Evaluation of the Project

   For the final major project unit I undertook two projects and produced from these two separate outcomes that both represent the concept of character transformation. The first outcome is a published book that focuses on the darker side of fairy tales and uses the original stories from the Grimm Brothers as a basis in creating their characters; the aim of this was to use my passion and interest in special effects make-up to show the darker, more violent side to fairy tales.  The second outcome that runs alongside the first is a portfolio of evidence that shows my work as a head make-up artist for a student zombie film called ‘Ruthless’ (2013), based and shot in London. The aim of this project through my outcomes was to show the transformation from a normal looking person into a character, whether it be the character of a zombie in ‘Ruthless’ (2013) or the character of the wolf in the story of Little Red Riding Hood. As I aspire to obtain a career in either television or film, I felt that my outcomes would be relevant to the industry and would benefit me with new and improved skills in preparation for future employment.

   By undertaking two separate projects and conjoining them as one, I have had to use a number of skills; mainly my time management, organisational and problem solving skills to ensure that the whole process ran smoothly and within a time frame. As well as building upon skills already gained, I’ve also learnt new skills throughout the process. Through my role as the head make-up artist for ‘Ruthless’ (2013), I’ve learnt new budgeting and accounting skills when sourcing and buying the make-up and hair products while also giving me an insight into a future career as a free-lance make-up artist. I've also learnt new management skills through organising and administrating a small team of three other make-up artists, including delegating job roles and overseeing the whole filming process. By creating new make-up looks and sourcing inspirational imagery I've built upon my creativity and research skills in order to create original make-up designs. Furthermore through actual experience in a chosen industry, I feel the skills that I’ve learnt can now be used appropriately for future reference and will assist me greatly when moving forward from education into the industry.

    Through the process of creating my book, I’ve learnt to be as organised and fully prepared for last minute changes as possible and in the case of these to think rationally about overcoming the problems instead of panicking. I’ve also learnt that researching deeply into both concepts and designs and using several image references is key to creating successful final images. Lastly I’ve learnt not to rely on other people so much as in the case of this project I have been let down several times by models and photographers alike.

    I have always thought of myself as being a much organised person and having good time management skills however with this project those skills have been put to the test. I have found it very difficult to arrange shooting dates within my time frame and through being unable to book studios at the university due to full bookings, I was forced to re work all of my planned shooting dates. This involved shooting nine of my ten looks in just three weeks, this for me wasn’t possible so I made the disappointing decision to remove one of my stories and therefore two of my characters from my book; I chose to remove the story that had the least relevance to my book’s concept. If I had stuck to my original time plan and made the most of studio time available then I would have been able to complete all of my ten characters in time.

With my original ten characters, one of the first difficulties that I faced was trying to come up with original and interesting designs for each character while still in keeping with the narrative. This became difficult as I struggled with how far to push my designs; did I want them fashion based or more theatrical, through research and my desired career I eventually choose to have the character designs in keeping with the TV, film and theatre industry.

   Having one to one time with tutors has also been vital to the success of my designs and the project as a whole. Receiving informative feedback from industry specialists has helped me to use my creative and visual abilities appropriately especially in deciding which elements of the characters need the most focus and how to layout my book so that it portrays the most important aspects of my characters.

     Although elements of this project have been both challenging and testing, I’ve had to use my initiative in order to resolve any major issues, I believe that it’s important to think rationally and find a solution to the problem without disrupting the project as a whole. For example in regards to ‘Ruthless’ (2013) I had an issue with one of my make-up artists so I spoke privately with the producer so that it could be resolved between him and her. Throughout the filming process I felt that my management skills lacked and that I didn’t have full control over my team, one girl in particular tended to do her own make-up without my guidance and as she wasn’t involved in the designing process I felt that her looks weren’t in keeping with the concept of the film. In regards to the book I was let down on three separate occasions by photographers and after seeking help from a technician, I took notes of his lighting set up and used this as a reference for shooting all of my future looks myself, this ended up working to my advantage as my lighting had the same reoccurring theme throughout. I also incurred problems with my book publisher; when I uploaded my book design, the background colour of black was appearing as grey; I sought advice from a local printing company that helped me resolve my issues ready for a successful print.

        My intended target audience for the film ‘Ruthless’ (2013) and also for the book was a younger generation particularly interested in the horror film genre, as they would be more likely to understand the reality of the genre and less likely to be effected by violence or gory images. The typical age bracket of ‘horror fans’ is between ‘15 - 24’ years old (UK Film Council), as the largest number of cinema goers also falls between this age bracket. The horror genre is generally aimed at men as they tend to be attracted to violence and action and usually seek thrill in films, however my outcomes were targeted at both sexes as 'the number of women attending cinema screenings of horror films now marginally exceeds male attendance figures’ (UK Film Council) and proves that the horror genre is now reaching out to a larger audience of both males and females. I feel that both of my outcomes and their concepts sit successfully in the horror genre and are therefore appealing to my intended target audience.

      I believe that the standard of my outcomes are appropriate to industry level and relevant to its competitors, however I do feel that I could have pushed some of my looks further particularly the zombies to show more of my design and make-up capabilities. I found it challenging at times to create innovative designs that would both sit comfortably within the genre and be relevant to the TV and Film industry.

    When creating my proposal for this project I originally had the main outcome as a portfolio of work for ‘Ruthless’ (2013) and then alongside this another portfolio of studio shot images that showed other types of character transformations. However once I approached my tutor with these ideas he suggested that I use a more professional approach when creating my outcomes, together we agreed on presenting my idea of character transformations through stories in a printed book to put my looks into context. He also suggested that my film portfolio should be professionally printed on photography paper while displaying a colour theme and labelled with my name to help brand myself and my work as an artist. Although the extra work load was challenging on my time frame and skills, upon reflection I am overjoyed with the decision to change my original ideas as I’ve now discovered how much more professional my work can look. I’ve substituted an original idea of a sketchbook in order to give myself more time to focus my full attention on the portfolio and the book.

   Overall I am very pleased and proud of both of my outcomes, although there are certain elements that I struggled with and problems that I had to overcome, I feel that my outcomes are both professional and appropriate to the industry and its standards. If I was to undertake the project again, in regards to the film I would have spent more time developing my zombie looks further to help make them completely original and different to its competing films. Also in regards to the book I would have given myself more time to design the layout of the book in InDesign so that I could have tested a more interesting and visually pleasing layout for my images and text. However on a more positive note, I happy with the project as a whole and what I have achieved in a short amount of time.  This unit has helped greatly in improving my confidence in make-up and hair application and producing several looks for both the film and the book within a short time constraint has prepared me for the reality of working life and given me a great insight into the film and TV industry.