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!