The
Richmond Ham television commercial that I worked on was all about hair and skin for me...100% natural. We had one hero and quite a number of featured bit-parts and extras...everyone was practically naked, which meant good sunscreen, and no tan lines! My assistant and I also had to cover tattoos, and do quite a bit of rather risque hair trimming! And as you will see in the commercial, the cast all look superbly
au naturel.
For the underwater shots the hair extensions took quite a beating, but any pieces that threatened to fall out were quickly and easily re-attached with minimal fuss (my trick!).
If you thought sourcing an exact match to this model's hair at short notice was a feat...well then you obviously don't know about the flowers! Gosh, were they tricky!?! I was given a reference of real, natural, fresh cut flowers...which just wouldn't do for the continuity of a 3 day shoot...and an underwater scene. So I knew I had to look for faux...but do you have any idea how much time went into these to make them look as real as they do?!? Haha, not as much as I expected! Luckily my
Skin Illustrator paints worked like a charm, and I used some smudges of
greasepaint in places as well to dull down the fake colours and give the director the subtlety and delicate hint of colour, as per the reference.
What a challenge! and I enjoyed every moment...even the frantic driving around Paarden Eiland looking for just the right fake flowers...never mind asking my hair supplier to open shop after hours for a huge favour!!
Period work and character work are always so rewarding; in this commercial, however, we were inspired by
a painting...now if that ain't bliss, then I don't know what is!
