First mood board for Sally Bowles.

Actioning

From my scene the active verb i have come up with is 'too charm' as i feel even though Sally is quite forceful in the sense of she just struts in an announces she's moving in without asking Cliff, she does it in a charming, not offensive way.
I think to start transforming this into a make up and hair look i would initially think of something that would entice someone. So a striking bold eye, to catch someones attention. But the hair wouldn't be too much to overpower the make up, so some loose waves or curls.

Why does the character want it now, and what will happen if they don't?

Sally has just been thrown out by 'Max' The man she was sleeping/staying with that week. So this is why Sally has showed up un announced wanting to move in with a man she met for the first time the previous night.
There could be many consequences to Sally wanting to move in with a stranger. She is poetically putting herself at risk as she doesn't know nearly anything about him, so anything could happen to her. Especially with it being in Weimer Berlin, as crime and drugs were at a high, so it wasn't exactly a safe environment, women were at risk anyway without putting herself in added danger.
Another potential would have been Cliff saying no and not letting her stay and then Sally would have been left homeless.

What does the character want and why?

Sally's aim is to find somewhere to live. I think she picked Cliff because it was her easiest option as he seemed polite and reserved, where she has the more dominating personality she may have thought it would be easy for her to get her own way and move in as he is more timid. So she used her outspoken forcefulness to her advantage.
Sallys motivation for trying to move in is because Max has thrown her out, the man she was staying with the previous week.

Where have they just come from?

The scene before was at the Kit Kat Club, when Sally and Cliff had first met. Sally was performing beforehand and then met Cliff. It was also New Years eve, so the next day when they are at Cliffs, i can imagine Sally would be looking slightly hungover and feeling a bit worse for wear. However I'm not sure if she would have let this show much? I think she would still be wearing make up to cover up the way she feels and looks, but maybe her hair would be a little out of place.

When is it? What is the Season? Time of day?

It is January 1st and it is day time and they are in Cliffs room at Fraulen Schinders flat. They would be wearing winter clothes and it would have been cold. It states in the script that Sally is wearing her big fur coat.

Where is the character?

In act one- scene 5 they are in Cliffs room where Faulein Schneider rented him a flat. In the previous scenes Cliff refers to it as being too nice and ask for something cheaper so you get the impression that it is more that he was expecting even though the description says that the furnishings are 'ugly and ponderous, there was a bed, a table with two chairs, a armoire, a coat rack and behind a curtain a washstand.' So from this you can gather that Cliff isn't very well off if this was better than what he was able to afford. Cliff is portrayed to be, intelligent, pleasant looking and reserved, the complete opposite of Sally. She is described to be wearing a fur coat and smoking a cigarette as she walks in. So i instantly have a picture of her strutting through the door in a cruella devil style, very eccentric even with her entrance.

Act One- Scene 5

In this scene Cliff and Ernst are talking in Cliffs room and they are talking about girls and Ernst wants to take him out to show Cliff Berlin. Ernst offers him a way of making money by taking trips to Paris for him. Then Sally arrives at the door out of the blue wearing her fur coat smoking a cigarette. She greets everyone and announces she is staying, then negotiates a price with Ernst. Cliff however is unsure about it but Sally isn't having none of it and quickly changes the subject. She makes Cliff one of her famous Prairie Oysters and Sally mentions about Ernst smuggling money from Paris. They then go on to discuss Cliffs sexuality, and sing a song called Perfectly Marvellous. A Taxi arrives with all of Sally's belongings which she throws on the bed, Cliff is left feeling slightly dazed and confused as he only met this girl last night.

Who is the character.

I have chosen Sally Bowles as my character. She is a character from Isherwoods novel 'Goodbye to Berlin.' (1935 and 1939) She's a young 19 year old English women who came to Berlin to be a star and works as a performer in the Kit Kat Club. She doesn't care what people think about her, or what she says and is very flirtatious and outspoken with men. Sally Bowles continues to be adapted when the play 'I am a Camera' in 1951. The most famous adaptation of Sally was the film Cabaret 1972, where Liza Minnelli.

Sally Bowles in Cabaret. 

Isherwood described her to look like this:  'I noticed that her finger-nails were painted emerald green, a colour unfortunately chosen, for it called attention to her hands, which were much stained by cigarette smoking and as dirty as a little girl's. She was dark....Her face was long and thin, powdered dead white. She had very large brown eyes which should have been darker, to match her hair and the pencil she used for her eyebrows.'

The period that its set in was when Germany was after world war 1 when Adulf Hitler was on his accent to power, a period called Weimar berlin. This was time Berlin had a reputation for decadence. Prositution rose and almost became a normal way of living for many women and even men. STI's became more common too, so people did have a lot of money. Drugs and crime also increased alongside this at this time. Berlin also became famous for its errotic night entertainment venues, with the famous Anita Berber who was notoriously known for her drug use, eccentric and sexual behaviour. 
This helps really get a feel to what it was like in Berlin at that time and why Sally may have been like what she was. 

Marlene_Dietrich_in_The_Blue_Angel.png

Weimar Berlin, theatre and cinema

After the world war was lost, the weimar republic was created in an attempt to create the perfect democratic country. The weimar culture flourished during this time in regards to arts and science. Theatre in this time was also something that became bigger, producers such as Brecht and Weill, would try to add in propaganda to get the audience more involved and outspoken. This avant grade theatre was the most advanced in Europe at the time.

Cinema to begin with at the weimar berlin period just meant silent movies. However as things got more advance a film that was made in English and German was called The blue angel 1930 by Josef Von Sternberg, the plot is where a professor falls in love with a cabaret dancer and then his decent into madness. It was considered to be the first major German sound film. 

Colour symbolism

The scene i have chosen is, act one scene 5 and my character is Sally. Sally is definitely informed by the use of colour. In fashion and make up. Fashion and clothes wise, Sally is almost always seen wearing black along with another colour. So in the scene where she wears white, it completely changes her whole appearance, personality and character. She is seen more, soft, innocent, vulnerable. Where-as when she wears her usual attire of black, fur etc she is seen more of the character that she is trying to portray, rather than the softer side i feel she tries to hide a lot of the time. Make up wise, it feel the same, the harsher and darker the colours are the more you feel sallys character. 

Abstract Painting

Abstract Painting with aqua palette.

Today we were doing abstract painting on the face, using our aqua pallete. We had to use different kinds of brushes to test to see what different textures they gave and to build up different shapes on the face.

After doing it I realized how difficult I find doing something like this, as I doesn’t feel right just going for it and not really following a design. I found the eyebrow comb really good for creating texture with the colours.

Portrait Painting

Portrait painting with Supra Colour

Today we were shown two images by otto dix and asked to create it using our supra colour palletes. We started with the base, and were told not to worry about belnding or thickness.  L

ayered different colours on top of each other. We used our brushes and a sponge if we wanted to fade the colour. Supracolour is very easy to blend so no fingers.

I definitely found this week a lot easier as we were following a design.  I found supra colour easy to use alothough after a while It seems to move or run slightly.

Summer Project Link

http://lailahamidifindandseek.blogspot.co.uk

Introduction

After being given the brief in class for 'Goodbye to Berlin' i was interested to start my research as it is a period and topic that i do not know a lot about. I have never watched Cabaret or read the novel before. I am looking forward to beginning my research and developing my knowledge on this subject as a whole and gaining the right information to help my designs. I know it is a era that there is a lot of information on so i aim to get enough research done to inspire my final designs.
This blogs main focus will be on Caberet and the novel Goodbye to Berlin, by Christopher Isherwood. There is also a script called 'I am a Camera' directed by Jon Van Druten. This blog will follow my development throughout this project and show my final outcomes as i aim to create a character from the story then re-create a contemporary version.