rose lip colour I used as a stain. 

What I am not happy with:

Hair. The hair needs a lot of work as I was away when we did this in class, however the test shots have allowed me to discover this and I will book studio time and borrow notes off of a classmate in order to improve.

Bruising: This is not the best bruise work I have ever applied HOWEVER I got to experiment with the placement of the bruise and have discovered that bruising along the temple is very effective. I also plan to bruise along the collar bone and will probably lighten the bruise on the eye somewhat.

Estella Face Chart

This is the initial face chart I have done for Estella (ages 14ish). The key elements of the face chart include:

Light blush on apple of cheeks for a youthful appearance

Very light contouring

Pale pink lip tint

Light shaping of eyebrows

Ringlets surrounding face

Very pale eye-shadow to open eyes, possibly clear mascara

Image Composition and first impressions of Estella

When reading the description in the book of Estella the main ideas that stuck with me were:

"Pretty brown hair"

"Beautiful and self-possessed"

Queen-like attitude

My initial idea is to show Estella at the time of her meeting pip. So although she may be secretly a broken woman, my initial photo and design of her will show her harshness and strength, which is how Pip originally sees her.

IMAGE COMPOSITION

I plan to use a combination of camera angles and the models posing to get across an air of haughtiness.

I have got ideas of the poses and camera angles from some of Caroline Saulnier's images, purely because her models always have an air of attitude and strength. Obviously the make-up and styling will be completely different but I think it will be interesting to combine the contemporary poses and angles of Saulnier with  Victorian styling. 

She also always uses strong females, which has given me inspiration as this is something that Estella aspires to be.

Some "digital tear outs" of how I want the image to be composed:

Women in the 1800s

During the 1860s poor people were meant to look poor, and women's dress was more elaborate than men's. During the 1840s, woman's dress was sloping shoulders, childlike ringlets and poke bonnets  During the 1860s the dress became bolder. The invention of chemical dyes made women clothing more colourful, and fabrics were dyed garish colours, which would've been seen as unladylike before the Crimean war (1852)

This is the time that Great Expectations was set.

The research i have done so far has helped me gain a wider knowledge of not only what women looked like at the time that the book was written, but also what was expected of women. What was considered a "good" woman and what was considered a "bad" woman, which i think will help a lot in understanding the positions of both Miss Havisham and Estella.

E. Wilson, L.Taylor. 1989.Through the Looking Glass, A History of Dress from 1860 to the Present Day.Woodlands, London. BBC Books

http://www.onlinecostumeball.com/GermanBook/Hats/hats11.jpg

Victorian Woman - 1860s

I wanted to find out about Victorian woman in the early 1860s, which is when Great Expectations was written, so I could find out about real woman from that time period and not just Miss Havisham and Estella as they appear in the book.

The Role of Femininity

Femininity was seen as a middle class status symbol, and women who rejected this or had any sort of sexual realm were seen as "fallen women"

"A woman could make or break the social standing and future of her entire family by failing to understand or interpret correctly the rules of social etiquette."

 Punch Magazine became a vehicle for middle class men to show their fear and loathing of strong minded women through cartoons, usually depicting ugly moustached women wearing trousers.

The above is a cartoon from Punch Magazine - it shows and "accomplished young lady" sipping tea and looking pretty, while a lady in the background with a sword and helmet (obviously a symbol of the feminists) is blurred in the background looking ashamed,

How can I incorporate this knowledge into my designs?

Estella and Miss Havisham are like opposite ends of the coin - Estella, although hard faced, on the outside is feminine and beautiful - just what would've fitted into society perfectly at this time. Miss Havisham on the other hand is the opposite. She has let herself go and wears the same garment and does not keep up with things that woman should involve themselves in.

"It would be unheard of for a wealthy married woman to wear the same clothes all day."

Finding this out enhances the taboo of Miss Harvisham.This quote epitomises her - she is wealthy, and so close to being married. Where regular woman would have day dresses and tea dresses and dinner dresses and walking dresses, she stays in her wedding dress.

I found this photo of a victorian woman in Through the Looking Glass, and it reminded me so strongly of Miss Havisham - the hunched back of someone who had been sitting too long, the curled wrist of someone that had been waiting too long, the slightly frazzled hair and the bright eyes of someone who perhaps is slightly worse for wear mentally.

E. Wilson, L.Taylor. 1989.Through the Looking Glass, A History of Dress from 1860 to the Present Day.Woodlands, London. BBC Books
Punch Ltd. 2013. An Accomplished Young Lady. 1842.Viewed 03/02/2013. Available from http://punch.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Victorian-Era-Cartoons/G0000czGdMEOaVXY/I0000PjbYTyUx.Xg