Evaluation

18th May 2011

I chose to Supervise for my Self Directed Project because I felt that this would be a new challenge for me; something I have never done before. I was drawn to applying to this project because I knew I’d be working with the screen designer Frances Tempest and having an external designer to be there throughout would give a more realistic idea of what Supervising would be like in industry without the threat of actually being in industry.

I have both enjoyed and really hated this unit. During the Easter break I was even considering pulling out of the project. I feel this might have been because of a lack of guidance, and Camilla and myself being unsure of what we needed to be doing, and also having the tutors unsure of what we was needed to be done.

The main miscommunication at this point was how much budget we had to spend; Camilla and I were informed that we only had £500 to spend on everything (excluding stockings), so we were worrying about finding things like shoes and accessories cheap enough. Also, the control number for the budget wasn’t set up until very late into the unit – something else that hindered us with purchasing. It wasn’t until a very serious meeting with Rebecca, Sarina and Kat that we were told we basically had access to as much money as we needed; a contradiction in our education (we were taught to always work to the budget we are presented with).

During this meeting Camilla and I were both presented with the question, “Are you enjoying it?” to which we both promptly replied “No”. Camilla explained that she wants to concentrate more on Making in the future, and to be honest, I have no idea where I’m headed! This is where we found the main solution to the problem, the making of the petticoats was worrying me, because I don’t see myself as a maker and I don’t enjoy construction probably as much as I should do, and because we were trying to equally share the load, not much was getting done. Rebecca suggested that Camilla concentrate solely on the making, whilst I could do the more administrative side (sourcing, budgeting etc), which is what I excel at. It was at this point that we separated our tasks and were able to completely throw ourselves into the work and start to bring Moulin Rouge together.

Another problem I encountered was actually working with Frances, as I found her very duplicitous; she would appease us with the accessories and items we’d sourced, leaving us confident and happy then go and say completely the opposite to either Kat or Rebecca. This left me very unsure of where I stood and made me wonder if she did actually approve of what we were doing.

Once these issues were sorted out and we had a control number to work with (and also having the benefit of fresh student loans for the term) we could start purchasing and I felt that we really pulled things together and turned around very quickly. The ball got rolling and we got increasingly more and more productive.

I really enjoyed sourcing all the shoes; I created a special catalogue system to keep track of all the shoes we had purchased/sourced/been loaned. By the end I had ninety six shoes in the catalogue and several more pairs on standby.

Once I had a kick in the right direction I felt really happy to be working, I was in my element of organising, schedule and talking to all the first years. I made an effort to befriend them all, as I remember our Supervisor for VNC last year being very difficult to work with and very unapproachable. I wanted to make sure they all knew who I was, that they all felt comfortable contacting me any time and that I was actually there to help them, not to make their lives more difficult. I really connected with all of the girls, and by the time we had finished the 2 production days I felt like a proud mother. They even clubbed together to get Camilla and I a thank you card and a box of chocolates each!

It’s been great working alongside Camilla. I know I struggle working as a “team” member, but the balance of our personalities was brilliant. Having the other supervisor is really good, as we both played to our strengths but we separated and came together constantly, which was extremely effective and really worked for the project as a whole. Turns out, I really enjoyed supervising a lot more than I thought I would!

Final Images

16th May 2011

Here are a selection of some of the final images of the girls in costumes.
Photographer: Roland Selivanoff

Natalie Oakley, Kirsty Hanlon and Elly Harris

Lauren Holman, Lucy Anderson, Melissa Burton and Nicole Lupton

Naomi Williams

Abi Booth wearing Calypso by Mary Eberlein

Amber Baker, Charlie Bestwick, Ellen McQuaid, Charlie Atkinson,

Colleen Sheridan, Sarah Hetherington and Katie Price

Katharine Broome in Ruby by Ruby Utley

Ellen McQuaid in Pearl by Zoe Tweedie

Anna Thomson in Candy by Natalie Oakley

Holly Macedo in Kiki by Sarah Hetherington

All systems are go!

14th May 2011

We've only gone and done it haven't we! Everything has come together in the past few weeks, Camilla has made everything beautifully; I've organised and scheduled the life out of all the first years. I've liased with Acting for props, and with Phil Lipscombe, the Head of Photography to confirm everything for Monday.

We've got a fab photographer booked, a guy called Roland Selivanoff who's work looks very good. I trust him to produce good images!

The girls have been divided into groups and each have a Costume call time, a Hair and Make Up call time and then time to get ready for photos. Each group of 8 or 9 girls has half an hour with the photographer, more than enough time to get a picture.

Ive got a team of dressers and runners to help me out during this day, and Camilla and I have organised a schedule for where we'll be Supervising and at what time, myself spending the first half of the day in the dressing room making sure people arrive and leave for hair and make up on time, where as Cammy will be in the studio organising the girls ready to be shot. We will swap around 12 o'clock.

lets hope it goes smoothly....

Hair and Make Up Liason

10th May 2011

Today I held a meeting with Siu and the rest of the Reem Team so they could all get acquainted, go through the Uni's supply of make up and check out the wigs we've already bought and been given by Frances.

It was great to delegate a job to someone else, as Natalie took charge of all communications, and Alexandra took charge of wig maintenance, taking all the real hair wigs and hair pieces donated by Make Up HND to clean them and curl them ready for shooting day and filming day.

Its such a relief to pass something on to another team, especially when they are a lot more capable than I am at hair and make up!

Success!

9th May 2011

FINALLY! Good feedback and a good performance from us. Very happy. Frances was very happy with what we had done, and enjoyed the fact we had lots of jewellery to hand out all day which is great. I even had my assistants helping me out, Oliver Barker has been especially helpful!

I've catalogued where all the shoes had gone, so now I need to type up all of my notes on who has what so my costume bible is all concise and perfect.

It feels really good to have something I've arranged come together and be successful, both Frances and Gareth were impressed and happy with what they saw. Gareth is going to start putting together the storyboard for the shooting day with the pictures Camilla and I took, so thats something that needs to be done very early tomorrow morning.

It feels good to not be criticised at the end of a hard day, but I think I've earned that.

So tomorrow is the Dress Parade...

8th May 2011

It's going to be an early start tomorrow to set up for the Dress Parade!

I've got lots of people coming in to help dress all day, which is great.

And this time, Camilla and myself have everything prepared! Well... I'm still waiting on three pairs of stockings from a Supplier, they're due very shortly.

I'm confident about tomorrow and I cant wait to see the girls costumes, some of them have been working so hard!

This is also the time to make sure Frances is happy with everything we've been doing and have found.

Creating departments

6th May 2011

This week, as well as budgeting I have also been putting together teams for the production dates, the 16th and 17th May.

I have enlisted the help of Siu in third year to help lead the Hair and Make Up team, and she has been off doing the research for that, fab!

All of the first year students that arent modelling are required to give me a hand with either Dressing and Running or Hair and Makeup. A few seem very keen on doing Hair and Makeup, which is great. I've got a box of hair from the Makeup department for them to sort out!

These are my deparments;

Hair and Make Up

aka...

"The Reem Team"

Siu Ping Wan

Natalie Bird

Andrew Layton

Alexandra Johnson

Dressers/Runners

Oliver Barker

Emma-Louise Michael

Philip Snowden

Sally Bourner

There are more people that have promised themselves to me on the filming day, as they are happy to take part in the photoshoot, but dont feel comfortable filming. Natalie is hopefully going to model as well as her maker is trying to get her costume finished in time (mitigating circumstances). Also, Natalie's sister Emily is going to be helping us out!

Budgeting

3rd May 2011

So I have a week to go till the Dress Parade for which Frances and the Director Gareth Corke will be present and I need to get everything as ready as possible! I've taken charge of most of the purchasing, and have been ordering everything offline, bargaining with Sales departments and getting money off, finally something I enjoy!!

Camilla has been off doing all the making, which suits me fine!

I've started to work out budgeting sheets too, numbering all the receipts and invoices for referencing. I've created a main spreadsheet explaining where all the invoices are from, how much they are and keeping a cumulative total so I can keep an eye on what we are spending. Unfortunately, as Camilla hasn't been in I've got no idea what she's spending the money on.

As well as the running total of invoices, I'm also categorising what we're buying and creating itemised budget sheets in different categories; shoes, stockings, jewellery etc.

Not doing so well....

28th April 2011

Today Camilla and I were sat down by Rebecca, Sarina and Kat. And it wasn't a positive tutorial.

I was aware that we were moving slowly, but Camilla and I have been so unsure about budgets and schedules and what we are supposed to be doing that we've been treading carefully. We expressed to Rebecca our worries about the budget, and we finally had it confirmed that we had access to the full £700, so with the additional money from the students that's just over £1000.

We've now ordered most of the stockings, so we should be all set for the costume parade.

Rebecca has also given us permission to go over the budget for things like shoes that would be useful for many different shows for the Costume Store.

Rebecca suggested to us that we play to our strengths and divide up, Camilla taking charge of the making (such a relief, I hate making!), and I be more administrative, creating schedules and budgeting and purchasing. I am more than happy to do this as it means that I can lead the way with organisation, and Camilla can play to her strength and get all the making done. Finally!

As angry and defeated as I left this meeting, I was determined to turn this around and prove that I can do this, and that I am more than capable. The thing Im most annoyed about is that we have been hearing one thing from Frances, but then Rebecca relays a completely different message from her to us. It makes us unsure of where we stand, and less inclined to push forward when the designer is keeping us in the dark so much.

Design Tutorials with Frances Tempest

27th April 2011

Immediately after Easter we went straight in with a Design tutorial for the first years with Frances. For this we were required to have shoes, sample stockings (which we had from the fitting), jewellery and all other accessories. Over Easter we started collecting things, and also finding more things for Frances to approve of before we bought them. We still don#t have a budget number so I'm a bit hesitant about actually purchasing large amounts of items.

It was good to gauge how many students have shoes for us, so we can start collecting them for the production. I've been encouraging the makers to bring in shoes for us, at the moment we only have about 5 pairs.

I guess the day went well because Frances seemed pleased with what we had managed to gather up jewellery and accessories wise, although it is hard to work out what she likes because we never receive any direct criticism from her.

30th March - Second Day of Fittings

Wednesday 30th March

So the second day of fittings was equally as successful as the first in terms of organisation, timekeeping and efficiency. And also this time I was in the fitting space in a more active role, as opposed to doing the more administrative side, which was taken on by Camilla.

Before the fittings started, we had a brief tutorial with Adele and Frances explaining where we went wrong in the previous days fittings, and I completely agreed. Adele assured us that as fittings went it was very successful, but as none of the models had tried on the sample petticoat or any of the stockings or shoes it was a bit of a waste of the designers time and a failure on our part.

As I was on the more administrative side, ensuring the makers and models were punctual and going into the fitting space on time, I wasn't aware that the models were being fitted without the sample stockings or accessories; as this was always my intention when it came to my fitting day.

But despite this I felt it was a fair comment to be made, and I agreed with it. I just didnt necessarily feel it should have been directed at me as I wasn't in control of that fitting day.

Wednesday proved to be another successful day for fittings though, nothing really went wrong and as I was in the fitting space I managed to get every girl in a pair of shoes and stockings. It was so important to see the models in these so I could see if the stockings worked/didnt work or needed a different style or colour.

I also noted down people who needed additional attention when it comes to the hair styling on the day, as this was a new challenge thrown at me.

It is going to be hard work acquiring wigs/hair pieces for dirt cheap, so going to have to use my best blagging skills for that!

During the fittings I tried to get as involved as possible, make my presence known and try to build up a working relationship between the Makers and the Designer, discussing the costumes, and the best kind of underwear to have underneath the corsets and combinations. I felt I had to keep reiterating to Frances that the models are not actresses and wont really feel comfortable with too much flesh on show.

29th March - First Day of Fittings

29th March 2011

Our first day of fittings for Moulin Rouge has ended. It was an extremely long day, (I arrived at Uni just after 7.30) but it was a good day. I was extremely nervous about people not turning up, being late and everything going wrong but thankfully it ran smoothly and on time!

Because it was Camilla's group having their costumes fitted, I was more in charge of the admin side; making sure people were turning up, ringing them, making sure they were prepared etc. Camilla was more involved with the fitting process, being inside the fitting space and communicating with the designer, the tutors and the Level 4 students.

However, tomorrow is my Fitting day. I'm hoping that it will run as smoothly as today went. I need to make sure I am taking pictures of every costume, in order, so I can organise them later and work out which costume was made by what student, and there are a lot of them!

So... fingers crossed!

1900's Hair Styles

http://www.lphouse.com/1900s.htm http://urbancasita.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/gibson.jpg http://urbancasita.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/gibson_girl.png

SDP The Day Before the Fittings

28th March 2011

Today was the day before the fittings, and it was a very stressful day! I was in University very early, which was fortunate because I had to rearrange the fitting schedule around the designer before the Level 4 students arrived.

I realised today how unprepared we were; Camilla and I had to try and get a sample petticoat made for the Roses' fitting tomorrow. In hindsight, we should've made these last week. I need to get better at arranging my time, despite having a concise Work Plan, I really need to stick to it and get ahead of myself.

The fittings start at 8.30am tomorrow morning, which means an early start for me so I can get there at least 45minutes beforehand.

I'm extremely anxious about tomorrows fitting plan, Frances Tempest is happy with how I've arranged (extreme military precision!), I just hope that we can stick to it.

Tomorrow's fittings are for Camilla's group, so I will be acting as her assistant, then on Wednesday, my group are being fitted. This will be the test for me!

It's going to be a huge learning curve for me in organisational skills but I will rise to challenge and I'm hoping to succeed.

Fingers crossed!

Historical Research; Toulouse Lautrec

11th March

It is important to understand the Designers references and inspirations so I can fully understand my role as a Supervisor and make sure what I am sourcing fits in with the designs Frances Tempest had in mind.

At the Briefing with the Level 4's, Frances Tempest was emphasising her main reference point as Toulouse Lautrec, a Parisian artist who documented the dancers and customers of the Moulin Rouge through his illustrations and paintings of the dancers performing and the dancers backstage.

Fortunately, I am a huge fan of Lautrec and have previously studied his work, so I am aware of his history and legacy.

Some of the most relevant images I have found depicting the world of the Moulin Rouge are...

These images are all relevant to me as a Supervisor in sourcing the items I need with a historical reference point.

The Storyville Portraits

From the first briefing with Frances Tempest, another influential reference for her were the Storyville Portraits, a series of portraits taken by E. J. Bellocq of the prostitutes in New Orleans. The photographs were taken during the 1920's but took till 1971 till they were published.

Storyville was the Red Light District of New Orleans, built upon the models of Germany and Holland where there is a small area of legalised prostitution, following the concept that it would be easier to control and police if legalised in a small area.

The photographs are melancholy and haunting images of the brothel girls, some fully nude, some partly dressed and some fully dressed. A few subjects are pictured with masks. I feel that these images are so important to reference in this unit as it shows an uncensored view of prostitutes in the early 20th Century, and they would be very similar to our Moulin Rouge dancers.

Here are some images I feel are good inspiration and historical reference.

Tutorials Tutorials Tutorials...

10th March

Yesterday was a busy day! I was sitting in on all of my groups' fabric tutorials with Frances Tempest. Frances was checking the Level 4's choices on the fabrics they have chosen to use for the Combinations and Corsets. It was also the opportunity for me to ascertain from Frances exactly what I would be providing and what the makers would be making.

Attending these tutorials was a huge help, I learned more about what Frances wanted from the costumes, the feeling and the general ambience. A lot of the makers were more inspired by Toulouse Lautrec's paintings then they might have been the designs. Frances was encouraging loose interpretation and individuality to each Character, which I could also reflect in my choice of sourcing.

Another good reason I attended these sessions was to allow the Level 4 students to know who I was, understand my role and hopefully appreciate what I will be doing for them! I feel that a good relationship with the makers will make my life easier, as I remember the relationship between my year whilst doing our VNC and our supervisor.

Yesterday I also had a tutorial with Adele so I (and Camilla) could understand our roles as Supervisors. I realised I really had to up my organisational skills to make sure my Bible is a valid resource, and it is also a working Bible filled with genuinely useful information. I was very anxious and uncertain about what I had to produce, but this tutorial outlined exactly what Camilla and I had to do.

Meeting The Designer

8th March 2011

Today I had my first meeting with the Designer, Frances Tempest alongside my fellow Supervisor, Camilla Thompson. We were to learn what Frances wanted from us, our restrictions and requirements and her expectations.

Our main sourcing job is finding all of the different stockings for each character. Frances Tempest was very explicit that they must be wearing stockings, because the modern "tights" had not been invented yet. Also, there was a complete ban on all man made materials, and Camilla and myself were restricted to finding stockings made only from either cotton or silk.

Because of the colours and patterns of some of the designs some of the stockings will be impossible to buy, so Camilla and myself have been encouraged to dye and customise some of these stockings in the more unusual colours. They will be a challenge to find on what I can only guess is a restricted budget.

There are also two characters with petticoats; Rose and Kiki. Camilla and I came up with the plan of either making them ourselves or putting together a small making team to come up with the petticoats to match the designs.

There are a mixture of shoes and boots in the designs, all very "Turn of the Century". Frances Tempest was very clear about the shoes, she wants them all to have a "lavatory heel" as she described them. These will have to be sourced, begged and borrowed from many a different place as vintage shoes can be quite expensive to buy and although the budget has not been revealed yet, I imagine it is quite limited.

We were also told that for the production, each Model/Actress must be provided with a flesh coloured g-string or some kind of flesh coloured body stocking to hide their modesty as they would need to appear to be naked underneath their Combinations, some of which are quite sheer.

Additionally, us Supervisors need to provide jewellery for the production, small glass beads on delicate chains. It would also be a good idea to provide a reel of black velvet ribbon to add chokers and wrist cuffs to the Models to give them a unique edge within an apparent uniformity.

For the first Fitting we only need to provide one of each type of stocking as a design sample for Frances and only provide shoes out of the AUCB Costume Store so as not to waste budget on finding too many shoes.

Meetings like this between Supervisors and Designers are so important, because Camilla and I now have a clear idea of what it is exactly that Frances wants from us. Despite having been given all these instructions on what to source, I am worried there will need to be some kind of compromise because of the budget on things like the stockings and maybe shoes. Frances has also given us places to start looking for the stockings, which is hugely useful; Funn Stockings and The Vintage Shirt Company. We also need to look at Pamela Mann for body stockings.

Time to get sourcing!

The Self Directed Project; Moulin Rouge

7th March 2011

This was the first day of my new unit and my new challenge, Supervising the Level 4's Visual Narrative; Construction. The Level 4 students are making costumes interpreted from Frances Tempest's designs. They will be made for a photo shoot and a music video style film. There are ten designs for 70 students, so one design will be interpreted by 7 students differently. The students are separated into two groups, TM and TW, and I will take one of these groups whilst the Supervisor I am collaborating with, Camilla Thompson will take the other group. This way our workload is not too overwhelming.

I attended the Level 4 Unit Briefing on 1st March to see where Frances Tempest's inspirations came from.

This production of Moulin Rouge is a far cry from Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge of 2001, this is a historically accurate "Fin de Siecle" production based on Toulouse Lautrec's illustrations and paintings and photographs of The Storyville Girls; girls working in a brothel in New Orleans. Some more references are "Moulin Rouge"1952, "French Can Can" 1954, and "Can Can" 1960.

Frances Tempest's Moulin Rouge has feelings of melancholy and poverty, which is a genuine feeling received from the working girls of the turn of the century. These girls were dancers who would expose themselves for the enjoyment of me; they were prostitutes. The Designer also wanted some costumes to look like the more garish onstage costumes, but some others to look like the were from backstage; muted tones and broken down.

The ten designs are all of women in a basic Combination (onesie) and a 19th Century corset, tightly drawn in at the waist. Tempest wanted each costume to look different, and individual characters to be created. Here are the designs of the ten characters.

Camilla's Group (TM);

Lilly

Jade

Rose

Amethyst

Lulu

My Group (TW);

Candy

Calypso

Ruby

Pearl

Kiki

The last 5 designs are those that I will be focussing on, but Camilla and myself will be working together throughout to help each other source the items needed. These will mostly be stockings and shoes but will need to meet with with designer to discuss her requirements.




I felt it was important to attend this briefing, as I learned exactly what Frances Tempest wanted from the team of Makers. I also learned how important is for the Supervisor to know the Designers influences and inspirations so I can make sure the accessories I source will compliment the garments being made.


I'm excited to get started as I know my strengths lie in sourcing, especially hosiery as I have a wide knowledge of it. I'm also confident about interpreting the costumes well but I feel I need to research into the time period a little more just to back up my existing knowledge. I'm worried I wont be as organised as I need to be, so I'm going to start organising straight away so I keep on top of it.

Self Directed Project; Blogging

An Introduction to Blogging.

After setting up my blog last year, I am finally using it to some productiveness!! This is the first post for my Self Directed Project, the next project I am due to undertake.