I Made A (Film Star!) Weave

I wrapped filming for the student film project I was working on today. Overall I was responsible for the hair, makeup and wardrobe of a cast of five characters: four of whom are members of a goth/emo rock band. For the most part, the actors were cast pretty close to part, which made my life a hell of a lot easier, since I was a one-man department responsible for the looks of 5 people. However, the lead character (a particularly emo 20-something who probably spent his entire teenage years moping around the Hot Topic at the mall while trying to get a band together), was to be played by your quintessential Abercrombie & Fitch-wearing *normal* guy. Fun!

I realized right off the bat that it was with that character that I was going to make my involvement with this project worthwhile for me. As I mentioned, I did this job pro-bono, which meant that if I wasn't getting paid monetarily, then I better damn make sure I get something beneficial out of it! (No offense, Phil, I realize you spent a shit ton of $$ on this project, and I am really grateful that you thought of me and allowed me to be a part of it!) Anyway, I immediately started thinking about how I could transform this guy into a pseudo-rockstar...

Here is what I had to work with:

note the American Eagle hoodie...

Obviously, the first thing to tackle was his hair. I could go one of two ways: cut it or add some. I decided I wanted to give him hair... Nothing says "emo/goth band" like some seriously asymmetrical hair. So, a hairpiece it was! The problem, of course, being that -- I've never done one before!

I guess that's not entirely true. I experimented with fake hair in the early '00s when dreaded hair extensions were in style in the goth-club circuit... and I've owned little (pre-made) clip-in extension pieces that I got at Ricky's, or whatever. But I'd never bought hair on a track before and made my own. Luckily, I'd had friends who'd done this before, so I knew how it worked, and I'd also asked one of my instructors to explain it to me a few weeks ago, as he wears a clip-in extension every day while he grows out a short haircut... Making clip-in extension pieces was way easier than I thought; the hard part was blending it in with his real hair. I ended up making two pieces: one for length, and one for blending/style. Added to this was some smudgy eyeliner and a few key wardrobe pieces (borrowed from another actor), and voila! An emo rocker dude was born.

The result:

his shirt (underneath the scarf and pleather jacket) reads "Fuck My Life" -- if that's not "emo", I don't know what is.

For one scene, I had to make the character look like he'd just been in a fight (with the guitarist from his band, who'd transformed into a drug-addicted zombie... yes!). Here's what I did with that:

he had fake blood dripping down the corner of his mouth that smudged off before I took this pic. 

I'll also add that this film was shot in black and white, so the difference in tone of his hair piece and his natural were not noticeable. (I checked. Many times).  Also, subtle makeup applications go a looong way on black and white film.

I'm super excited by the results, considering it was the first time I'd done this. I can't wait to see the film when it's edited and complete. It was a really fun experience, and it confirmed for me that I do indeed enjoy working on film shoots. Can't wait to get more experience like this under my belt!

Here's some more looks from the film shoot that I put together:

before and after of female drummer character. 

post-gig look

this is the token naive bass-player character.

strung out heroin-addicted soon-to-be zombie character.

NOT A Beauty School Dropout

I did it.

I graduated from the Aveda Institute. It took 9 months, and was (literally) a painfully long experience, but I did it. I couldn't be happier that I actually pushed myself through it all. Overall, I learned SO much, and I'm really glad I did it. There hasn't been a single day that I think, "gee, I really should just go back to an office job." Those days are over, and I'm not looking back. I'm thankful that this career will allow me to hold on to that resolution.

My last week of school, I had a few of my friends come in as clients, as well as a few repeat clients who requested me after earlier appointments. As a result, the last couple of days were nice and pleasant for me. Here's a couple of pics of the work I did (before and after):

single process (to match her natural) plus red peekaboo highlights

long concave cut with graduation. I had previously done her color as well.

So... now I enter the real world. First job out of the gate: I'm doing hair and makeup for my friend Phil's short film. Shooting starts on Monday, runs through Thursday. The task I'm most excited about is turning a regular guy (the main actor) into an emo/goth rocker dude. The work is pro-bono, but I think it'll be great experience and a nice credit to have under my belt, especially since I do want to eventually work on editorial and film shoots.

The next order of business will be trying to find a salon job. As I've discussed previously, I think this is an incredibly important part of trying to build who you are as a stylist. This is gonna be the tricky part. I've got some ideas of places I want to apply to, but I am trying to find a place that will have an equal emphasis on education as it does on a creative and somewhat relaxed atmosphere. Translation: I don't want to work a 9-5 (or 7-3 as I did at Louis Licari) schedule. I've come to terms with the fact that I'm just NOT a morning person, and my creative juices (as well as general productivity) just don't start flowing that early. I don't want to work nights, but I'll need to find some sort of happy medium. Also, I don't want to assist forever. I can't, in fact, financially afford to do so. This leaves corporate salons essentially out of my job search, but I don't want to sacrifice education by going to a small (no matter how hip) boutique salon, if there aren't any stylists available during the day who I can actually learn from. So... the search begins.