Saturday 20 July 2013

Always an illusion

When booked on a modelling job there is always an element of surprise and mystery. I never quite know what it is that I'm walking in to when I arrive at the job. Sometimes we are pre-warned by our bookers beforehand but for the most-part a lot, of information just is not communicated until the very last minute. A lot of sometimes painstaking planning and preparation goes into the pre-shoot work, so I suspect that this lack of communication on my part is due to the fact that as the model, we are ranked as the 'least important' person on set; we perform as we are directed and therefore we have no creative input either on or off set. We do what is asked of us - nothing more and nothing less. So it's no surprise that we should arrive unaware of what's ahead. In fact, I've grown to quite embrace the inevitable spontaneity and mystery rather than fight it. The world is constantly moving and changing - nothing ever remains the same, so why must our life remain static when the word continues to spin? However, we may be the least important creatively, but we are most definitely a vital person on the job. Without the model, would a shoot really take place?

The 'odd' things I've been asked to do/wear/be could combine to create quite an entertaining list of requests. These are things that the agency have checked out beforehand or just things that have been introduced there and then on set. I sometimes wonder if clients might think that models are super-human beings; not part of the collective human race, but part of another invincible and untouchable race completely. I don't like to be the bearer of bad news.. But we are human beings, just like every other person in this world. Nevertheless, I have indeed been requested to do many strange and wonderful things... Underwater, 'pretend' to be underwater, in fact, 'pretend' to act out many odd and unusual scenes... work with ravens, snakes, dogs, alpacas, shoot up a mountain, in ice, in snow,  under bridges, in cars, in pools, on roof-tops, old deserted buildings with no roofs covered in either dead pigeons or pigeon poop, (I DID love this one though...!) many uncountable public locations. Odd times, odd locations, odd, strange, and wonderful people... I could write for days on end the stories I've collected. But the point of this post was to document Thurday's happenings. I was warned by my booker that I would be on a trampoline for this job. Great, I thought.. Great exercise, I can use a trampoline.. This will be OK. I arrived on set to find a crash mat and boxes of various heights for me to throw myself off whilst dressed in different outfits. FYI, crash mats are not as soft and lovely to land on as my 15 year old high school self remembers them in PE high jump athletics lessons! No complaining here, but it was most definitely a challenging day, and I am without a doubt suffering from whip lash in my neck and many bruises over my body today.

Oh, the glamorous life is never quite what it seems. Always an illusion



No comments:

Post a Comment