CONTEMPORARY EMCEE...

Contemporary EMCEE design...

I have briefly mentioned that I chose the EMCEE as my contemporary character. I think he's one of the most interesting people to focus on as his appearance can be quite easily adjusted due to his character. 

THE EMCEE: I chose the EMCEE as my contemporary character as I think he’s the perfect character to create a modern version of. The EMCEE is a small man that performs in the KitKat club. He is occasionally played by a woman but is often dressed in drag portraying over exaggerated make-up look, similar to a drag queen.

SCENE...

ACT ONE, SCENE THREE.

       Welcome to Berlin

             (EMCEE)

The train moves upstage and disappears as EMCEE crosses downstage in a spotlight. 
Upstage goes dark for scene change.

EMCEE: (spoke over music) Welcome to Berlin!

(Sung) Willkommen, bienvenue, Welcome!

Fremde etranger  , stranger.

Glucklich zu sehen, je suis enchante,

Happy to see you

Bleibe, reste, stay.
  Black out

I wasn't that sure on whether we had to pick a scene for our character this time like for our historical version as the contemporary character is obviously not actually in the script as it's our own creation. However I chose this scene for my version as I think any scene would suit the EMCEE. His scenes usually just show him performing on stage so any would be suitable for my character. This scene is towards the very beginning of the film which I think would make a big impact on the audience as it would be the first time they lay eyes on him and his outlandish look.

Mood-board:

Mixture of hair and make-up looks collected through research. Trying to incorporate  the 1920’s and 30’s hair was quite difficult in my opinion as there not really any limits when creating the contemporary character so sometimes you get a little carried away with how dramatic and exaggerated a look can be and forget that it still has to portray some historical factors. The EMCEE in particular has pretty outrageous stage make-up meaning a lot is possible with the make-up look to, creating a final look for both was defiantly difficult to narrow down.

Make-up inspiration:

Emphasis on the big lashes definitely on the bottom lash line. Feathers/fake lashes. Block out eyebrows and exaggerate over the top like top left image it really alters a expression of the face. The lip shape is what I was confident from the beginning going to severely outline lip way over lip line to really add that drag queen associated look plus this was commonly seen throughout my research on Leigh Bowery, characters in Party Monster, Drag queens, Club kids males.  The big lashes were also commonly seen on cabaret girls in the 1920’s and 30’s so including this on my design but using a different medium will still incorporate a historical factor to my work.

Hair inspiration:

Mixture of hair my final image. Quite diverse range off looks ranging from quite simple finger waves to a big crown like decoration of colourful, strings and shapes. I really wanted to attempt the image on the bottom right and create a crown like piece but I worry it may look to over the top with the over exaggerated make-up. However after trying to attempt how to create that look either using a synthetic wig or just accessories. I came across this popular knot 90’s hairstyle.  I know the look doesn't include 1920’s and 30’s hair references but my aim was to create a look like on the top right then incorporate kiss curls with some of the deliberately left hair. I also aim to add numerous colours to the knots so the hair doesn't look to bland compared to the make-up.