Hair, Make-up and costume Analysis

 Hair, Makeup and costume Research

Hair & Makeup

 As a production manager it is my role of getting the hair, makeup and clothing sorted for all members of the group, therefore I have looked at some recognised artists/bands such as “The Pussycat Dolls”, “Destiny’s Child” and “Alexandra Burke” to inspire me. The reason I have looked at these specific artists is because they fit into the same genre as the band I am working with “Crystal Blaque”. Each of these artists and groups produce both RNB and Pop music like Crystal Blaque. So I have had a look at various music videos from these artists to gain some knowledge on what kind of style and look these artists’ needs to fit in with the genre (RNB/POP) in this area of my research I have looked closely at hair and makeup. You may have noticed how I have chosen black artists to study,the reason I have purposely done this is because all members of my band are black so it makes more sense to do  research in the kind of makeup and style they go for rather that what a band of white singers may go for as it may vary. Also the colours of hair and makeup may also differ. I have added screen shots of some videos off YouTube for me to analyse.

Here one of the members from destiny’s child is wearing brighter makeup. She has blue eye shadow and her eyes are defined using eyeliner and mascara. The makeup also goes with her blue top and necklace. Her hair is also blue. I think the blue compliments her complexion. She has also used a shade of brown lipstick to give off the “Sexy look” as well as wearing a low cut top to show cleavage. She has short hair contradicting the “sexy look” making her seem more elegant.  A pro of this type of look is that it gives off a sexy but elegant and sophisticated look making record labels take more notice as it offers both characteristics in one look. However a con of this type of look is that there is too much of one colour making the scene a bit boring.

Here Beyonce has gone for the more natural look. She looks like she is wearing shimmer to emphasise her complexion. She has outlined her eyes drawing the audience attention. She is wearing her hair down. Half the hair is pulled out of her face given the audience more exposure to her face. She too is wearing a little bit of natural lip gloss. This whole look I personally think is given off the “innocent look”. A Pro of this look is that it is natural and gives off a good message to the audience that you don’t need a lot of makeup to look pretty. However a con of this type of style is that it doesn’t stand out well on the camera and you tend to forget what the main focus is as this look blends in well with the background colour.

This is Nikki Minaj, another artist in Crystal Blaques genre however unlike the previous two artists she normally goes to extreme levels with her makeup and style making it as outrageous as possible. Here as you can see she is wearing red lipstick. Red lipstick has connotations of sexiness, luck, passion and anger. These connotations help us build up characteristics of the artist and give off a false impression. She also has jet black hair making her facial features stand out more.  A pro of this style is that it is not “too much” and she only wearing red lipstick to bring her out rather that bright eye shadows and hair. Here is has gone more nearer to the natural look. This look also relates to all ages ceating a larger target audience which means bigger sales. On this specific look I don’t think there are any cons in my opinion. This is my favourite look.

Here is another print screen shot of Nikki Minaj. Here she has blonde hair giving of the idea that she may lack intelligence or be less sophisticated. She is wearing pink Barbie like lipstick giving of connotations of devious , love and romance. She is wearing black sunglasses to hide her eyes this may be to draw more attention to her other features rather than her eyes.  A pro of this type of makeup and hair style is that it will stand out on camera and draw the audience’s attention. It also in a way makes her different to other artists. However a Con of this type if makeup and hair is that potential record labels may not take her look seriously as it’s not really presentable and maybe will only target the younger generation which result in fewer sales.

Clothing



Here Beyonce has gone for the “sexy look”. She has worn a short belly top to show off her figure which attracts the male audience. She is also wearing a tight fitted tank top to show off her “assets”. She is then wearing tight fitted jeans shaping the bottom half of her body. A pro of this outfit is that it is “figure hugging” which attracts the male audience making the audience more diverse. On the other hand it could be a bit intimidating for the female audience as they may feel self conscious and may not be happy with their body so may affect their confidence. In addition to this it portrays women as being “sexual objects” which the media such as music videos are good at doing.

This outfit is still sexy but not showing too much flesh, it is also tight fitted to show off her figure. This type of outfit is good for attracting both female and male audience’s as its showing enough to attract males but not enough to make a woman feel uncomfortable or unconfident about herself. The type of clothing Alexandra Burke is wearing here relates to the lyrics within the video as most of the video is based on a sports ground she is wearing something to fit in with the set but at the same time putting her own sexy look to it. The colour of the outfit also fits her complexion well not making her seem as if she has gone over the top with the outfit. This outfit also allows her to move around freely within the music video so restriction is not an issue as this could make her seem stiff. One pro of this type of outfit is that it is nicely fitted but at the same time not revealing too much. However one con of this outfit is that it doesn’t really make her stand out as the main subject of the music video.

Here is a three shot of the singers from “Destiny’s child”, I have chosen to study this shot as it has three members of the band just like my band “Crystal Blaque” this allows me to analyse how production designers cloth the members of a band to all fit in with one another and show they are all members of one team. Here all the band members are wearing white this makes them all as equal as each other as they are all dressed the same unlike if one person was dressed in another colour and wore heels to show status you would think that individual is the main group member. So this look creates equal status. The colour white normally represents innocence and purity this may shine a positive light on the band. They are also well covered meaning they are breaking the norms of women being seen as “sexual objects” in music videos. However I have to take into account that this band are quite old now so the style of the clothing may differ to what girls in music videos may wear today.  Pro of this style is that they are breaking the normality of how the media constructs women and a con would be that the outfit is a bit plain and boring.

This is a mid- close up shot of Alexandra Burke. Here she has gone for the more stylish elegant look. What I like about this outfit is that it is really classy and elegant due to the style and colour however at the same time it is also sexy but not showing off too much. This type of look in my opinion will attract all types of audience as it is a universal look. This is my favourite look and may take this into consideration and use it on my own band members.

This is a three shot of some of the members from the “Pussycat dolls” a POP/RNB band in America. Here the clothing is more urban and street fashion. It doesn’t seem as if they have been dressed up by professional designers it seems as if they chose their own clothes on their behalf and went for the care free look. This sort of outfit creates a fun care free music video as it seems the members never went too far extents to look like pop stars or these fabulous style icons. I also think this type of look would attract more females from the young teenage to young adult population as this look would more likely apply to them. By going for this look it feels as if the members of the band just wanted to have fun with the music video rather than worrying about looking good. The outfits are also really casual, it also fits in with the background of the set (graffiti) creating a young careless rebel look. One pro of this type of clothing is that it is fun and you don’t feel downgraded by the clothing as anyone can dress like this. However a con of this type of clothing is that it is not really stylish for a music video although it does fit with the context and genre of the song.