Manchester university visit:

 Manchester university visit:

On November 15th, we visited Manchester Uni to get an idea of what the courses/tutors have to offer if we decided to apply to their course.

We began the visit by meeting the tutors for the makeup courses to get an idea of what/how they teach. They began by discussing the different courses they have to offer within our field (this was a joint trip so they started off by going through the options for the film students and then moved onto us) such as makeup for film/TV/fashion and photography and theatre as well as the separate special effects course. This was only a brief overview of the course as we went to the makeup rooms with the tutors later on for a more in depth discussion as well as a demonstration. Before that, however, it was also mentioned that the university building that we visited on the day would be moving further into the centre of Manchester by the time we started the course, as well as moving the student accommodations as this was more convenient for many different reasons such as travel, shopping for supplies, nightlife and job opportunities.

Once the general briefing was over, we were taken by the course leaders over to the facilities used for the course. There were about 3 rooms in total, two for makeup practice and wig styling and one specifically for photography as all makeup looks done must be captured in high quality with a professional camera. We were shown examples of other students works as well as their planning and design process to give us an idea of the type of work we would be doing if we were to study there. One aspect of the course(s) that was made clear to us would be that if we were studying ‘regular’ makeup, and wanted to switch onto the special effects course after the year (or two) is over, that option is available to us. However, we would not be able to switch from special effects makeup to the other makeup course. 

To finish off the discussion before we went for a break, one of the special effects tutors gave us a demo on how she uses silicone to create a ‘simulated injury’. She mentioned that she had previously worked in many different types of fields within this industry. One of these being simulated systems, where she would create fake injury’s for trainees to practice medical skills on. She went through the process leading up to her design, such as the scenario she was using, the design itself, factors to consider when creating the injury (such as facial structure, placing etc) and how she would create the silicone models.

Then, we took a short lunch break and returned to one of the makeup rooms where we were then given a challenge. The challenge was to get into teams of 2-3 and create our own (inspired) editorial look with the resources provided for us and have it photographed in one of the photography studios. 3 of the winning groups would receive a makeup gift bag between them. Once the winners were congratulated, we were given a short debriefing to end the visit.

Overall, the course options given to us seemed to be a good fit for some of the people planning on going to uni. If I was to end up going to university, I do think that I would consider this course as one of my choices as not only is it convenient for work alongside great facilities, but the lessons are taught in smaller groups, which would be better for me in terms of familiarising myself with the class as well as working in a suitable environment for my own confidence building. Although I’m not sure if the room layouts will be the same in the new building, however, if they are, they are set up perfectly in terms of space for working alongside other safety aspects.