Channel 4 Racing Promo

This week I’ve been up in Liverpool working on a Channel 4 Racing promo ready for the start of the Grand National. The production was huge. We had up around 250 extras to look after alongside the jockeys, stuntmen and other key characters that were to be featured on camera. With the main focus being the horses of course, it was just mind boggling to see them be put through their paces, dealing with different set ups and stunts that they had to ‘act out’. All the horses were fully trained ‘film horses’ that are used to such environments. You shout action and they perform!!

After thinking that I’d be in the Makeup Room a majority of the time, I was hugely mistaken. I was out on set by 6.30am in the freezing cold (albeit beautiful weather on one of the days, rain on the other), and on my feet all day until 5pm with the rest of the makeup team; tidying hair, touching up makeup and making sure all the cast were looking spot on ready for their milliseconds of fame as the camera flies past! Our brief was for them to look as ‘normal’ as possible. If they came with makeup already applied, our job was to literally make sure that they don’t have any unsightly smudges, that their foundation was as blended as possible and that they kept their faces free from ‘cousin It’ style hair so they can be seen clearly. However, baring in mind were were in Liverpool; So orange skin, scouse brows and jet black hair were a trend that I noticed featured heavily amongst the crowd. But time was tight… So orange was how they stayed (much to their delight I’m sure)!

They were long days but I can’t wait to see the finished edit in a few weeks time!

6.30am on set… The sun is a rising!

The horse and jockeys arrive,

Preparing for a stunt!

Running the streets!

Another man made set up… the pond!

Hazey days at the end of Day 1.

Thank god for Wellies!

Just SOME of the extras on set.

Tropicana

Here’s the final edit of the Tropicana commercial I worked on…airing on primetime ITV now!

 

Shoot with Lucy Pinder

Image taken from Twitter: @LPinderOfficial

Yesterday was our Lingerie test shoot with Lucy Pinder. After taking me 3.5hrs to get to Ruths, which is usually a 1.5hr journey (just as well I planned for such a disaster on the roads and left ridiculously early), we finally got into the swing of the day.

Our initial plan was to create more of a commercial fashion look with Lucy as opposed to a traditional lingerie shoot. Of course, lingerie is where she excels, so it would be rude not to use this to our advantage, but with the clever styling by the amazing Nadine and Anton, lighting set ups and photography from Ruth, hair by Zoey and me doing makeup, we pulled together some truly gorgeous shots… not to mention her natural beauty. Always makes our job easier!

We stuck to the original gritty theme. Hair was dampened, I used a lot of gloss on the eyes and SFX Sweat down her chest. Lighting was made quite harsh and high contrast and the stylists used some great metal textured accessories, my favourite being a glitzy cropped blazer that picked up the lighting perfectly.

Lucy was so easy to work with, happy to try anything and was very laid back about the shots, which was lovely as it left us to create our vision without any restrictions.

I can’t post any images yet, but of course the second I can… I will!

One of our Moodboards used for the day...