Maleficent

Finally I got to see Maleficent in 3D and found it shocking, loveable and inspiring. I wanted to begin this post by telling you how refreshing it was to find a movie with a strong female hero. Maleficent is a far stretch from the comforting original and its archaic reliance on a man to save the day. It shows one woman’s both physical and mental struggle in overcoming betrayal in love to become the hero in many different ways.

I found myself empathising with Maleficent (Angelina Jolie), through both the darker times and in her ability to defeat the demons within herself. I felt an element of justice was served and although ultimately the film did end happily (it is PG after all) I found it a more fulfilling happiness, one that makes sense. Rather than leaving the theatre dreaming of ‘prince charming’ coming along to make everything better, I felt it connotes a feeling of ‘you can do anything you put your mind to’, ‘don’t let people get you down’ and ‘stay true to yourself’. In all, I feel this is a great film to show young girls as it provides an adult truth in a visually pleasing and relatively colloquial manner.

To the costumes… As you can probably tell I love anything fantastical or futuristic. Give me 3D, visual effects, lights, silhouettes and surround sound. I love it all. Her are some great screen shots of Maleficent in her iconic cloak with some amazing examples of the visual effects you will find in the film further on down the page.

In the beginning we meet Maleficent as a small child (Isobelle Molloy), innocent of the dangers and evil that lurks outside of the enchanted forest. Below are some of the mystical creatures and stunning enchanted forest.

 The Pheasant x

Share Your Talent

On the 22nd July 2010 the government funded 'find your talent' scheme came to an end. The scheme was to encourage teens to take an interest in culture. It gave them the chance to experience new and exciting things such as DJing, dance, VJ (video jockey), fashion, singing, MCing, break dancing (to name but a few). It also gave them the opportunity to perform at the SouthBank Centre.

(I do appreciate that I am THE worst photographer ever)

I was lucky enough to be chosen to design and make the costumes for the North Somerset performance which included a VJ, 2 DJs and 15 dancers. Who were the finale piece for this event!

Here are some of the snaps from the event....

I really enjoyed working on this project as it gave me many new challenges to overcome. Such as, designing and making costumes for nearly 20 teens. I had yet to work with so many people let alone teenagers, who are renowned for letting you know when they don't like something!

I felt that the costumes had to be distinctively boy and girls but there had to be a sense of unification between the group of dancers. Each of the outfits were different, to give a sense of personality to each of the dancers, DJs and VJs

I kept the base colours rather neutral - royal blues, grey and white. I then made sure that each outfit had some flashes of the neon yellow colour. I wanted to use a fabric that would make the movement and the dancers stand out. To create a more intense visual impact i also included flashes of reflective tape to really make the costumes 'pop' whilst they were on stage.

 We were also able to adapt the lighting to act as an ultraviolet light, making the yellow flashes glow throughout parts of the performance

Overall... I had a brilliant time, The trip to London felt like a holiday, we were well looked after which made the intense work load all the more worthwhile. Also i do love a challenge and i definitely got one here!