CONTEMPORARY CHARACTER COLLAGING...

Seema set us a task to take our historical final images of our Berlin character and add contemporary element to help us create our contemporary design. However a lot of us in class misinterpreted this task and instead printed out our chosen contemporary character and collaged over that. The mistake doesn't make a whole lot of difference as both outcome help us develop our contemporary designs further. The task did really help me consider make-up, outfit, accessories and props my future design was going to include. After creating these collages below I thought I may use a sailor/police hat to my contemporary EMCEE as the contrast of that with eccentric make-up and hair would really result in a daring look.

Seema's seminar - making a historical Cabaret character contemporary :

The look I created includes a sailor like hat, big, dramatic lashes, big, dark red lips, fur hanging off the shoulders, strong blue eye-shadow and an elegant earring. 

• The sailor hat: really captures the crazy club kid culture look as the dress up outfits they would wear would obviously not be for work/authoritative purposes but instead in a way made a joke out of them serious jobs and roles in life as there main occupation was to sleep all day and go out every night. The EMCEE is also always performing on stage as his job so the hat dress up look is easily added within his act.
• Over sized lashes: The big lashes were added to make his overall look for drag/dress up. Club kids costume and make-up designs were never boring and almost altered the face to be unrecognisable. I really think the over sized lashes give this effect as they can really transform the eye shape. I was considering putting the bigger lashes on the bottom of the eye as they would look more effective.
• Dark, big lips: The lips on this design are obviously not in proportion to the face as its a magazine cut out but I still think an extended lip line to create a bigger, fuller lip would be massively effective. After researching lip designs that were popular at that time the variation was massive. There was no wrong or right when it came to colour, exaggeration or shape.
•   Fur on shoulders: The fur added to the shoulders was an historical element I added so that the image didn't look to contemporary and unrealistic. Women were often seen wearing brown or black shades of fur to represent wealth and class.
• Strong blue eye-shadow: I added the blue eye shadow as a contemporary factor as it really stands out against the pale base I would include within my look. The EMCEE was a performer so I think his make-up should replicate a mask type look. The make-up look deliberately heavy for his stage character.
• Large, elegant earring:  The earring was included with the same thought process as the fur. It just gives the look an historical factor but also add to the theatrical, over the top drag look I'm inspiring to create.

I also created these two face chart in relation to my new contemporary character.

Both charts are not necessarily what I definitely want to include within my design but portray aspects I'm eager to trial and create. A lot of the images I've been researching include so much colour its difficult to choose where to put it or when to stop using it!