Final Images and Evaluation

EVALUATION

This was an interesting project which really pulled me out of my comfort zone. Because of this, there were lots of problems that I had to overcome and a lot of ideas that I had to re-think, however I am happy with my final images and feel that the project, although difficult  helped me better understand my skill set, strengths and what I need to do to better my other projects in the future.

Most of the problems that I encountered were solved with re-shooting  This has taught me that I need to do even more tests in the future to ensure my idea is completely solid in my mind before shooting properly. Most of all i feel that this project has helped me with my hair skills. Hair used to be my weakness but this project forced me to dive into it, as it centres around hair a lot. The fact that I had to re-shoot Miss Havisham did not bother me because by doing this I ended up with images that I am a hundred times happier with. Model choice was also a lot better on my second shoot, so this project has also shown me the importance of having a good model.

Re-shooting Miss Havisham

I had done so much work on the research of Miss Havisham's hair, but when I reviewed the photos I realised that the photos did not show this off. So I decided to re-shoot. I kept the make-up the same but this time made the hair bigger and higher so that it would be more visible from a face-on view  I also removed the veil that I used in the first shoot as this was covering the hair too much. I am so much happier with the outcome of the second shoot.

FIRST SHOOT: Hair is hidden, not visible and I also was not happy that it used showed off the skills I had learnt throughout the project.

SHOOT TWO: I used more of the techniques used in class and made it look messy and slept on and made it bigger so that it could be seen from all angles. I am a lot happier with this second shoot, which is the one I will be using as my final images.

Miss Havisham Face Chart

 I have applied the skin conditions I previously posted about to my face chart. I plan to keep the make-up minimal, focusing on the contouring of the cheeks and eye sockets and using latex to create dry chapped skin.

The main thing that I want to keep in mind while applying the make-up is that Miss Havisham was once beautiful, and that under the maddened exterior there is a once beautiful woman.

Lack of Sunlight - Primary Research and Application

I wanted to discover that way that the lack of sunlight in Miss Havisham's living conditions would effect her skin and hair. To begin this, I started thinking about my own skin and how it changes through winter, as this was the best way to compare the two.

The main points I found were:

• Dry hands, maybe chapped on fingertips
• Dry patches of skin around mouth and between eyebrows
• Dry, cracked lips
• Skin looking dull

I will apply these to my Miss Havisham, using latex to cause a dry skin effect and different powders and Fullers Earth to dull the skin.

I will also use powders and supra colour to apply tiny thread veins and liver spots.

TEST SHOTS:

Miss Havisham's Hair

Using the knowledge that I have gained from previous hair tests and research on Victorian hair styling I created some of my own tests.

I want the hair to look as though it had been done for her wedding but slept on and is now unkempt and unruly, but there is still a mild sense of style that she kept incase her lost love decided to come back.

Evaluation: The curls should be more ringlet-like and the bun more distressed but I will apply this when i next do the design.

Further thoughts on Miss Havisham

I want to center my design around the quote:

"But you're not dead, Miss."

"Am I not?"

Words that describe Miss Havisham in my mind after concidering this quote:

• Hunched and frail from years of sitting
• Scary to a little boy
• Appears old though stress and torment, but is actually younger than she appears.
• Inner Torment/torture
• Deflated
• Nearly Etheral, floaty, in her own world
• Haunted

Charles Green

Harry Furniss.

I plan for my image to depict these key words. These images are some of my favourites of Miss Havisham as they deny the myth of her being very old and instead show her as a younger woman who has been prematurely aged by depression and lack of sunlight.

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/ge/havisham.html

Last modified 17 January 2012

Character Styling

I wanted a cheap and cost efficient way to style Estella and miss Havisham so I thought rather than hire out full costumes that probably wont be seen in the shoot anyway, I would go to a fabric shop and buy some material that would I could then shape into a vale or the top of a dress etc.

I bought:

Lace, to be used as a vale or sash around the top of clothing to create the illusion of a wedding dress. (I know that lace is appropriate because Dickens describes that Miss Havisham is wearing it in the novel)
I bought off-white lace so it looked a bit more used and less fresh, I plan to destress it further with Fullers Earth.

A pink satin material to create the top of Estella's dress. I chose Satin because it was an expensive material in the Victorian era so it is likely that Estella would have worn it, and I chose the colour pink because I wanted to emphasise the fact that she is shill relatively young in my design.

I really wanted to encorperate the wedding flowers that Dickens describes being in Miss Havisham's hair. Yellow tulips have been said to symbolise hopeless love. I thought this was very fitting for Miss Havisham.

Anon. 2013. Tulip Flower Meaning [online] [viewed 17/02/2013] Available from: http://tulipflower.net/tulip-flower-meaning

Anon. 1997 - 2013. Wedding Style - A Victorian Event. In: The Knot [online] [viewed 17/02/2013] Available from: http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-themes/choosing-wedding-themes/articles/a-victorian-wedding-event.aspx

Further Estella Hair Testing in Studio Time

The research I did into Victorian Hair styles allowed me to get a greater idea of the sort of style I wanted to create for Estella, and the sort of age range that would've perhaps worn that style at the time.

I have taken the research that I have compiled and drawn this hair template sketch to show the hair that I am going to create.

I took this idea to the studio and came up with this:

Evaluation: The curls on top are hard if the model has long hair so I may change this bit to long ringlets, which i tested originally and photos are shown here.