Wednesday 31 March 2010

On The Set - Rimmel Makeup



Finally revealed is the commercial I worked on last October, for Rimmel London, "get the london look" who's fabulous new spokeswomen are Georgia May Jagger and Coco Rocha. I had the honor and privelege of working with miss Jagger, and had the joy of her signing the British Vogue that came out that same month with her on the cover (of which she delightfully said was the first autograph she had ever been asked to sign!!). It was delightful to be on set, and Georgia could command a complete silence of about 50 odd people when she walked into the room from makeup. Young, beautiful and perfectly what Rimmel is all about.




Linked on this page half way down is the "the making of video" , behind the scenes for both scenes in the arcade, and the internal tunnel which were both giant sets completely created from nothing. http://www.rimmellondon.com/UK/OurFace/OurModelLooks.aspx?look=125

It was an amazing experience to watch over two days a white set the size of which could hold a small ship, to be transformed into a working arcade, and visually identical tube station. Between takes we actually were encouraged to play into the games which worked incase of need for background models (which didn't happen sadly!) In the behind the scenes you can see the first glimpses of the motorcycles and Georgia trying to hit the line, "get the london look" camera straight on, hair flowing. Amazing to view, amazing to help with !

My job on set was to light the fabulous motorcycles, which were made to resemble arcarde games. The whole concept of the commercial was the girls "racing to the finish line" between Georgia and another up and coming beauty, Flip (her name) . The two girls started with a walk off, and then hopped on the 15 000 £ motor bikes to then race on. My job was to install the side lighting and game lighting to give the very masculine realistic motorcycle, a playful simulated look. The lighting used was color change LED nodes on sticky tape, which was attached and followed the lines of the motorcycle. Linked wirelessly to a controller I was onset for two days playing with the flashing colors which went from a static pinkish purple, to then flash through blue, red , green and yellow.




An amazing learning adventure, and totally professional cast and crew, and a lovely new cover model Georgia May Jagger for Rimmel London.


Links to the cover of Georgia - British Vogue November 09 - http://models.com/work/british-vogue-british-vogue-november-cover/12984

Link to Coco Rocha fab site - http://www.coco-rocha.com/
Link again to the commercial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c0ym7JzVfE&feature=related

Rendered Images of motorcycles by Morgan Kennedy and thanks to everyone on set ! Fantastic


Jeffrey xx

Saturday 13 March 2010

Gabby Young - Set and Costume Design



Another adventure for Jeffrey Michael Design in a new partnership with Gabby Young, and her fantastic musical creation, Gabby Young and Other Animals. From a chance meeting in the Miss Kiki Salon debut party for a line of beautiful scarves (at the Reading Room) last February came a sequence of meet-ups and discussions over the fashion week festivities. Before hearing Gabby perform in person for the very first time that evening, Gabby had spoken with me and requested some lovely lamps that she had seen in a beautiful photograph and the chance to work together on future set design and costume design. Over the next few days of catwalked venues and afterpartys we forged a new friendship and a beautiful new vision for the upcoming show at the Bloosmburry Ballroom that cullminated in a very rich and rewarding design experience.






The set concieved originally on a cocktail napkin over a quick brainstorm featured Gabby through a lovely frame for her to play and dance within. The stage was to be draped with hanging feature lighting all around her and the band like cave stalagmites. Mixed in with beautiful ambient colored lighting (purple and magenta) that the stage had been set with, the event went off without a hitch. The melencholy beauty of Gabby`s voice evoked something haunting and pointed in the center of the stomach as she danced through melody and songs .


Utilizing a full band, including horns, accordian, guitar, and drums, her sounds evokes something of a soft jazz, mixed with great upbeat harmonys. A bit of a mixture in my mind of several of my favorite artists (Feist, Amy Whinehouse, Florence and the Machines), there is something unique and new about Gabby`s sound and collection of animals. Her heart and soul come out with each song, and the enjoyment is clearly readable within each passing moment of her onstage. With many thanks and shout outs, the sets went too quickly for my likes and we were quickly into the final part of the evening.


Afterwards Gabby graced the ballroom for mingling in the Fire Necklace. Worn in a new and unique way with the beautiful dress made by Salon Gabrielle, and married with beautiful hair extensions in glowing red, it was if the entire outfit was completely made from one glowing ember. Photographer Andrew Harvey was onhand that evening to capture the mischief and mahem of the animals, as well as the creative stalls that were surrounding the outside of the dance floor. Jeffrey Michael Design displayed some of the Spring Summer 2010 lamp collection, that was also on stage as featured lighting.



Finally the evening closed with Gabby, Andrew and myself in a tiny corner hallway, of which we found the most beautiful area for photos of the Fire Neckpiece. (top two photos) Against the soft purples and blues of the stage streaming through antique glass, Gabby crouched down a small set of side stage stairs and put on a tremendous face after such an amazing set on stage. Tired, and almost last in the house, we captured some of my favorite images to date. Thanks to everyone who was involved in making this a night to remember, including Brett (Gabby`s manager), Miss Kiki (for the stalls and amazing dress), the band, and the amazing people at the Bloomsburry Ballroom who helped me get everything together onstage. Looking forward to several opportunities in the summer that have come from this including several stages at a huge 5000 person music festival, of which Gabby will also be playing :) !!


Jeffrey xx
http://www.gabbyyoungandotheranimals.com/ - the official website for Gabby
http://www.misskikisalonpresents.co.uk/ - salon gabrielle

http://blog.arharvey.com/2010/03/gabby-young-and-other-animals.html - photos of the set and light up neckpiece worn by Gabby taken by Andrew Harvey
www.youtube.com/pascalgregoire - the event in video :) !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxcV2lz9jTg&feature=related - my favorite song official video :) ! - Gabby Young and Other Animals - "We're All in This Together" Official Music Video *HD*

http://www.smvblog.com/nonita/?p=5618So - interview and background of Gabby

http://www.myspace.com/gabbyyoung - what band is complete without the myspace !! (sample the music! love love all in this together :) ! )
The garment and headpiece are from the Salon Gabrielle collection, designed especially for Gabby Young by the Miss Kiki Salon Presents artists collective. The headpieces is by UglyLovely , go check it out !! © Sofia Kalaitzidi, Kundalini Arts and Robert Burton. Live lighting design and programming by Marie Sanders.

Wednesday 10 March 2010

300 Friends - Set and Lighting Design





An amazing debut for Jeffrey Michael Design, creating the Set and Lighting Design for 300 Friends, a play by Sarah Elaine Stewart. An up and coming director with a talent for creating moving and resenating moments, Sarah has her own theatre company which claims space at this site here : http://www.whitespacetheatre.com/ We met several months ago quite by chance through friends and began upon a journey that resulted in a very well acted and performed play. The play debuted at the Albany Theatre from the 3 - 5 of March, and was very acclaimed by audience members, some saying after that the play that it`captured a character that came from their own life`, and that `appealed to their own questions about the insanity of the day to day`.







The screens for the set design were created in a similar method to my lamp making process. They were important to the play as they embodied the idea of absent authority and static in the scene, used in a way physically that in combination with spot lighting demarked rooms on a set. At points the characters interacted in a central living room space, and at other times had conversation alone and together in their own rooms. Each space overlapped and therefore the set had to be cleverly able to adapt to each charcters feeling and mood for the lines performed. A very key set piece that I had imagined from the beginning was a moveable chandelier which is almost a main character in the play. Its main use is to motivate the plot forward and to challenge all the characters. The chandelier began in the play lowered near the ground and broken, promting the household to have to fix it. Through this broken experience it reveal`s each characters dreams, hopes, anxt, and troubles in how they do or don`t attempt to fix the lamp. At points in the play characters lift the chandelier, play with it, fight with it, and finally at a pivotol climax, raise the lamp up after fixing it, symbolizing freedom and clarity.














An amazing journey and a really beautiful venue. The play has been covered by many blogs and write ups and here are just a few of them. Thank you to all the actors, Sarah Elaine Stewart (the fab director) Lauren (amazing costumes), Tom (fab soundtrack) Susan (for keeping us organized) and to Andrew Harvey ( http://arharvey.com/ ) for amazing photos that we could only begin to dream of :) ! Thank you to Andrew who took time out of his schedule to come be on set for a day with us to capture these moments during our final rehersals.



The publicity :


http://blog.arharvey.com/2010/03/300-friends.html - andrew harvey blog (set and actor shots)


http://www.300friends.co.uk/ - 300 friends blog (photos, write ups)


http://www.whitespacetheatre.com/page6.htm - the whitespace theatre (blog and photos)


http://soundcloud.com/disapia/300-friends-music - links to the music of the play created specifically for the moments and magic of our actors and set (truly amazing)


http://annaiceland.blogspot.com/ - behind the scenes and event photos at play