As you can imagine, magazines and films work very differently. As a makeup artist, these are two completely different worlds. I am Co-Director of creative beauty for VIM magazine (Michigan State’s fashion and beauty magazine). This means my co-director and I are in charge of making sure every photo shoot within the magazine has the perfect hair and makeup. It’s a very busy couple of weeks with one photo shoot after the other, getting everything ready for the launch of the magazine.

Recently, my co-director and I were given the opportunity to do hair and makeup on a film set. The pilot of the show “I’m With the Band” was shooting a big scene that entailed a lot of extras so there were many faces that needed makeup applied. After, we couldn’t help but notice how different it was to do makeup for magazine photo shoots and makeup for a film set.

Photo shoot

The photo shoots we do for VIM usually entail (at most) four models. At a minimum, we give ourselves two hours to prep the models, adding more time if there are more than two models or the makeup is more complex. Usually, we are in a studio where we can spread out our makeup brushes and other products so that we can see everything we’re working with. For the most part, it’s a pretty calm experience with lots of focus. We even did a makeup tutorial for YouTube and that was similar to photo shoots, with only one model and a big space to lay out all of our tools. The goal for photo shoots is to have as few people as possible to create less commotion. You want the photographer to be able to capture the models correctly and allow there to be clear communication between the stylist, models, and photographer.

Film

Just like photo shoots…..except it’s not. Other than putting makeup on people, everything about the film makeup is different. For starters, the atmosphere is different. There is a constant feeling of rush (except for when they call quiet on set). People are running around everywhere talking and yelling. Lighting fixtures and camera equipment are everywhere so you constantly have to watch your step. There is not a lot of space for us to nicely lay out all of our tools, we only had a small table and two chairs for all of our stuff and the extras to sit. The time crunch is the biggest struggle. We only had the time between scenes to do makeup. For the scene we did, there was a crowd of extras who needed makeup, so my co-director and I had a line of people waiting to get their makeup done and a small amount of time to finish everyone. Not only is speed very important, but you can’t give up the aspect of quality just to get everyone done in time.

It was a wonderful experience and I’m glad I was given the opportunity to experience both worlds. I now appreciate the hard work and creativity it takes to make both products come to life.