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In the first week, I liaised with the director about some of her ideas for each character. What their makeup would look like and why.

‘Being part of a production team also means liaising with others. First the director will have ideas on how the makeup, hair and costume should look. Then the artist may have strong views. Along the way, others, for example the lighting director, may have problems that must be considered’. (Musgrove, 2003, p.22)

To ensure that I was organised and that my vision was on track, I made mood boards for each character and sent them to my director.

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Sirag - Lynn

I discussed with my director that the character of Lynn, would make sense to be very plain and very natural. No makeup aside from a light powder, so as to combat any shine from the lights on set.

I felt that Lynn represents the normality in Veronica’s life, before her world completely changes. He is part of her day to day life and her work life. So it makes sense that he would be an anchor of ‘normality’.

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James - Blair

This is a character that I had to do a lot of research for. As my director had introduced me to a subculture of Steampunk. She felt that Blair would fit this aesthetic and James had agreed with this for his character.

I was pleased with their decision to have the character as someone who stands out as an individual, as I had mentioned that I interpret his character as someone who represents all that is to come throughout the film. He represents the side of Veronica that at the start of the film, she is not confident enough to show.

In a way Blair introduces Veronica and the audience to her other side.

Therefore, research was needed.

Steampunk pulls from fantasy and fiction with elements of Victorian fashion and a heavy influence of industrial aesthetics.

When looking at images of Steampunk makeup, heavy eyes were a key factor and lots of movement in the makeup too. With patterns such as swirls, spirals or even fake cogs were used in some people’s looks. I had discussed with the costume department what they had in mind for his clothing and they had found a hat that they wanted him to wear. So I knew that makeup was the main focus and his hair would be covered.

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Jame’s first makeup trial.

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James’ second trial.

This time I had chosen to roughly create some swirls in the style that I had seen from my research.

At this point my director was happy with this look and the makeup for Blair was complete and ready for when we would film.

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Rob - Pat

Since Pat’s character is homeless, I knew that subtle details in the makeup and hair is what would probable work best.

I was also cautious of the fact that I didn’t want to create a stereotype for the homeless as being ‘dirty’ or ‘haggard’. Therefore, upon discussions with my director and script writer, we thought it best that my idea for subtle changes would be more appropriate and accurate.

Pat’s character is kind and a good friend to Veronica. He is smiley with a good sense of humour and I pictured him to be older than Veronica but not considerably older.

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Rob’s Makeup trial.

In order to age Rob slightly, I thought that accentuating some light wrinkles around the eye would work well on camera, and giving him some bags around his eyes would make sense for his character and for the makeup. I gave him some hollow cheekbones and powdered to even out some imperfections for the sake of the camera, lighting and continuity.

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Another closeup of Rob’s makeup.

At this point I had discussed wether he would be wearing a hat with the costume department and they were unsure at that point in time. Therefore, I felt that Rob’s hair would work with some hairspray to give it a slight bit of texture and to stay put through shooting. And then, if the costume department decides to go with a hat then I will have to style it with the strands that fall from underneath.

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Tia - Laura

For Laura’s character I knew I wanted her makeup and hair to be fairly natural. More of an every day makeup look and her hair up from out of her face - a style that is common for most people in their normal lives.

However, for the dinner scene I knew that I wanted to make Laura’s makeup more prominent and slightly more noticeable. As it is their anniversary dinner, I wanted the makeup and hair to feel as though Laura had made more of an effort to look nice for Veronica, while still creating a look that was very easy to do, to ensure it looked real and not as though she had her makeup and hair done professionally.

For her hair for the dinner scene, I asked if Tia would come in with her hair straight when we were due to film those scenes, and I would tame her hair with spray and products before hand and throughout filming. I discussed this with her in the first week so that it would save time for me, as mine and Jakes makeup were very complicated and I was on my own doing hair, makeup and SFX.

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Tias trial.

In this picture Tia is not wearing any foundation, concealer or powders. I asked if she would be okay with bringing her own makeup in that I could use when we were due to film, she kindly agreed. Which meant that I did not need to worry about buying any more products for the shoot and her makeup would be matched to her perfectly. Since this trial was more for the purpose of the dinner scene, I could only work with eyeshadow and lipstick.

I thought that a small winged eyeliner would suit Tia’s eye shape as she had slightly upturned eyes. I think this decision made a big difference to the makeup.

I then chose to add some gold glitter on the high point of her eye lid and to finish off the trial I lined her lips with a warm lip liner and a nude coloured gloss.

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Jake - The Stranger

For the character of The Stranger I did a lot of liaising with the director and the script writer. And in turn did my own research.

I looked at classic films such as ‘Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror’.

The 1931 adaptation of ‘Dracula’ were Bela Lugosi stars in the title role, became a huge inspiration for me for makeup and hair. I intended to draw from the pale face, and mostly the iconic slick back hair. I loved how Lugosi as Dracula still looks human, which I wanted to incorporate into the genesis of the makeup look.

Another major film inspiration was ‘Interview with the Vampire’ the 1994 film. When studying the makeup of the characters they have a tight red shadow underneath their eyes, blue veins that were subtle with pale skin and hollowed cheeks.

I thought that all of these elements combined would look really good on Jake, as he has very blue eyes, and good structure to his face. Thankfully, I had a lot to work with. So with my references and ideas noted, I added to my mood board.

Unfortunately, I did not have time for a trial with Jake, but I was confident in what products I was going to use.

Since Jake has very thick, curly hair I knew that styling it the way I has intended, (slick and pushed back) would be a challenge, therefore, I opted to slick the sides of his hair back and pull his fringe further down to a point with hairspray and hair pomade. This would give the affect and aesthetic of the classic Vampire look, without having to struggle to work on his hair.

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Lucy - Alex

For Lucy’s character I was unsure of what to do for hair and makeup initially. Therefore, I decided it would be best to speak to her directly, about what her ideas of her character would be. We discussed that she would be an independent business woman. This got the ball rolling for some ideas, I decided that she would definitely have her hair up in a very corporate appropriate style. I thought that her makeup should be subtle but I wanted her to be wearing some makeup, such as; eyeshadow, mascara, contour and lipstick.

Once I knew the colour pallet that Lucy had in mind for her character I knew that purple tones/ plum pink colours that would match subtly with her outfit the best.

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Niamh - Veronica

This is an older head shot from last year but the only thing that has changed is my hair. It is now slightly darker and my fringe has grown out. In this headshot I am wearing my everyday makeup look and when we first meet Veronica she is considered to be an average/ normal girl. Therefore, I feel that my normal makeup routine would suit the character and the context of when we are first introduced to her.

However, when she is bitten and is transitioning into a vampire herself, I wanted her to look sickly. Looking a lot paler and with heavy, sunken eyes and of course with the bite marks on her neck.

With this already in mind I decided that I would put fake tan on for the scenes in the cafe and the bite scene so that there would be a definite contrast between my skin tone and how pale I look once I am sick.

Eventually, for the dinner scene I discussed with my director what type of makeup look she wanted me to create.

80s gothic looks were discussed, and so I turned my attention to rockstars like ‘Siouxsie & the Banshees’, ‘Adam Ant’ and even Robert Smith from ‘The Cure’. A lot of these New Wave/ Post Punk artists gave me a multitude of inspiration. I created a mood board with some of my favourite looks and from there I pulled together my own.

For my hair, I thought that if I were working at a cafe, I would most likely have my hair out of my face, so that it did not interfere with me throughout the day. I first played with idea of just having my hair up in a bun but decided that having it down and pinned back out of my eyes was the best option. As I thought that since my hair was curly it worked well with the aesthetic of the film and pinning it back made sense for my work environment and for practical reasons with scenes later on in the shoot.

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This week I tried something which I have never done before and I felt completely out of my comfort zone.

Special effects makeup has always seemed very difficult to me, but I know that in this project it will be a crucial part of film.

Thankfully, my director Mara is quite used to this type of makeup and was on hand to give me a quick tutorial in how to do it properly.

After watching what she did and what products she used, I tried it myself.

Considering that this was my first time at doing this style of makeup, I am quite proud of the result. I think that the makeup looks realistic and with practice it should look even better.

I knew that the bite marks were important to get right, so I decided to roughly measure where my natural fangs are with my fingers, and map that distance out so that it looked accurate.

Then I knew that I could use this technique throughout the filming process which would act as a quicker guide.

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These scratches were a rough practice of the makeup I would do for Jake later on in the script. I think for a first go they looked really good.

When I got home I watched some tutorials on how to do realistic SFX makeup. However, I found that a lot of people were using fake skin to create the affect of a ripped barrier or a tear in the skin. Unfortunately, although I would have loved to have tried this, I did not have any fake skin on hand and I did not want to ask if it could come with the budget. I also knew that it would be more time consuming and for the purpose of continuity, it would be even harder to create multiple times accurately. So I sacrificed the idea of using fake skin.

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I think the first week has gone well. I feel that upon creating my portfolio for all of the characters and what looks I have created for them, ready for when we start filming will be really useful. However, it’s a lot of work to do on my own, as I am the only person doing her and makeup and having to complete SFX, makeup changes and time consuming looks is going to be a challenge. I know I have to be really prepared for next week which is why I am glad that I have organised all my looks for each character.

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This week I began to look over the script in depth and break it down.

Annotating and finding ways to flesh out my character more.

I spoke to my director and script writer about their ideas for my character, to ensure that we were on the same page about our visions for my role. 'For most actors, a film part is a rare and prized opportunity. All the more reason, then, to be prepared when you do have the chance to work on a movie.' (Churcher, 2003, p.10)

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This week was mainly focussed on rehearsals and getting the basics down for everyone involved. This meant that we had to collaborate and work with each other for the first time properly and professionally. As there were some people that I had yet to meet who I knew that I would be working with, I introduced myself and made sure I had spoke to everyone before rehearsals officially commenced.

Upon rehearsals our director mainly focused on the cafe scenes at the very start, as we were due to film these scenes first on the following Monday. However, we did not properly know the space that we would have to work with in the actual cafe and in turn made it difficult to rehearse. Mainly because of spacing issues. This seemed to be the most important issue at the time instead of working on beats and dialogue. So when I got home from rehearsals, my main focus was on these points.

We continued to rehearse the cafe scenes and unfortunately did not touch up on the rest of the other scenes in the script. Which I felt a bit anxious about, but I understand this process is not always straightforward.

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This week I have really focused on the background of my character.

I have created a foundation and life story for Veronica so that I can portray her to the best of my ability.

Veronica was born into a nuclear family. Her mother Angela and her father Paul were both Catholic and raised their children; Veronica and Sara under their own religious beliefs. Growing up as a little girl Veronica and her older sister Sara were very close, they would find the fun in what they felt, were mundane Sunday Masses. Christmas as a child for the girls was their favourite holiday, as they spent it with family and with a feast of their mothers home cooking.

Veronica had a happy childhood and a decent relationship with her parents, as she got a little older (around the ages of 10 - 12) she would always ask for permission first instead of forgiveness, out of respect for her parents. Where other children her age would play outside or stay at a friends house without consulting their parents, Veronica was never willing to give her hers a reason to worry.

During her time at Catholic school she made a small group of friends, who she would eventually grow up with. They were not considered to be ‘popular’ as such, but they were happy in their little group. On her first School trip to Iceland in year 8, Veronica was on the school coach and saw a local girl walking down the street. For some reason she could not avert her eyes. And as the bus drove by, all Veronica could do was watch this young girl who looked to be of a similar age.

Afterwards, on reflection whenever she though about the girl her heart would thump in her chest. This became the first time she had feelings for someone.

Having had this experience, she decided to confide in her older sister, who told her that people can be attracted to whoever they choose and it is not for us to decide who we fall for. Veronica, although comforted by this, was feeling a sense of strong guilt and disbelief that maybe she could like girls. Therefore, she tried to forget about this moment and continued her life without telling anyone else.

When she was 15, Veronica had her first boyfriend, Jack. Their relationship lasted around 4 months, which was a rather impressive fun amongst their peers at school. It ended with Veronica calling it quits, as she felt that they were better off as friends. She decided to leave out the fact that every time Jack tried to show any form of physical affection, Veronica wanted to recoil and curl up in a ball, and could not bear to even try and reciprocate, as it felt completely wrong.

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Veronica decided that she would not entertain the idea of any more relationships until she was finished with high school and slightly older. She did exactly that, while all her friends in the group had off and on boyfriends, Veronica stayed single throughout College. She had performed well in her GCSE’s and had passed her A levels with decent marks. However, despite revising and taking them seriously, she never really did as well as everyone had expected, which knocked her confidence completely.

After applying for Universities across the country, and her mother and father (without realising it) put more pressure on Veronica, the natural step of University became completely overwhelming to her.

She got 4 offers from decent Universities but her most wanted place of study, unfortunately, did not offer her a place. And so to her parents shock, she declined all of her offers and took a job at her local cafe. She told them that she was going to take a gap year, to clear her head and figure out what she really wanted to do.

While all of her friends went off to study at different Universities, Veronica felt somewhat left behind, feeling as though she had let not only herself down but the rest of her family too. She had doubts that she had potentially wasted a year while everyone else moved on. However, she did enjoy working at the cafe and still had motivation that within a year she would know more about what her path might be.

Veronica stayed close with all of her friends and went to visit them regularly at their chosen Universities, and would go on nights out with them where they were studying. In Manchester, where one of her friends was studying, they had gone on a night out and entered a bar that they liked.

It was here that she met Laura, who was stood at the bar not drinking, but enjoying the performance her friends were doing on the dance floor. Veronica felt that she could not look away from Laura, and finally after years of trying to keep down these feelings, she spoke to Laura. Something along the lines of “Your friends are real showmen”, which led to the pair of them spending their entire night in the same bar, in the same spot, with not one drink bought between them. Instead they just chatted and forgot that they were surrounded by drunken people. At the end of the night Veronica had found that her friends had gone elsewhere, she exchanged numbers with Laura and received a parting kiss on the cheek. Which she did not stop thinking about for a week until she finally got a text from Laura.

The pair arranged to meet up, and it was just as it was when they met in the bar.

Laura and Veronica became inseparable, but Veronica had not told anyone about their relationship, the only person that knew was Lynn. Who started work with Veronica around the same time as her and they got along from the get go.

After a year Veronica decided to tell her sister, who was delighted for Veronica and encouraged her to tell their parents.

However, Veronica was not sold on the idea, with them being from a Catholic household and still no prospect of starting University after her gap year, she thought it would not go the way her sister was imagining.

She held off for a while, until one day she had to come clean. Whilst having dinner with her family a message came through from Laura on her phone that insinuated a date. When her mother and father asked her, she hesitantly told them that she had been with Laura for a year, but didn’t want to disappoint them both.

She could sense that her parents were shocked, Veronica had never kept anything of this magnitude from her parents. They were quiet upon hearing the news, which caused Veronica to storm off. She did not speak to her parents for weeks, until finally the ice was broken by her mother who told her “It may take some time to get used to but we care that you have a happy life and that you tell us what’s going on”.

Veronica thought it best that she keep the relationship on the quiet side in front of her parents for a while, rarely mentioning Laura and never introducing her to them.

Until finally, after two years she introduced them. Her parents lived Laura instantly and Veronica wondered why she ever worried. The only issue was that she still had not applied to university and her parents were now consented that she would only ever work in “the tiny cafe”. As Veronica had just received the position of manager, meanwhile her sister Sara had graduated with her masters degree and was working her way up in a top Law Firm in London.

She hated that her parents were comparing them, and told them that she was happy at the cafe, and she didn’t know what she would do if she did decide to go to University. And so for another year she stayed at the cafe, content with her job and her life but feeling that her parents were disappointed with her decision, and she deserved more than just the small cafe. But Veronica knew that with time she could eventually open up her own business and show them, and herself that this was the right decision and she was excellent at her job and she knew she could be truly happy .

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At the end of the first week I feel confident that I know my character. I have really started to know my lines properly and with even more practice over the weekend and even throughout next week, I’m sure my character will be fully formed.

I only wish that I would have been able to rehearse more scenes from the script so that I could have focused on the more emotional beats, such as the end scene. However, I have time to go back over this scene myself and make sure I am confident with it.

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This week we began filming on Monday. As we were there on set for an early start I made sure I had prepared all of my tools and products that I needed over the weekend. I packed them all in their own bags and compartments, so that I could easily locate where everything was. This was so that filming could commence as soon as possible and so that I was organised and staying on track for time.

Especially, as I was on my own and working by myself for hair and makeup.

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The first person I worked on was Jake, as I knew that ‘The Stranger’ would take up the most time for hair and makeup.

I gave him a light coloured foundation to create his pale skin. To give a more gaunt affect, I hollowed out his cheekbones using cool toned greys and brown eyeshadows.

Under his eyes, drawing from the inspiration I had looked at from ‘Interview with the Vampire’ I ran a deep red under Jake’s water line which made him look even more sickly.

I hollowed out his eyes, by giving him dark circles with brown and blue toned eyeshadows and focused them where natural circles would form under the eye.

For his lips, I took the remainder of the foundation I had used to make him paler and dabbed it lightly over his lips to take out the natural pink tone. I then created fine red lines across his lips over the foundation, to give the affect of dry, cracked lips.

For his hair, I slicked back the sides with a men’s hair pomade and brushed it back at the sides. I repeated this until I was happy with his hair. Jake had very thick curly hair and I knew that throughout the day his hair would not stay in place the way I wanted. Therefore, I knew that throughout the shoot I would constantly have to retouch his hair (and makeup) to keep it in place. I decided to leave the front of his hair curly but taper it down to somewhat of a point, with help from the pomade.

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This was Jake’s final look.

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A closeup of the hair and makeup.

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I got to work on Jame’s makeup after Jake, as I was aware that this would take up some time as well.

I used a pale foundation that evened out his skin tone and made him look a little bit more gothic, which was a note that my director had given me.

I hollowed out his cheekbones slightly with cool toned eyeshadows and started on his eye makeup. Using a black eye pencil first, I lightly traced where I wanted the eye makeup to start and end. Creating a big wing and dragging that under his eye to add depth and stick to the brief from my director. All I had to do then was fill in where I had traced with a liquid eyeliner.

Using the same technique I then traced where I wanted all of the swirls to go, this time making sure they where much more refined and intricate. At this point the director suggested some more swirls than I had already done, so I continued to draw on more until she was happy with the final result.

For his hair, I knew at this point that James would be wearing a hat, so to save time, I opted to leave his hair as it was, and if needs be only style the pieces underneath.

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A closer look at Jame’s makeup. I evened out his skin for the sake of continuity and lighting. I also asked James if he was comfortable with me putting makeup on his water line, as there is a slight gap where the makeup stops. However, even though he was I felt that he didn’t need it as the audience may then struggle to see his eyes clearly, and since he is acting I do not want to take away an important part of his performance. I think it was better to stick with no pencil in the water line for the distinction and clarity in his eyes.

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Having completed both Jake and James’ makeup I started to work on Rob. Who was wearing a hat, which meant that I only really needed to focus on his makeup.

I evened out his skin tone using a foundation and gave him more hollow cheekbones. I used browns, blues and cool toned shades to create his look.

Under his eyes, I created eyebags with a mixture of blues and browns and worked only where a natural shadow under the eye would form. This made the look more realistic.

Using a technique where Rob squints his eyes to form natural crevasses and wrinkles, I added brown shadows to accentuate them even more. This gave the illusion of wrinkles and the appearance of Rob looking slightly aged.

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A close up of Rob’s makeup.

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Since Tia came in with a plait in her hair I thought that it would be best to tie the rest of her hair up. As we are introduced to Laura’s Character as she is running errands I thought that this style would be appropriate. Throughout the duration of filming I maintained Tia’s hair by using pomade and hairspray, so that it would stay as intended.

For Tia’s makeup, I kept her look very natural. Focusing only on a light base, purely to even her skin tone. I used concealer and bronzer to warm up the face and give a subtle glow.

I then went on to use a blush balm, that gives a natural radiant affect. For the blush, I thought that a rosy pink would suit Tia’s complexion really well and in turn translate beautifully on camera.

To finish off the look, I gently lined her lips with a warm nude brown shade and applied some of the same blush balm onto her lips. This helped to incorporate that same pink throughout the look, making it more cohesive and natural.

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A closer look at Tia’s makeup.

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For the Cafe scenes I came in with my normal, everyday makeup.

I pinned my hair back out of my face like I had planned for my character.

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On the second day of the fight scene I kept the makeup the same and reverted back to any pictures and continued to use the same products to ensure the most similar results with makeup.

However, I needed to use special effects makeup to create bite marks on my neck and a slash across Jake’s face.

I did this by dabbing water colour makeup in the shape I wanted Therese wounds to be. I found this product worked best by slowly building it up with deeper colours.

I first used a layer of red and blended this out with my finger and built up that same colour by adding more and more black until finally it looks like and open wound. I then used fake blood to make the wounds more realistic and fresh looking.

For my bite marks I roughly measured the distance of Jake’s natural fangs with my fingers and they acted as a guide for my placement.

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I used the same technique by building up depth slowly to Jake’s wound and finally adding fake blood to show that it is an open and new wound.

For other details, I added fake blood to his lips by dabbing some of it around and onto his chin, to translate the fact that he had bitten me.

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During the filming of the fight scene I had my moral everyday makeup look as my character is walking home from work. I made sure to look back on photographs and ensure that I used all of the same products for myself and Jake’s makeup.

However, I was able to stick on nails for Jake to make them look sharp and sinister. I wanted them to be grown out and dirty looking. So to create this look I buffed the false nails, to take away any plastic shine and I dabbed nail glue onto the nails and applied brown, yellow and red eyeshadow over the nail to get the effect I wanted.

I also applied a deep red around the cuticle area to give the appearance of the nails being grown out and infected. I also feel that it aided in helping Jake look even more frightening.

I repeated this step the following day on myself when I transition into a vampire.

'Make - up, hair and wardrobe are service departments, their aim being to help create pictures that are pleasing to the eye, or to help create an impression or atmosphere that is correct for the production needs.' (Musgrove, 2003, p. 8).

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Later in the week I had to change my look, as at this point during filming, I was transitioning into a vampire.

I knew that I wanted to create a realistic look for this, and I knew that making myself look sickly, would be really affective and translate well on screen.

To emulate this, I washed any remaining tan that I had used to create a clear difference in skin tone. This was really useful as I immediately looked noticeably paler. For my actual makeup I evened out my skin tone with a pale based foundation and used cool tones to hollow out my cheekbones. This made me look gaunt and ill.

Under my eyes I used blues and yellow toned eyeshadows to give the appearance of deep circles and eye bags. I also used a deep red in the corner of my eye and under my lash line to resemble ‘The Strangers makeup’.

I added my fake vampire teeth and toned down any pink tones in my lips by applying foundation over them.

Another major factor in my makeup was emulating the bite marks from the previous night, however, this time they were slightly dried up and bruised. I had to ensure that they were in the same spot as I had placed them the night before, for continuity.

I used makeup on the bandage so that it would look realistic, with the right amount of fake blood and the right tone and texture.

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On the Monday when we filmed the start of the cafe scenes, it was very slow, as I had expected.

With it being the first day and most of the group getting to grips with their roles. However, this meant that unfortunately we only shot a fraction of what we had intended to film. As a result, the first day of filming was rather hectic and I felt as though organisation could have been handled better.

As an actor it was slightly frustrating as most of my day was waiting around (which is usually the case), but I had to ask for direction and I was rarely made away of which shot we were supposed to be filming. Therefore, I had to ensure I was asking my director for notes and shot information so that I was made aware.

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On Tuesday, me and my fellow actor, Jake, were asked to do some more rehearsals for the fight scenes that we were due to film the week later.

Our screenwriter met with us, along with our director and camera crew to go over the blocking for the fight scenes, to ensure that we were aware of our space and actions.

The first thing our screenwriter organised were trust exercises between myself and Jake. This included trust falls and straight punches close to the face to ‘build trust’.

We then watched our director and screenwriter go through the fight scenes that they had choreographed together.

Which we later replicated their actions and blocked out the movements. However, I was made aware that in the first fight scene, I would have to fall to the floor.

As I knew this scene would be filmed outside, I suggested if there maybe other alternative solutions than me lying on the ground. However, my director was insistent that we could make it work despite being outside, so I trusted their opinion and vision.

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Around mid week we began filming outside in Peel Park. I blocked out my shots and I listened and liaised with my director for notes and ideas for each one. After a few hours, the weather was gruelling.

Conditions outside were horrendous, and even with blankets and hot drinks, the temperature was near unbearable.

As my characters outfit was in tights, a skirt and a thin coat, it became extremely difficult to ignore. However, throughout filming I persevered as much as I could, as everyone was freezing on set and moral in the group was low.

I personally wanted to get as much done as possible to keep the shoot moving.

However, we only managed to get a few shots that the director was happy with.

This meant that we had to come back for the fight scene the day after and try to film as much as we could to finish the scene.

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For the second day of filming the fight scene, the weather was not on our side, yet again.

Thankfully, this day we managed to get straight into filming as it was so cold, that everyone collectively agreed to make a swift start.

I continued to ask my director for notes and communicate with the camera crew to ensure I was hitting my marks and if they wanted to me to do anything in particular for each shot.

Between takes, myself and Jake would try our best to keep as warm as we could. We often huddled up together and I would warm his hands, as he could not wear gloves for the scene. If Jake was down, I would do my best to build his spirit and he would do the same in return, as it was a tough night of filming.

But unfortunately after only around two hours it began to snow. We regrouped and powered down the equipment, for around 20 minutes. There was no sign of it stopping but our director was unsure about calling it a night. Finally, after much deliberation we collectively decided that enough was enough, and we left the scene unfinished.

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At the end of week two, we started filming at our third location. Which included scenes where I was waking up unsure of the events from the night before.

Essentially, it is this point in my characters story arch that her life changes drastically.

As I had spoke previously with my director and scriptwriter about with the significance and meaning could mean for the story as a whole, I came to the conclusion that transitioning and turning into a vampire is more of a metaphor for a life changing incident. Despite this, I did not want to make any of my actions feel false or overplayed for the camera.

‘The camera will pick up the slightest hint of showing the audience what you are thinking. It really is like being under a microscope’. (Churcher, 2003, p.4)

Because of this I tried to use my own experiences and imagination to express this on screen. So that it felt more realistic and natural. I knew that I did not need to go overboard and that slight decisions in my acting would be noticed on screen.

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At the start of the week we finished off any scenes and shots from the cafe, which meant that I needed to look back on any reference pictures and make sure I used the same products to create the same makeup result, from the week prior.

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This week for me, being on hair and makeup was a huge task.

I knew I needed to be really organised and thorough. Particular with mine and Jake’s makeup look.

As I knew the type of looks that my director had intended for me to wear during the dinner scenes were not the easiest to complete.

However, the makeup represents the new side of Veronica that she has now chosen to embrace, and so I knew it had to be right.

'Being patient and tactful under stressful conditions, yet showing enthusiasm for even the most routine work.' (Musgrove, 2003, p.18)

As I mentioned previously, my look was heavily inspired by new wave artists in the 80s which was the aesthetic that my director had opted for. As a result my makeup became a mash of gothic and new wave styles.

I created a paler base for my foundation than in the scenes where Veronica is transitioning into a vampire. Once again, I opted to hollow my cheekbones with cool toned eyeshadows and I used the same shades to create a dramatic eye look.

For my eye makeup I created a bit wing and added some plumb tones to my lid to complete the look along with a purple plumb lipstick to tie in together. I wanted her look to be bold as she has a new personality and a new found confidence in herself.

For these scenes I thought the best way to show off the new makeup and emulate the idea that I had made an effort for the dinner, I decided to slick back my hair into a long half up half down ponytail.

This way the audience would fully see the makeup and digest that my Veronica did not want to hide this new confidence.

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A closer look at my hair and makeup.

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I also made sure to accurately depict the bite marks that would not be fresh anymore, even under the scarf I wore in the scenes, in case the scarf moved and it was obvious that there was no marks.

I made these bite marks more bruised and more of an older wound.

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Along with my makeup being very detailed I knew that I wanted to add some small extra details to Jake’s. As this time he enters Laura’s home and he is hungry for food. Therefore, I added some small, blue veins across parts of his face. I think this added a new aspect to his makeup and gave the appearance of an ancient being.

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Another detail that I included, was the slash on ‘The Strangers’ face.

This time instead of being an open wound I replicated the same shape but attempted to make it look slightly less fresh. I did add a touch fake blood just to create more dimension in the wound, but not so much that it looked exactly how it did the week before.

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Here I am styling Jake’s hair.

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For Tia, I asked her to come in with her hair down to save time instead of me straightening it for her, considering I had two big makeup looks to complete. I did slick her hair with some hairspray and other products to ensure that it would stay in place throughout filming.

As for her makeup, I created a similar base as the one in the cafe scene; using the same blusher, bronzer, concealer and foundation. However, this time I added a small wing to her eyes and some glitter on her lids to show that she had dressed up for the occasion.

I also added some lip liner and lip gloss to finish off her look

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During the fight scene, Veronica bangs her head onto the table. Therefore I had to create an open wound, that looked realistic. I used the same techniques with all of my other special effects makeup in the film and dabbed some fake blood and shadows onto the table cloth.

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for the rest of the week I continued to recreate the same looks I had done for the diner scenes for each character, ensuring all the correct products were used and referring back to pictures.

However, at the end of the week I needed to recreate my transitioning look as we were finishing the scenes in the third location that we did not manage to shoot.

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At the end of the week we shot the scene with Veronica and Alex. This meant that I created a look for Lucy which tied into her character and her outfit. I created a natural base for Lucy with foundation and some bronzer, I then added blusher and eye shadow to complete her look. Unfortunately, I did not capture a picture as we were rushed for time this day.

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At the start of the week, I went over any of my lines from the cafe scene to refresh my memory and make sure that I was fully prepared, since I had done a lot in between the filming of those scenes.

In the mid week I filmed the dinner scene and the fight scene between ‘The Stranger’ and Veronica.

This was a very challenging couple of days, as there was so much to film.

To flesh out my performance as best as I could, I would go over my lines in between takes and communicate as much as I could with the director and screen writer. For the dinner scene I wanted to portray Veronica as excited but apprehensive as she is still trying to hide the fact that she is a vampire. In these scenes there is so much at stake for her and her life. If Laura found out, then their relationship could be over. So with my body language and inflections in my voice, I tried to convey those feelings of anxiety.

However, referring back to the fact that I wanted Veronica to be excitable too, since they are celebrating their three year anniversary, and another layer and dimension to Veronica is that she is finally embracing the gothic side of her life. So I wanted to play her as comfortable as I could and with a new energy to her.

'Acting is not about having 'a bag of tricks' but about learning to remove the protective blocks that inhibit our natural responses. And then combining that childlike instinct with an adult sensibility and focus. It is about trusting the simplicity of an inner truth'. (Churcher, 2003, p.8)

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For the fight scene, I knew that I had to keep my energy levels up so that it would look believable on camera.

I used breathing techniques just before action was called, so that my breath would be fast and heavy, to emulate fear and panic. I would hold my breath and then quickly take short static breaths in, so that I had a build up of tension that would translate for the audience.

I was also aware that Veronica would be gravely concerned for Laura’s life, and there needed to be elements of emotion throughout my performance in this scene, to convey the love and despair Veronica feels. Off camera I would take a moment for myself, and gather my thoughts. Sometimes drawing on my own memories and experiences. I also used music as a big influence on me, through these emotionally heavy scenes. If I needed to, I would go somewhere private and play songs that help me feel raw emotion, to put me in the mindset of the character.

I found this to be a really useful technique throughout the duration of filming, especially when the set is busy and difficult conditions to switch into a different mindset.

During the fight scene itself, I used the same breath techniques and honed in on my voice to really convey a sense of urgency and the struggle that Veronica is currently in. Before every take I really tried to focus and gather my thoughts, often telling myself “this is actually happening” to hopefully make my performance believable. My worry was that as I hadn’t had much experience with stunt fights or scenes of this nature before, and so I was concerned that I would not give a truthful performance. Therefore, I was mindful of using all of these techniques to aid my performance.

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At the end of the week, we shot the proposal scene. In this particular instance I had to go from being completely heart broken and thinking Veronica’s relationship with Laura was completely lost, to being absolutely elated with joy and certain about my future with her.

For the first half of the scene, I would often think about sad experiences and losses in my personal life. There were times on set that I did ask for quiet to try and help guide me to that feeling. This was proving to be very difficult, as time was of the essence and when asking for notes from my director I received such notes as ‘be sad’ or ‘come in and cry’. Which, I felt at the time actually put more pressure on me. It was a full set that day and I struggled to convey those feelings with everyone watching and little inspiration or motivation with the notes given. However, we managed to film the first half successfully and move on to the second half.

Of course as I knew how the scene played out, I unfortunately, lost the element of shock and surprise when Laura does propose. Therefore, in order to convey the feeling I held my breath at parts during her monologue and made sure to keep strong eye contact with Tia. I feel that this really helped to engage us both with the scene and each other. So that our character’s relationship portrayed well with the audience.

When Laura eventually gets down on one knee to propose, I tried my best to convey the feelings of complete disbelief and delight within Veronica’s eyes.

I also used my breath to create the sense that Veronica was overwhelmed and overcome with emotion.

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On the Friday we shot the scene with Veronica and Alex. This was a short scene where I had to walk up and have some internal thoughts about wanting to bite Alex. To portray this to the best of my ability, I put myself in the characters head space. Knowing that it is wrong to have these feelings and urges, yet being so insatiably hungry.

I wanted to convey that it was like a primal desire and need. But that her conscious pulls her away. This in turn would frighten Veronica if she now did not know how to contain this new instinct. Therefore, I felt that there needed to be a sadness and a shame conveyed in my eyes. As I personally felt that this made the most sense for my character.

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Since we did not manage to film the whole of the first fight scene in Peel Park, we had to come back the following week and shoot the rest then.

By this point the hair and makeup was second nature and I got started on my normal routine with Jake and myself.

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Filming the rest of the first fight scene, yet again, was not easy.

Despite having tried to film this scene twice before, the set was definitely not an organised one. Myself and Jake were left to our own devices for the scene and we’re often not promoted about what the shots entailed. This made it difficult to perform adequately and to communicate with the director felt more of task.

The weather conditions were freezing again, and after a short period of time it started to rain, which did not stop for the entirety of filming the scene. As I have previously mentioned, the first fight scene includes me lying down on the ground. Which I was definitely not comfortable doing, especially not with adverse weather conditions. Unfortunately, after voicing my concern, I was overlooked by my director and was later encouraged to lie on the path.

However, my director did not ask me if I was okay with this or consult me. Instead, my director lay a coat on the ground in front of everyone, and I felt obliged to follow through with something I was not comfortable with. My clothes were sodden and I was shivering all over.

Shortly after we wrapped early due to this situation and my time on the film was finished, with only a few members of the crew and cast thanking me for my work and time.

Despite this ending to my time on the film I do feel as though my contribution throughout has made a difference and I am happy to have had the opportunity.

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'Acting is not about having 'a bag of tricks' but about learning to remove the protective blocks that inhibit our natural responses. And then combining that childlike instinct with an adult sensibility and focus. It is about trusting the simplicity of an inner truth'. Churcher, Mel. (2003). Acting for film: truth 24 times a second. Virgin.

'For most actors, a film part is a rare and prized opportunity. All the more reason, then, to be prepared when you do have the chance to work on a movie.' Churcher, Mel. (2003). Acting for film: truth 24 times a second. Virgin.

‘The camera will pick up the slightest hint of showing the audience what you are thinking. It really is like being under a microscope’. Churcher, Mel. (2003). Acting for film: truth 24 times a second. Virgin

'Being patient and tactful under stressful conditions, yet showing enthusiasm for even the most routine work.' Musgrove, Jan. (2003). Make - up, hair and costume for film and television. Focal.

‘Being part of a production team also means liaising with others. First the director will have ideas on how the makeup, hair and costume should look. Then the artist may have strong views. Along the way, others, for example the lighting director, may have problems that must be considered’. Musgrove, Jan. (2003). Make - up, hair and costume for film and television. Focal.

'Make - up, hair and wardrobe are service departments, their aim being to help create pictures that are pleasing to the eye, or to help create an impression or atmosphere that is correct for the production needs.' Musgrove, Jan. (2003). Make - up, hair and costume for film and television. Focal.