The shoot
Wow...what a day. There's a lot to tell, but here's the reader's digest version.
I roll up last Sunday morning to a parking lot next to this artsy loft-complex in Venice, CA. There's an RV parked with some people hangin out that I figure are the crew for the shoot; I ask the small crowd if I'm at the right place and this guy casually says, "yup...there's breakfast in the trailer if you're hungry" before ignoring me again.
Umm...okay.
I go in and they've got 6 different kinds of breakfast burritos all ready to go (I didn't even know bfast burritos came in 6 different varieties). I make my selection and one bite in this girl comes from the back of the trailer and says, "when you're done come find me; I'll be doing your hair and makeup".
So after the tasty burrito I get seated in this chair so this girl can do my hair and makeup. I feel a little weird...you know...like when you get a hair cut? Are you suppposed to talk with the person or not? They're all up in your grill. I usually don't, but this girl seemed cool, so I start making conversation and we chat it up while she does my hair and makeup. Fabulous.
I hop off the chair and this other girl gives me a once-over, disappears to the back of the trailer, and brings back these designer clothes that I never would have picked out for myself (dudes actually wear jeans that tight?), but that looked pretty good on (if I don't say so myself).
It's about 9:45 now and I'm all ready to go, so I ask the producer where I should be.
"Oh just hang out...they probably won't need you for another hour".
An hour?! I grab my trusty Economist and sit down to wait.
Finally I'm needed...awesome. What do they want me to do? Oh, just sit in this chair over here and talk to this other model while they take pictures of us. Okay, I can handle that.
After 10 minutes, they're done with me, and it's more waiting till lunch time (catered, with dessert). After lunch they shoot me looking at a painting (mind you, I've also had a wardrobe change...oh, and every 5 seconds the hair/makeup lady comes to make sure my hair/makeup still "work"). Then I wait for another hour or two and then it's on to the "profiles": all eyes on me. As glamorous as it sounds, it was kinda weird. Eight-ish people working to make sure everything is perfect (photographer, lighting, set, makeup/hair, wardrobe, producer--and assistants), and everyone is looking at me while I'm being told to "smile! a little bigger! okay, you're an animal...you're an animal!!".
I hang around for another hour before someone comes to tell us (there were four of us that day) that we can go.
Key takeaways for me:
1) It's all business for the crew. They see actor/model types come, and they see them go. Also, it's okay if they talk inches away from you about you; we're just objects.
2) Models are waaay overpaid.
3) I wanna do it again.
I roll up last Sunday morning to a parking lot next to this artsy loft-complex in Venice, CA. There's an RV parked with some people hangin out that I figure are the crew for the shoot; I ask the small crowd if I'm at the right place and this guy casually says, "yup...there's breakfast in the trailer if you're hungry" before ignoring me again.
Umm...okay.
I go in and they've got 6 different kinds of breakfast burritos all ready to go (I didn't even know bfast burritos came in 6 different varieties). I make my selection and one bite in this girl comes from the back of the trailer and says, "when you're done come find me; I'll be doing your hair and makeup".
So after the tasty burrito I get seated in this chair so this girl can do my hair and makeup. I feel a little weird...you know...like when you get a hair cut? Are you suppposed to talk with the person or not? They're all up in your grill. I usually don't, but this girl seemed cool, so I start making conversation and we chat it up while she does my hair and makeup. Fabulous.
I hop off the chair and this other girl gives me a once-over, disappears to the back of the trailer, and brings back these designer clothes that I never would have picked out for myself (dudes actually wear jeans that tight?), but that looked pretty good on (if I don't say so myself).
It's about 9:45 now and I'm all ready to go, so I ask the producer where I should be.
"Oh just hang out...they probably won't need you for another hour".
An hour?! I grab my trusty Economist and sit down to wait.
Finally I'm needed...awesome. What do they want me to do? Oh, just sit in this chair over here and talk to this other model while they take pictures of us. Okay, I can handle that.
After 10 minutes, they're done with me, and it's more waiting till lunch time (catered, with dessert). After lunch they shoot me looking at a painting (mind you, I've also had a wardrobe change...oh, and every 5 seconds the hair/makeup lady comes to make sure my hair/makeup still "work"). Then I wait for another hour or two and then it's on to the "profiles": all eyes on me. As glamorous as it sounds, it was kinda weird. Eight-ish people working to make sure everything is perfect (photographer, lighting, set, makeup/hair, wardrobe, producer--and assistants), and everyone is looking at me while I'm being told to "smile! a little bigger! okay, you're an animal...you're an animal!!".
I hang around for another hour before someone comes to tell us (there were four of us that day) that we can go.
Key takeaways for me:
1) It's all business for the crew. They see actor/model types come, and they see them go. Also, it's okay if they talk inches away from you about you; we're just objects.
2) Models are waaay overpaid.
3) I wanna do it again.
posted by sundeep at 11:30 AM
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