StyLitch Chats With Creatives
Hi I'm Charlotte, owner of StyLitch. On my podcast I will be joined by creatives from various sides of the creative industry, to chat about how they got into their jobs, what hilarious encounters they've had, and what makes them tick. Instagram @stylitch_chatswithcreatives
StyLitch Chats With Creatives
S8, Ep 1: Valeria Medici - Prop painter and Scenic Artist
On today's episode, I chat to Valeria Medici.
Valeria is a prop painter and scenic artist, based in Northampton. We chat about how her journey has been peppered with luck, and how she gets to take the "ping" off props!
Find Valeria here:
Web: valeriamedici.com
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8126322/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
Insta: @valeriamedici90
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Instagram: @stylitch_chatswithcreatives / @stylitch
Hello and welcome to Stylish Chats with Creatives. Today on the podcast, I'm chatting to Valeria Medici. Medici, yes, yes, yay. You're based in Northampton and you're a prop painter and scenic artist and you paint props for films and do scenes for backdrops in theatres, which sounds amazing. How on earth did you get into this? Because this is a job I feel like everybody knows, somebody does, but it seems so niche it is.
Speaker 2:It's probably like most film jobs and theatre jobs you stumble into it and it is what it is. You know, you find yourself there and you say yes. So mostly when I was in Italy I was working in films, mostly in production. It was more productions, very independent films and such Um, and I always had an interest in art. So my education is all around art, fine art, drawings, paintings and things like that.
Speaker 2:Um, then I moved to the UK and I took a degree in fine art and after that, uh well, it was the year of the pandemic. I graduated. It was a bit of a mess, so I thought we'll see what works and I started sending CVs here and there, including films, and I got accepted by an independent production, small production in the set decoration, which is basically the tier designers of the films. They put furnitures and stuff in place and I started there and then it was a very, you know, tiny little thing and then from there I got referred and that's it.
Speaker 2:Basically, I was right time, right place and I had the luck to be accepted with the curriculum I had at the time and obviously you need to have a background in. You know the skills are needed. You can start as a trainee, but you need to have the skills required for the job, because it's not one, it's not this like this type of job, so you can go in with absolutely zero. You need to know how to hold brushes, mix paints and you know wash the different solvents uh, different paint with different solvents and such uh. But it's like absolutely every film job, you need to be at the right place in the right time and it's basically luck, to be honest, which is incredibly difficult to get in, but I was a lucky one that must have been so hard to finish your degree in the pandemic as well.
Speaker 2:Like insane yeah, consider that it was a practical degree, fine art. I had to produce work and the pandemic started when I was in my second year, which was the year where you basically start understanding and finalizing your art, your practice as such, and I was in a full discovery and the uni got shut and I had to stop my work, which was a mess, I mean, my work was difficult to produce in the house, so I stopped and I had to go completely another way. So my degree wasn't finished in my mind because I had to, you know, find another way to get to the end.
Speaker 2:Uh, yeah, I didn't feel like I wanted to pause or anything because I didn't know how long the pandemic was going to last for. So I thought let's take it out, you know, let's finish it up and we'll see later. I didn't even know if the art world was available or existing after the pandemic. So yeah, it was a little bit rough to navigate all of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it was rough for freelancers in the business as well, let alone when you're starting out in it or just finding your feet in another country in the same industry. I think that must have been hard as well and speak English.
Speaker 2:So it was. I spent the first few years to understand or learn a language and only after that I felt confident to get about with something similar or, you know, something closer to a film or the arts, and then I didn't find anything suitable because without a degree you can't. If you come from another country, it's exceptionally hard to be accepted in certain industries, like all right, you have NSVQs or qualification from another country, but we don't understand them, so basically they don't exist.
Speaker 1:That's so ridiculous, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm qualified as a restorer because I couldn't have a painting and furniture store and such, but because I didn't have the qualification from here, because I couldn't like a painting and furniture store and such, but because I didn't have the qualification from here, I couldn't do it. And I'm to take the degree. It was so expensive, I couldn't access to grants before, so I thought, yeah, well, wherever this is not gonna work, I'm gonna have to do, you know, normal job, retail and and all of that. So I did a few years of enslaved work, basically, and then I found my way into uni and that changed everything truly yeah.
Speaker 1:How did you find your fine art degree? Aside from the pandemic part, Did you enjoy it?
Speaker 2:I did enjoy it. It was different because I was a mature student and all the other people were really young compared to me, and that was a little bit. You know when people say, oh, I found my best mate in uni and we started our business together. I couldn't do it because I was literally the oldest one and one of the oldest ones and you know I wasn't. Yeah, we were friends, but I wasn't bonding in the same way the other did, which is fair, because you know I wasn't even expecting to see that.
Speaker 2:In the practical terms, it was not as hard as studying in Italy, because Italy degrees they kill you. Basically, you have to study PhD levels from the very beginning and so it's very demanding, very, very demanding, while here, yeah, it was tough For me. It was tough because I couldn't imagine, with a self-taught level of English, going into philosophical, academical writing. It was a bit hard, but, yeah, it was a super challenge and very inspiring and I kind of, you know, I came back to life after years of working in normal jobs and not touching even a pencil to draw because I didn't have any inspiration. So that was amazing, super inspiring. And then the pandemic hit and it was like back to nothing really, and so, yeah, but then, yeah, I had the luck to start in films and that was super.
Speaker 1:I think you're so right with the um luck in films as well. It's similar in the photography side. If you're in the right place at the right time with the right crew, yeah it, people just go. Are you available for in April, for three months for this job? You're available then and you feel like that's what's happened to you yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2:I mean, consider also that it is luck, but there is a resilience and perseverance in writing those emails, in doing those phone calls, that it's a job in itself. So imagine my normal day before getting accepted on this film. Meaning the whole summer I've sent hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of emails. I tried to, you know, find the people. It was already I didn't have any contact, like zero. So I went on IMDB and I tried to look for emails there or phone call phone numbers. I tried to source like the keys diary and the knowledge, and calling people out of the blue, receiving so many no's and so many oh, maybe that you know, you know what you get. Um, but then finally, when you receive a message back saying oh, actually, can we, can we sit down for an interview, you're like yes, of course. And also there were loads of interviews where I say interviews, but there were more chats where I didn't get the job in the end because simply, I didn't have enough qualifications or experience for that.
Speaker 2:And the people tend to be very clear in in if you get the job or not. There is not much fluff around it, which I appreciate. Um, but yeah, it is really tiring as well, because I am based in the midlands, in northampton, which theoretically is very well placed in practice. It isn't because you only I am based in the Midlands, in Northampton, which theoretically is very well placed in practice. It isn't because you only need one accident in the M1 and you are, yeah, in a, in a in a pickle. So it's longer commutes and it's mostly renting accommodations near to the studio and then coming home on the weekends. That's my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll see from now on how it will be yeah, I think, um, I used to live down in Peterborough so I know rough, roughly, and it'd be similar if I was working in Leicester, say, or Birmingham, like if you get one accident or one little ping on the motorway and it's buggered basically.
Speaker 2:So it's always avoiding the M1 and the M25. Luckily, where I am it's easy, because my job it tends to be in West London but not in London, let's say raiding areas. And you know, down there the studios are all in that belt and north of London, so most places I can reach without going on the motorways, which is amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but sometimes you have to and then there is always an accident.
Speaker 2:So I've actually at least 40 minutes, yeah, on top of my normal journey, because you never know, and if you know, yeah, and also that's good Cause.
Speaker 1:Then if you are early you can go and grab a coffee, you can like get your head around stuff and like chill out a little bit before it all starts, can't you, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's quite sometimes power naps. Yeah, if it is a two hours journey, you know okay, gonna gonna stop here and nap for a bit yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:Um, so also you're a new mum as well, so congratulations, and um, we were just saying before we hit record, you're going back to work in next month. How are you? Are you kind of testing to see how it works, how you kind of feel, how the baby feels, and yeah, it's all of that understanding.
Speaker 2:If I physically am strong enough because I gave birth only four months ago and I spent two of those basically in bed then I need to understand if little the little baby, she's fine with me away, and if it's too early, I I will have to, you know, step back and start, maybe in the summer. We'll see. For now I only said yes to the job and we shall see how it goes, but luckily the person my HOD, my boss, is very understanding, so we will find a way to make it work, because I don't know exactly how or why, but painters, proper painters in films tend to be women. Oh, really, the old guy, yeah, proper painters, yeah. And then in scenic painters they tend to be, again, primarily women. And, yeah, it's a lovely old thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really cool because then I suppose that means that, um, people are probably slightly more um understanding of your situation. If you know, they're like right, okay, so maybe this might be too early, or like you know, I think it's good. I think also that's a nice thing about being freelancers you can go and test the waters for do a little job, test the waters, see if you're ready.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, I am, or no, I'm not yeah, the great thing is exactly that I mean luckily I am. I am in a very good position in that I've made a few good contacts, so and they all know that I have had the baby and I've been in touch with them throughout my pregnancy as well. So I was preparing everyone, including myself, of I'm out now, but I'll coming back at some point, so be be aware I'm here, remember. Yeah, you know, as freelancers, I think there is always this sort of odd fears of being forgotten, or or will I ever have a next job? When you know it's insane. Because, yes, you will. You just need to pick up the phone and do all of the phone calls and even if, even if it is a little tiny money job, it is still income.
Speaker 1:So yeah, it's funny you should say that, because I get that kind of fear even if I go on a two-week holiday. I'm like, oh my god, people forget about me. I'm like, oh my god, people forget about me. I'm like, oh my god, why?
Speaker 2:have I taken this time off? Why am I? Why am I just being on holiday? How am I? Yeah, so we're, we're working in our minds all the time and even, yeah, during pregnancy, I was like, oh, maybe, maybe I should do something. In fact, I did. I, uh, I've been working um with the union back too I don't know if you know them, yes, so, yeah, I've signed up to the subcommittee and I did some work for painters within the union, so I had to keep active, even if I was absolutely incapacitated of moving. So, just to keep a presence. I felt that for me, that was needed for my son as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so how do you find the union? I've kind of I know of them. I don't think I'm part of them. I think they're mostly TV, aren't they TV and film side rather than still side.
Speaker 2:Rather than what, sorry.
Speaker 2:Still side, photography side I actually don't know, because I've never been a photographer so I don't know if they cover that as well. But if it is photographers on film sets or on TV, I suppose you should be covered, because he's working within the film and TV realm. I've been a Bachelor member for years because I think it's worth it, and I've needed to ask their help for once, which wasn't very nice, but knowing that you can call them and say, hey, I haven't been paid on this one or on that one, can you give me a hand? That's amazing because they help you understanding how things work.
Speaker 2:And you know I always say that it's better to be in the union than not being in the union because it's run by mostly us freelancers that work within the union for free, actually um to to make it better. Yeah, you know it's working. You know helping supporting each other in if there is a problem and sometimes there is um. And also, you know it's a nice. It's a nice way to try and change things in a positive way yeah, I, I think it's good.
Speaker 1:I, from what I've seen of it and what I've heard from other people, it seems like a really good, positive thing actually to help make sure, like you say, if you're getting stuck with like you've not been paid or something else and you've got somebody there that you can ask for proper legal advice or what have you. It's really helpful.
Speaker 2:But also, you know you need a, an insurance cover when you work as a sole trader freelancers and you get one with like 40 pounds a year.
Speaker 2:So it's, you know, fine, amazing actually. And you know I, for me it's important to be covered and be safe and if I need being helped. But you know there is rate cuts involved. So there is yeah in the industry. And if you say, look, I'm, I know that that's the minimum threshold, so I shouldn't be paid any less than that, it's really good, because probably in every industry freelance industry there are people that get paid very little and so they lower the the rate of the industry, which is not good, yeah yeah, I am with you, it the same happens on the on the still life side and yeah, and I think um having the, um the rate cards and stuff by like apa and by back to and stuff, it's really helpful because you can refer back to it and just say and then they, you know, yeah, it's much easier to to then get to the job with a decent rate yeah, yeah, yeah, because it's.
Speaker 1:It's such a specialist skill as well, like yours is even more like niche than you know styling, and it's such a niche, niche job that it should be paid correctly and stuff. I think you know, as with everything, when you're freelancing, people try and just get the best out of their budget, don't they? So it's one of those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's fighting for your rights and your rates as well, because obviously, um, there are some companies that rather pay less, and there are always people that will say yes, and I'm not even. You know, I don't think the world will change ever in that way, but for me personally, what I have achieved, I don't want to go backwards. You know so, in tough times, you remember, there was the film strike that lasted for seven months, may 23 till November 23. And that doesn't mean that then everything started again. We had a full year of setback and everyone was at home, even you know the super bosses. They were. Everyone was unemployed. And after that people were asked to come back to work with a silly low rate, and because there was famine, people started saying yes, even, you know, people with good CVs, and that's not fair. And because there was famine, people started saying yes, even people with good CDs, and that's not fair. Yeah, now it's getting a little better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that's an important thing to say as well about when there's film strikes and stuff. It affects so many layers of people and, like you say, it might only be aired that it's for six months or seven months, but actually you guys are still feeling the impact of that, like it for a year yeah, it's still now to be honest yeah, I mean I've been out of work in maternity, which you know it's something that is not even covered because you're a freelancer.
Speaker 2:So you get the maternity allowance and that's it, which is little, but yeah, you know, yeah, um, it's still. It is still affecting the industry today, definitely, definitely yeah, massively did you over in Italy.
Speaker 1:You said you were a furniture restorer and uh and things. How did you get into that side of things? I actually studied for that.
Speaker 2:But the reason I left is because I couldn't get in there either. And so, yeah, I I studied art and then um a qualification like an nsbq in restoration, and it was primarily um stones and crockery, pottery and these type of things. But then they taught us also to restore paintings and furniture. And then I did like three or four years of that. I managed to get in a few studios to do some tiny jobs over there. But imagine if the film industry is clicking. I think restoration is even more.
Speaker 2:I went to Florence to study there, because it's like the home of restoration in a sense, and I did some courses over there as well. But I wasn't lucky, that's it. You know, it's one of these things that I tried and tried and tried and I couldn't get in. So that's it. And in here I did try a bit. I got a few little jobs, but nothing really serious, or rather nothing that I thought, yeah, okay, that's my career now. Sadly, because I did love that. But in a sense I do that in films. I mean, I do the opposite. I ruin things instead of restoring things, because most jobs is like all right, right, we have a I don't know post-apocalyptic sect or a room that needs to be 50 years old, so we need to ruin everything. We are given the the smallest things, or even furnitures, or I don't know, a bookshelf that needs to be completely trashed in a paint setting, but then it has to come back because we need to do it again as brand new. So you are constantly ruining when paint effects stop.
Speaker 1:I was going to ask how the restoration that you did and studied for helps now, but you pretty much just answered that in the sense you're backwards and forwards with it, so it sounds like you have to make stuff look old, then make it look new again, then make it look old again and make it look new again, is it just? You're kind of at the hands of the director in which shots they want doing first all right.
Speaker 2:So, uh, in terms of the restoration techniques, it helps, because if I know how to get things restored, I know how to make them aged. And then, yes, technically, generally, we are given things and we need to take the ping off it if it makes sense. So if we're given a lamp that is nice, shiny, brand new, we need to age it a bit so that it dulls out, it loosens the ping, especially if it's like a shiny surface, and that is so that when the camera pans around the room, everything is matte and kind of chilled and it doesn't, you know, scream at the the camera like I am a lamp and I am here. Everything needs to be nice and smooth and down and um. So, basically, we are usually I'm working under an HOD, head of department in the paint shop, and what happens is that day in the month, for example, ahead of us they have priorities in terms of a set needs to be completed by this date, so everything needs to be done by this date. And then in the same time we have four other sets that he's working on, but, you know, sometimes there are reshoots as well. So, based on the need of the week, theoretically of the week, if not of the day. We work out our goals that way and generally, you know, probably like many other jobs, you've got a massive board with the name of the set, every prop that needs painting and who will do it. Because if we are a team, it's much easier to assign a prop to a painter and, yeah, well, you do the lamp, you do the chair, you do whatever else, and so everyone knows what we're working on and we have a deadline, uh.
Speaker 2:But sometimes, like it happened to me, uh, you get, you get to work at half seven nice, half an hour earlier than usual, because you want a cup of tea, you want to sit there. And Sometimes, like it happened to me, you get to work at half seven nice, half an hour earlier than usual, because you want a cup of tea, you want to sit there and, just, you know, listen to a podcast. You are said, oh well, fantastic, you're here. Yeah, why? Because at nine we have, you know, a set and we need this prop painting. And you know the guy that was working, like five months ago he painted it. Do you know how he did it? But we can't wait for the boss to come around because it needs to be done by nine. It needs to go on set, meaning we are late already and the day hasn't started.
Speaker 2:So you're there like, oh my god, okay, right, I'm trying to understand, by looking at the prop that someone else has made and you haven't even met the guy, how that prop has been painted, and you try to call your boss, but obviously they are coming to work and they're like, all right, I'll find a way. And then you have to find a way. Luckily, we paint. You can always paint it back. It, you know, a bit of thinner, or, uh, this is a solvent, and you can strip it off and paint the layer back. So there is that, uh, you know the little safety nets of like, okay, I messed up that one, uh, but I can, I can redo it if there is time yeah, I think, um, we're problem solvers, aren't we?
Speaker 1:it seems that mostly creatives that I've spoken to someone goes, can you just do this? And you're like, yeah. It's not a just but yes, I get that Massively.
Speaker 2:it's a fast-paced one. I think one of the most important requirements of people working on this industry no matter the place where they're working, in a sense, is sense of urgency.
Speaker 2:Number one, number, massive one. Sense of urgency. If you're told we need to get this out now, it needs to be now, it can't be later. Because imagine, if one prop is late, you have and they're going to film it and they need it. It means that the you have some 30, 40 people on set waiting for you and every hour costs, let's say, um, how much. It can cost a million, three hundred thousand, I don't know, but it's a number that is insane. And it's basically you holding everybody because you need to finish this little thing or this massive thing. Yeah, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1:I think, um, there's so many layers and so many, like you say, so many people on a film set that it could be a vase needed for continuity purposes and it might be a reshoot. And then someone's like where the bloody hell's that vase? Or you know, we just need to paint it a tiny bit, or whatever, and it's. You know, like you say, that sense of urgency. So that's really cool that your like restoration bits have been really helpful in this as well. And how do you, when you say you're painting backdrops for theaters I, obviously backdrops are massive is that like a team of you? And like you, you must start like a normal painting, right, you do your background and then you can see the backdrops, they tend to be 11 meters by seven meters, if I don't know in feet.
Speaker 1:Sorry, I I don't know yeah, yeah, I mean, meters is easier and centimeters give me that.
Speaker 2:So basically, uh, for when you do those, you is a nice and nice process because it's linear and it's a repetition and you can really not chill out in a sense because you need to be on top of it. But you know, you know what's coming. There is no issues theoretically ahead. So you have. If you're working as the main painter, the lead painter, you will have talks with the designers before and usually they give you a model, a scale model, of the backdrop of the painting and the good ones give it to you amazingly perfect, I mean, they draw and paint it with the right colours. So in theatre we tend to use a specific brand of colour which is Roscoe, and the quality of the pigments is absolutely amazing. So when they say, you know, I've used Roscoe red, that number there, you don't even have to think about it. It's just that one and it's basically a massive colouring book if you want to think about it with techniques.
Speaker 2:And then you start with priming the cloth. The cloth, which is honestly takes forever. Depending on many of you, there are usually it tends to be three painters per per job. Sometimes it's two, but you know it depends. It can can be that if the job is massive, I've worked on teams with maybe five, six of us, wow, yeah, but it's a back-to-back. You never stop A cup of tea at 10, and that's it basically.
Speaker 2:And so you have to prime a cloth which is 11.7 meters and the good ones there are some frames that roll down into the ground and roll back up up, so you are physically stationed on the floor level and the cloth comes up, and so you, you, you prime it and it goes up and up and up, and then you do all the layers. You start with the reds and then the blues, and then you know everything else, um, others, you need to go there with a massive leather, um, and you know you have to paint at the levels, and that's a bit difficult. Yeah, yeah, you know, if, if you, if your brush falls down, it's like, oh god, it's three stories down, that's it. That's annoying, uh. But then we start with the drawing.
Speaker 1:So we project the drawing onto the cloth, uh, and then you paint on it, yeah that's so cool, because I didn't know the kind of process of that actually, because, um, you kind of, again, you kind of take for advantage that if you go to a theater, oh that's a really nice backdrop and there's, yeah, you don't really think about how it's done. So I mean I'm dead scared of going up ladders. I was up one at the weekend on on a job and like there was two of us, one on either side of this ladder, and I get really nervous. I'm like, oh god, and then I was only maybe six feet up, maybe seven, you know. So I wasn't too and I lost something. I was dressing, uh, an event space and.
Speaker 1:I lost something. It fell off my shoulder on the floor and I thought, oh for god's sake, now I've got to climb all the way back down again.
Speaker 2:And that was only like the size, yeah oh, my, yeah, it's fun when uh, probably one of the it's the nicest part of the of the set of the theater job, because you know you're closer to the end, this one you put the glitters on. But because you put the glitter by you, you place some glue and then you have to blow it. If the cloth is vertical, if it is on the floor, you know, on the ground, you can sprinkle it. But then it happened to me once that one part of the cloth needed to be, you know, glittered because we didn't have the time to do it on the ground. So there I was, on a stepladder, I was seven meters up, you know, with a brush putting the glue and blowing the glitter from my you know.
Speaker 1:Oh God.
Speaker 2:Piece of paper folded in the way you know oh my gosh, that was something. And he was like oh he, that was, there was something. And he was like, oh, he's opening night tomorrow, so he's like all right, okay, no pressure there, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then I imagine, like the cleanup job, glitter just stays everywhere for hours and days a month my house, on my partner, on the cat in my shoes for a number of months, uh, all over you on your hair. You wash your hair for the I don't know 10th time after a month, whatever, and then there they are glitter still. They never go, never no, it's that.
Speaker 1:And I find um fake snow. I find fake snow everywhere.
Speaker 2:That gets everywhere I didn't have much to do with that, um, because generally that's more for dressing. Um, yeah, we, we. I tend to work with backdrops and the. You know, the I've got a name or not my brain uh, yeah, the backdrops, so effectively, and all of those moving parts of the set that are, you know, like the, the, the, I don't know, yeah, like the, the button comes in and then it goes up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, Is that? Do you get to see the show as well after you've, like, done all the part?
Speaker 2:Yeah, if everything works fine, and generally if you're working there for a good number of weeks, then they give you the ticket. Sometimes, unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. I've worked on theatre productions like Pantomimes, but also on bigger productions, and you know, sometimes you're there for maybe not long enough or they simply didn't think of giving the ticket, or someone was late and the ticket never reached you. So it's a series of things. But generally in theatre you have a ticket for you plus one, and all the pantomimes have done they. You know, generally, if I remember right, we went to see all of them. And then for films, generally you are invited to the premiere, not the one with the big actors, because those tend to be in america, if well, the production I worked on, um, or you know they are for the biggest people and then there is the crew. So yeah, but there's a fun night usually yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 1:It must feel really surreal to like see your work, like imagine the first couple of jobs. You must have been like whoa, my work's in the cinema, like oh my god, really, yeah.
Speaker 2:Uh, the thing is, I suppose everyone will look at the props, will look at what they've done. So it's like, oh yeah, the plot, whatever, but what? Oh yeah, that's the flag I've done. Oh my, do you remember how many hours we spent doing it? And they ruined it? Oh, it's on fire. So, yeah, the first watch for people that work on films, I think, at least for me, it's. You go and look for the things you've done, or the accidents that you know happened, or for the fun bits that someone else from another department told you about, stuff like that, and then you need a second watch to actually watch the film.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's so funny, isn't it like seeing your work in the wild and then, like I don't know, saying to family like I did this, I did this and they're like okay, I don't really understand.
Speaker 2:Family does never understand what you do, never. You can explain a million times, especially the hours of work, and you're like, yeah, I'm still working, still there. Oh well, everyone is home, why not? Yeah. And then when you try and explain what is it that you do, they go oh, right there, yeah, yeah. And then they ask again so what is it that you do?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that, yeah, yeah, the head. And then they ask you again so what is it? Do you do? Yeah, I've had to like simplify my job and just say I make stuff look pretty for photographers. I've just had to simplify it down. Yeah, I just I paint things and they're like all right, so do you still get time to do more um fine artwork as well, because you did mention that you maybe do that as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, actually that takes a lot of inspiration and when you don't have it, there is no point in forcing it, for me at least. Yeah, when you're in uni, you are worked like a mule in terms of producing work and it's like a super concentrated lifetime worth of work and being out of uni because I don't have any deadlines to meet, or maybe I didn't win, I didn't apply for any bursaries or I don't. I haven't looked for active work, I haven't looked for active work, I haven't produced, but also I think the pandemic completely killed me in terms of creativity. So after that I haven't done much, if not anything. I had a few little ideas, but then they remained as such in my work, in my notebook and that was it Mostly.
Speaker 2:I do like painting the murals. That's something I started doing when I was here in pregnancy, so I've done like my baby's room mural. It's a little thingy, very much like a pantomime style. Yeah, very gentle. So I think now that my work is art-based I don't know exactly how or why, but I feel that that fills me enough with creativity when I do it.
Speaker 2:At the end of the day, when I'm in pantomimes, you use water-based colors and it's, you know, generally speaking, super vibrant, or if you do a set that is concrete, it's just great. But then working on films is so demanding and you use a lot of chemicals that when you go home you really don't want to pick up a brush anymore. So yeah, for now, it's that sometimes, when I feel inspired, and maybe I've got two months of gap between works, or you know you finish a job and you have no idea when the other one comes, I end up I find myself painting little watercolors, tiny things, and then, yeah, little drawings, tiny sketches, small things generally, or sometimes, you know, I like to reproduce paintings of other other people, like big painters, but I like, for example, I love a specific horse by Paolo Cello and which is a painter, and I reproduce that one just for fun, no pressure at all, just go there and do it. But yeah, I think it's fulfilling enough the work I do, so I don't need to produce anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you're right because, similarly to you, when I'm being creative at work, I then struggle to find my home creativity. I'm doing that in air quotes because sometimes there is some different things that I like doing and then I get home and I'm like, oh god, I'm so tired from doing this creative shoot that I have no creativity left.
Speaker 2:It's gone, it's done yeah, I think I I don't even know where my notebook is at the moment, um, but that tells me that I didn't have anything in me left in terms of creativity, which I don't think is a negative stuff, because, working already as a creative, it's not like I am lacking, that I am actually using all of those energies for, you know, a job which is actually more than a job, because, if you think about it, I love what I do, so I don't see it as the chore of going to work yeah, it is tiring of course, demanding and everything.
Speaker 2:Energy finish at the end of the day and that's it, but I am excited to go next day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and that's differentiates from work yeah, yeah, I'm with you if it's especially when we're using our creative brains all the time at work and then it's tiring because you're using your creative brain, and but then if you're enjoying it and you're thinking, oh yeah, you're getting a buzz from it, then that's all that matters, isn't it? Yeah?
Speaker 2:and I think I don't know if you work alone or if you've got pals or you know colleagues, but on a on a film job especially because it's longer, tend to be longer than theatre, for me at least you end up being super, super friends with the other guys and people working near you and with you.
Speaker 2:That is a workshop is amazing. So I tend, I tend to work in a physical workshop more than on set, depending on the job really, because you know, so far I've been based on a workshop which means you go in the same workplace all the time, which tends to be a massive sturdy tent, uh, really tall, and you know, and you've got the prop modelers making the things, and then the welder, and then you've got the chippies constructing the wooden parts and needs for whatever prop you're making. And then there is you, the painters, and you go in and there's everyone there and the chain of production for that department. We are all physically there and we all go to tea together and for lunch and for our breaks. So it's full of people and the environment is very vibrant and when there is the stress of having to finish this massive prop or this set, all of us we are working towards it.
Speaker 2:It just so happened the painters are the last step. Yeah, because you know it needs to be designed, printed if it's in 3D, or made assembled and whatever, and then you need to paint it. And so we are the last ones.
Speaker 1:But it sounds like a little family as well. Once you're in it's kind of like a whole crew together. You become quite a tight-knit family and we're the same on set, especially if it's a stressful job. Everybody's like, right, we'll break for lunch. It's almost like you're bonding over the job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's very much. I think through the struggles you get stronger as a group in a sense, especially like on a job. It happened that there was some massive delay or probably a huge change. You see, being at the end of the line in a sense, you don't get to know why that thing has happened. It just happened. And so on a job, we all, all the department, finished at one in the morning, yeah, but it was all of us.
Speaker 2:You know, um, just a few had to go away because maybe they had children and they couldn't, you know, leave them alone till 1am. But for the rest, it was just all of us being there, putting the effort together, ordering pizza and just going through it, and then, I don't know, taking a huge photo at the end of the evening or maybe a celebration of some kind. I don't know, but the struggle really bring people together. If yes means if the team is um, I don't know how to say good yeah, like really connected.
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, I think that's it's so true, it's so true of like mammoth jobs as well. You're like right, okay, let's get through it guys, we've got to get this done. You drink more coffee, more red bull, like get through it, have a pizza yeah, it's so true so what best like or favourite thing you've ever done in your career so far?
Speaker 2:Right Favourite thing was painting the flags for Napoleon. Wow, that was just a bijou of a job in that it was, I don't know, amazing. Imagine, I mean, if you just have a look on Napoleon the flags. We painted them, all of them, between my department and another department. So we spent our days, which was super long, 7.30am till 7pm that was the workday. We spent them receiving the reference and the physical flag all joined together and stitched together and we had to paint it over with stencils, if we had stencils or by hand, and that was, you know, such a lovely, lovely thing to do.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, that was my favorite physical action. Um, but then what else? Ghostbusters was amazing as well. Uh, because we get to the the all of the proton packs and things and for references we had to see the original ones and things like that. So it's like, oh, my god, it's actually that one. So, yeah, I, you know I wasn't particularly like a super Ghostbusters fan, but you get to become one yeah, work on things it's like you're super excited, you know it's almost like iconic.
Speaker 1:You're looking back at something that's iconic and then you've got to use it as inspiration for you know, the remake or whatever, and it sounds like the painting the flags. That actually sounds really relaxing.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, exactly that was it. It was as an action relaxing, because you are there with the stencil is again is a process that you need to follow and by the end of it's a process that you need to follow and by the end of it, you will have your flag. So, even if the day is going too bad or you're feeling terrible, I don't know, you've got the period and you can't take it anymore, or whatever, the process is there. So you have stencil one, stencil two, stencil three, stencil four, flag is done, you hang it, let it dry, and so on, and then off you go with another one and especially, yeah, actions like that really make the job go really dead, that it goes really fast.
Speaker 2:Um, and you, you know, on that job specifically, I think we needed to produce a number of flags a day and we needed that absolutely. So there is the pressure of having the work done, getting the work done by the end of the day, um, but otherwise, the team was nice, we were in a nice and cozy environment, um, toilets were nice that's always a good plus when the toilets are nice.
Speaker 2:You're like yes when you've got the kitchen and the toilet nearby and it's not five miles away, that's amazing. And when they're warm, you know hot water from the top. Those are the luxuries of work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely. It's definitely one of those things when you're on a big set and you're like is there a space to make a brew, are the toilets okay, are they close enough, cool, yeah. And then, like you say, you can get your head down and and get going with something I think that's like it sounds um, that you can just get in a zone and just go for it yeah, I imagine all of us, we were obviously in the same room.
Speaker 2:But then when we we had you know, I have my 50 flags for the day, you have your 50, and we're not. We are with our headphones on podcast because of course you get the bad day and you get in and say, guess you know what today I've got. You know I'm I'm moody, so I think I need a few hours just to find myself. I don't want to, you know. Yeah, bring mood in the room. So I'm gonna just close up for a while and then I'll see you at tea time and it's probably a great day. You can say these sorts of things in every job so far. Everyone has a bad day and you just say, guys, it's awful, I haven't slept or whatever.
Speaker 1:Anything can happen the day before or the morning yeah, definitely, and I think you're so right, like being honest, to have that conversation with a team and just say I need a couple of hours. I'm putting my headphones on, I'll see you in a little bit. It's appreciated by everybody as well, because then you feel better after.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's not nice, I think, to work with someone in the team that it doesn't communicate, or somebody I don't know. Luckily hasn't happened to me all that often, but when there is a person that is very negative, or you really is, it is painful because the mood gets, really touches everyone and, yeah, trying your best to bring it up again. Guys, please, is we only have 10 hours to go?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, that's. It's definitely just communicating, isn't it, and just saying like, yeah, I'll be fine in a bit, it's fine exactly.
Speaker 2:And then you know there are lovely things that happen, like there is always someone's birthday and, uh, you bring the cake, or you just didn't know that it was someone's birthday. And you come in and there is a massive cake and you're like, oh my god, it's birthday, so yeah, yeah, yeah, it sounds really cool.
Speaker 1:Um, is there anything that you're that you think, oh, actually I wish that was better about your job. Or is there anything that you think others should know about your job before they try and start?
Speaker 2:all right. So let's go with the first one. For people to try and start, know that if you want an easy day, it's not for you, meaning it doesn't matter where you live. You have to be wherever the film is, because films change locations all the time. If you just happen to live in axe bridge, you're bloody lucky because you've got pinewood right there and so you might be able to get the job there. But that doesn't mean that it's going to be um so be.
Speaker 2:If you want to do this job or working in films, be ready to travel. You need to be in your car and go rent accommodations. Sometimes it's not even worth it for the money, but if you're starting, you have to sacrifice something. So if you really really want to do this, try a job. You, if you're lucky enough to be accepted, already, take it. And maybe, if your earnings are not that great to begin with because you've got the expense of petrol, the expense of the airbnb room or whatever accommodation, it is what it is, this is it, this is life from now on. That's one. Or if you're happy to commute now and a half every day, that's also it.
Speaker 2:Many people do it, and then what could be better is actually the hours, um, because it is still long, long days like nine and a half hours, which, if you think about it, if you have to start at eight and finish at half past five, um, or sometimes finish seven till seven, then yes, you have breaks in here and there during the day, but you have to get that and you have to go back home, you have to shower, you have to eat. If you want, you need to go to the gym, maybe twice a week. Where is the day gone? Is not there? So hours could be better. There are some departments, construction departments, for example they have shorter days. I don't know for sure now, but I think they do something like eight till half three, eight till four and, honestly, that hour and a half less is a life-changing um.
Speaker 2:But another good thing that is actually happening is that there is job sharing and flexible work that has been solidly introduced or is started very nicely to be introduced in the industry. It's mostly for working parents or people that uh do have caring, uh responsibilities outside of work, and so you can um, some jobs can be flexible so you can be mostly in the office or workshop and then go home and finish at home. Others aren't like mine, I can't take a proper home, so, um, I could do part-time perhaps. Obviously that means you earn half of the money, but it's a flexibility that for me, as a new parent, I think I I was actually terrified, to be completely fair, after I thought I knew I was pregnant because I thought, okay, that's the end, I'm gonna have to find another job.
Speaker 2:I can never go back, because who would want a new mom? But then obviously, a lot of people are parents of older children. My bosses, they all have kids, so they've been actually very good in reserving me and saying everything is okay, you can come back to work, we'll make it work, um. So, yeah, hours are a big big thing still in film industry, but I think we are slowly getting to a good position hopefully we'll see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that change it comes like in small little bits, doesn't it? And then you look back after like 10 years and go, wow, that's really changed.
Speaker 2:I think already already is because if you talk to the older generation that started working in the 50s in films, they will tell you that they they had, uh, they came in and they never came out, or they didn't have as many breaks, or the work was much difficult, much more difficult to do. Um, you couldn't ask for holidays and things like that. But then I think, especially our generation and the one after us, the youngest ones, I think the way of work is completely changing in other industries, not in film, but like everyone works from home. Many people work from home, a lot of people do reduce hours or maybe part-time, and everyone is happy, because I think some people prefer to have a life and then a job. But for people working in creatives and this, we have the job and then a bit of life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I need to find because I still don't know yeah, I mean, I'm still trying to find balance as well and I I work like I don't know with my commute, probably seven till six most days with a commute, and I think like, yeah, I'm still trying to find a balance. I started the gym back in October and I think I've been. My aim was twice a week and I think I've maxed been once a week because, I've just not had the the time.
Speaker 2:I know what you mean. I mean personally because I needed to get back. I need a bit more strength. I started going to the gym literally two or three weeks ago and I've been doing three days a week right now. But I know for a fact that when I go back to work I might be able to do one day. Yeah, because then I'll have all of the three days where I come home and my commute will be, I don't know, probably five, half half 5 am till 8 pm. Yeah, most likely. Um, and then no chance, I'm gonna go to the gym and then the other days I'm gonna have the baby.
Speaker 1:So we'll see, mate, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah it's for now, then child care is arranged, and then we could go yeah, that's it, we'll see it's finding it.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you you'll find the balance somewhere. It or you'll find it. It's there somewhere to be had. It's just figuring it out. I think, and I think from what you're saying as well. I think a lot of my friends who've had babies, who are in our industries as well, have gone right, how do we do this? And they just figure it out as they go along, as you go along.
Speaker 2:Right now it's like a big hurdle that can't be, you know, crossed because you're not that yet. Yeah, I'm super excited to go back. I literally am excited already.
Speaker 2:This week is going to be packing up my gear because it's been, you know, taking dust for a year, basically, and now, yeah, I'm gonna have to take everything out and just choose what to take with me, because when you're on a job, so this time around I'm gonna be not in a studio sorry, not in a workshop but around the studio to work on the sets already built, basically, um, so this time around I'm gonna have to have my trolley with my stuff and I take a round and then, you know, you basically are a painter on the go, which is, uh, it is not just brushes.
Speaker 2:You have to take an air gun to, you know, dissolve things or stuff like, uh, lighter fluid to take sticky bits off, uh, I don't know places, um, and lots of other weird, weird tools. If someone was to look at my toolbox, they would say, like, what the hell are you doing here? I mean, what's this? I've got tools that are used in dentistry because they're good to get things out. Or you know little tools to pick things up that are used in medical surgery. Or you know there is all sorts of tools that you find absolutely useful, but they look like trash really yeah, that's the same for me too.
Speaker 1:It's really interesting that you've got like medical tools and stuff. So have you got like tiny tweezers and things like that?
Speaker 2:yeah, I have, uh, not that I've ever used them so far, but honestly, they will come handy one day. I have um surgical, surgical, um needles. They're like c-shapes and really, really sharp and you can't even hold them with your hand. You need a special scissor that clicks onto it, and so I've got that one, just in case, because you never know. Then I have little spatulas that I use in restoration.
Speaker 2:That I use, say, you need to fill up a hole somewhere in a tiny, very weird corner, but it needs to be done, and so you can't even put your hands there, but you need a tool to reach. Then what else? I've got a little box of all the different type of wax with little flags on them to say okay, that's a bee wax, that's another wax to age things, all sorts of. I have a piece of plastic that is all cranked in a bowl. That is great. If you need to remove some excess wax from things and leave weird marks, we have natural sponges in case we need to do I don't know. Generally I use them for aging things down or, you know, if you need to do a concrete effect, they are becoming handy. And then, I don't know, I've got even dish soap because sometimes you need it. You need to wash stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. It's funny because you're describing all your kit and then in my head I was going oh yeah, I've got kebab sticks. I've got um wax that people use on braces or like holding things, I've got, obviously, blue tack and the usual scissors and stuff like that. And then there's weird things that just get put in like little chunks of wood that someone goes, what's that for? And I'm like, well, you know if you have a product that doesn't balance, and then they're sticking back to that yeah, yeah, we have little bits of wood to a and to make special marks.
Speaker 2:so if you have to I don't know, maybe age an object that need to look as if you've been scrapped, you can just use that to apply paint, make it look like it's been ruined. Yeah, we have odd bits of things, but most important, honestly headphones and a little speaker, because you need it. Yeah, I think it's horrible when you leave your headphones at home, absolutely devastating because I don't know, it's just sometimes you work with so many other people and it's so noisy they're, the chip is going crazy and then, uh, people moving metal things and it's honestly so loud so I use my noise cancelling ones and it's brilliant because you just that and you are in your bubble making your messy paint job and that's it. Oh, knee pads my goodness me.
Speaker 2:they saved my life so many times oh yeah, knee pads yeah yeah, wow, they are my favorite piece of kit yeah, I'm, I'm with you.
Speaker 1:I've got like a. I don't have the ones that strap on, I've just got like a cushion, basically. Um, but yeah, it's funny, you should say about the headphones. I was was on a job this week and I just said to the girls like I just need to put my headphones on and put my head down and crack on, and then you know, because there was somebody cutting, there was somebody doing something else. Yeah, it's too much, isn't it? Sometimes you just need to crack on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, and it's nice sometimes especially well, this job you do work alone, but in a team, so you need to have your own space when you're alone, but you can't be distracted, and I find that if I have some music or a podcast going on, it's great, because then you only need you know if someone is calling you.
Speaker 1:go, oh yeah yeah, yeah, definitely you know, make your own, you make your own space yeah okay, okay, please um, I've got one more question for you and answer it whichever way you see fit, but what inspires you, inspire me oh, that's tough.
Speaker 2:Well, in this moment in time, I think it was very inspiring to be wanted back at work. Yeah, honestly, that little phone call changed my life, changed my mood, for that, from that moment on and, yeah, right now, is knowing that I will be back with my people and my lovely boss and I'm gonna be in this super set which I can't tell about, but it's so cool because I can't say why I like that, that theme and uh, yeah, it's just super exciting with the commute. Honestly, may, that's gonna be absolutely knackering, but I, I am excited, I'm inspired by putting my kit together. Is that possible? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like another thing um, I, I, I've been gifted my new airbrush. So this week I've bought my paint and I'm going to have a play day learning how to assemble my gun and my airbrush and cleaning it. So it's going to be a techie afternoon with some test paint in here.
Speaker 1:Just yeah, going back to my passion is inspiring yeah, I think so I think I can feel it off you. We're only doing like a video chat and I can feel that you're so excited to get back to it and back doing the thing that you really love that's it exactly.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, I'm very excited and like, another inspiring thing is I always feel I don't know some techniques. I mean, I know that I don't know some techniques. So I really want, now that baby's bigger and I can labor with Tom and I can have my my day. We've decided this one day a week it's gonna be Tom's day, and I'm not too disturbed, and one is gonna be my day. So, yeah, I I really want to crack on with learning new techniques to reproduce faux effects, for example, bettering certain skills of mine and you know, even little simple thing, like, okay, I've got this new airbrush. I have no idea how to assemble it, uh, and I really want to practice with it so that when it comes to going back and when I need to use it at work, I'm like, yeah, I don't need to fiddle with it and like, oh gosh, because everyone is different. So, yeah, things like that.
Speaker 1:I'm a bit of a tomboy, I think yeah, I think there's a lot of us out there who are a bit of tomboys, especially in this industry. We're like we'll put our um, our overalls on and you get going, don't you? Oh, that sounds so cool. I think that's a really cool idea as well that you guys are having a day each to. You know, keep, keep inspiring yourselves, keep learning new things, because I think that it I'm not a parent, but I've seen that it could be really hard work, and I think you do need to make sure you've got that time for yourselves too.
Speaker 2:I mean it's easy to settle down now. It's getting to the point where we can, because before you know, baby needs you, especially mom. I mean there is nothing that can do when baby wants mom. Yeah, so yeah. But now, now we're in the sweet spot where it's easier and we kind of sleep and, yeah, the brain works. Now I'm feeling like, yeah, I want my day off, thank you yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I need it and I'm sure, like as um the baby goes to nursery in school, you guys all feel like you're getting the rhythm of it and it would be a lot more structured we are starting to teach her from now actually to be I wouldn't say independent, but to go to places.
Speaker 2:So we can leave her to grannies, we can leave her to the child minder, and once or twice a week we do this little half day, few hours, just so maybe even me and Tom can have a day off together. You know, let's go for a dinner, lunch, whatever, a walk alone. Yeah, yeah, contemporary parents, we are loving our children, but we want our time yeah, yeah, exactly and I think there's nothing wrong with that no, no, we get mad why going to the madness when you can? You know?
Speaker 1:definitely well. Thank you so much for joining me today on the podcast. I've thoroughly enjoyed listening to how you have become a prop painter and a scenic artist, so thank you so much.
