Hair and Makeup Trailers
People use the term “trailer” when talking about the production process. An actor’s trailer becomes his or her home base for the duration of shooting. This is often a mobile space where each star of a film or television shoot where he or she can rest between scenes, rehearse, or get some relaxation and privacy. However, did you know that hair and makeup trailers are also often on a production?
Hair and makeup trailers are often mobile areas such as a production bus that hair and makeup artists use to do their jobs in. As anyone who has ever worked in film or television production knows, hair and makeup are in many ways the heart of what happens behind the scenes on any film or television production. Every day, an actor begins his or her day by sitting in the hair and makeup chair, where his or her team preps him/her for the day ahead.
Hair and makeup artists go to great lengths to create the looks that the actors will embody throughout filming of a film or television show. It’s in the hair and makeup chair that theactor uses to create the foundation for the performance. The chair almost becomes “home base” for the actor, as it’s somewhere where he or she visits every single day and it’s where his or her character first visually comes to life.
A well made hair and makeup production trailer will offer a variety of features. Lighting, for example, is very important. Most hair and makeup artists like to have a choice between natural and professional lighting. The mirrors in a makeup trailer have lights. Often, there is also a natural light source, such as a skylight, available if needed. Natural light is especially important when preparing an actor for an outdoor performance, like an exterior daytime scene.
Another important aspect of the hair and makeup trailer is power. A hair and makeup trailer needs plenty of outlets. Both the hair artist and the makeup artist have several appliances to plug in. These can include hair straighteners, curlers, and other tools. If wardrobe happens to be in the same space, steamers and irons will also become necessary. Typically each hair and makeup station will have dedicated outlets and will have several of them.
It’s sensible, then, that in addition to outlets, a hair and makeup trailer needs to have a solid power source. Productions operate on very tight schedules. Specific times are set for when an actor needs to be in the hair and makeup chair. Equally important is when they need to be finished with hair and makeup and ready to shoot on set. Power outages that interrupt the hair and makeup process are unacceptable. The film and television industry is fast-paced and demands consistency. For this reason, backup generators are often necessary for hair and makeup trailers. They ensure that the required power levels are consistently available.