Well this was more fun than you could shake a stick at!

Last week I had to go to Illuma Studios to record some voice overs. (Those of you who have done voice overs etc might want to go file your nails or something, for the rest of you, its a kinda cool little behind the scenes deal…)

Illuma is a full service television studio. They shoot TV programs, commercials etc in there. They also have a completely fabulous makeup room.
I hadn’t been in the audio room there before, so it was fun getting to scope it out.

Behind me you can see the recording engineer, Jeff Ocheltree. He is sitting at the sound board, and that big window infront of him actually looks into the studio itself. That way the engineer can be watching the goings on on set while twirling all those fun dials.

The pinot colored squares behind my mike are tiles made of this absorbant stuff that stops my voice from bouncing off the walls. It feels really odd & porous. (I probably shouldn’t have been touching it, but couldn’t help myself.)

If I’d known there’d be pictures involved I would have done something about the hairdo…

Kelly Capelli and I had client meetings to go to immediately after this, so she came along with her camera and sat in, and we were able to head out afterwards together. And going anywhere with Kelly is always great fun!

I think this studio only does voice/speaking-type audio. I dont think they record music there. Could be wrong though…
There were big headphones for me to put on, but in all honesty, I find the sound of my own voice nauseating and would have been way too distracted.

I didn’t get my script until it was time to record it. Like most scripts it was being re-edited and re-written right up til the last minute. There wasn’t even time for a read through before we started tracking it.

I absolutely love doing things like this, but I don’t get to do them very often. I have an unusual accent, and that gets in the way of most voice opportunities. I don’t sound like other Kiwis, don’t sound like a Brit, don’t sound American. I just kinda sound like me. Which, for the most part precludes me from lots of advertising, and which also means lots of people dont necessarily understand me that well. Especially if I’m speaking fast. (so I mess with people at every opportunity!)

Anyway, here is Jeff hard at work. He has all kinds of cool stuff at his fingertips, and that screen that he’s looking at shows the audio patterns as I’m speaking. The green lines are my voice. Its cool watching him at work. His hands are flying all over that board doing things, and he’s not even looking at them.

I only read through the script about four times, then picked up key phrases and said them a few different ways, so that the client had some options. The whole thing was very quick.
I had my back to him, and couldn’t see if Jeff was paying attention or not, so I threw in some naughty words here and there just to keep him on his toes! haha! (of course he had to edit them out later).

Oh wow! Naughtier than I had originally thought…!
It was pretty cool watching the playback on the screen, and seeing the patterns that voices make when they’re just speaking.

Oh, and the t-shirt? I told you I’d end up wearing it a hundred times over!
I just love it. I got it from Elusive Cowgirl and it says: “Love Comes Without Warning”. Its got what looks like a tattoo heart on it and some bling too.
No doubt you’ll see it again soon – I’ve been wearing it to death.

I’ve got some cool stuff to tell you about this week, so make sure you keep checking in.

Hope you’re having a gorgeous day,

xo

C

Every so often I do makeup segments on various breakfast television shows. These segments tend to be under 3 minutes, and are really just a quick demo or chat about whats happening in the world of makeup and glamor. (the glamor part was something I just thought up – they really only want to know whats happening in makeup!)

To make it more fun, it means a 3 am or 4 am wake-up call, so you can be camera ready and get to the studio, or what ever location you’re shooting at before the morning program goes live.
That means some serious under eye drama and repair work!

Will and I were on breakfast TV this morning doing out thing, our on-air time being about 2 minutes. And believe me we worked those 2 minutes up one side and down the other! And, might I add, with his new goatee thing going on he looked devilishly handsome! But sadly ladies, he is completely unavailable to any of us!

I told twitter-world last week all about a breakfast shoot (as it was happening no less), and here are some behind the scenes stills. If you’re on twitter you can follow me @Corinnamakeup, or click on the icon over there on the right.

I never remember to think up what I’m going to say beforehand, and only realize it as the camera light goes on, so I’m always hoping I say something coherent…

Theres nothing quite like seeing yourself on camera to make you think all about the squats and lunges that you’ve been meaning to do, but haven’t quite gotten around to!

This one was all about trends in wedding makeup.
It was a fun shoot, as they normally are. If I can get any footage from youtube I’ll post it later this week.

Have a gorgeous day!

xo

C

I keep talking to you about the people I work with, but haven’t really introduced you yet.

I love that my career takes me to many different and exciting places, and I love that I am always doing something new and thrilling, but best of all I love the creative teams that in this line of work you wind up on.
When you are really lucky, and all the planets line up just right, you find yourself working as part of a super creative team of like minded souls. And when you get the right fit, you end up working over and over and over together.

So here is the absolute gorgeousness that is Will Zecco.

Will is the hair genius. Handsome buggar, isn’t he? We have worked together as the hair and makeup team for almost 7 years. Not all, but by far most clients book us together. And it is always, always great fun!
Will makes me laugh til I cry.
He also knows all the right things to say to a girl. You can be having one of those days where you look like hell in a handbasket, and Will will make you feel beautiful. And then he will round out your day with the raunchiest jokes you have ever heard in your life!
Everywhere we go people think we’re married, and I let them keep thinking it! (even though we actually bat on different teams…)
Life is definitely a lot more fun when Will is around.

Next up, meet Kelly Cappelli.

Kelly is the most amazing photographer ever!
She is from the Chicago area, and has a huge background in fashion. She has an unparalleled ability to paint stories with light and texture. I spend a lot of time standing behind her watching her shoot, and am always just bowled over by the images she comes up with. I am always wondering “how didn’t I see that?”
Our clients have the added benefit that she does a huge amount of very high profile image enhancement work. Very famous people – actors, rockstars, professional speakers, athletes etc come to Studio5 to Kelly to change their look or their public image. Its pretty wild. (I would name-drop like crazy at this point, but its always confidential. Its cool though – trust me on this one!)
She can take an average person and guide them in how to move their body, and tell stories with their eyes, and get the absolute best out of them!
And quite apart from being a genius, she has also become one of my very closest friends.

And this gorgeous young thing is Lea. We shoot with Lea an enormous amount. You’ve seen her picture on my blog before, and you will be seeing a whole lot more of her too.
Lea is a brilliant model – just amazing to work with! She is also a recording artist with huge things happening in the music biz. She will become a household name, no question about it, and you will be able to say “I knew her way back when…”

Here we are after one of my video makeup tutorials. That was a really hilarious day. We all got the giggles really badly, and wound up having to do about a million takes. In fact we wound up having to use a take with us bursting out laughing at the end!

Lea can be doing a really physically demanding, intense shoot, but she still breaks into song every few minutes. To hear her sing click here.

So now you know the crew.
If you see one of us in an airport, keep looking, because the rest wont be too far away! We are always all over the map.(you’ll know which one is me, I’ll be the one in the high heels…)

Hope you’re having a gorgeous day!

xo

C