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.