Sharon Martin - Make Up And Hair Designer - Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

I am the makeup and hair designer on jingle jangle. I got involved with jingle jangle when i received a script from my agent um, which i read and it's one of the quickest script. I'Ve ever read and i read it and i remember i was in my in my garden and it was the summer and i rang my agent and i said it's bonkers and she said in a good way and i'm like it's fantastic. I really want to meet. I really want to like be involved with this and she's like okay, okay, so we um, we, then you know, registered our interest and then i met with david and um and meeting him and listening to his ideas that he wanted to do with it. I mean literally, it was a no-brainer. You were like sign me up when i met with david and lynn and well reading the script and then meeting with david and lynn. I mean the things that really appealed to me was seeing that it was a black cast and it's victorian and it's a fantasy and there is freedom. That'S what i saw was freedom, freedom to design freedom to create because it's it's our world. So you know, as long as all the design team are on board, then we're kind of we've got a great kind of capacity to show something that i feel we haven't seen before. A jingle jangle is a period piece featuring african americans and i said to lynn and david. You know: there's a huge wave of natural hair using natural hair, so we've kind of gone beyond you know: hair straightening and weaves and all of that stuff. So this, if we don't do that with a movie, we're missing a huge opportunity here, so we all agreed. We were just going to feature natural hair. There was a couple of characters that had been written. Having a conch and stuff like that - and i said you know, we should lose those because you know we can do like really interesting things that is going to inspire. You know the new wave of hairstyles, we literally sat down and we you know we figured out each person's journey. So we start with you know the young jeronicas and the young jeronicas. He is he's full of life. You know he's a vibrant man. He'S got hope. He has this, you know beautiful wife, joanne and joanne is, you know, she's the kind of grounding force and they have their gorgeous daughter. So we decided say with jeronica's. He you know, he's a he's, a decent man, and you know someone that you know someone will lend money to and he's full of life and everything. So we kind of created his look and also he's quite colorful, because the conversation we had was that we would have jeronicus young jeronicos, full of life and color and as joanne dies, then we start pulling the color out of jeronica. So if you look at it, then johnica's hair is dark and strong and then older, veronica's, it's gray and it's colorless and his skin is less colorful and his beard is less colorful. So that's the journey for for um juronicus. But when you look at the movie, you'll see that young jessica has this this particular hairstyle, where it's it's very victorian it's up, but it has like these lovely kind of rolls to it. You know these lovely kind of like rolls to the side, and so we had we established it in the young jessica and in the older jessica. We have exactly the same look but with a little bit more added to it. So she's now a grown woman and it's more of a a womanly hairstyle. Even though it's a fantasy and we have like room to play. But i want, when you watch the movie to see that you're looking at victorians, because we have seen black victorians on screen before, but we haven't seen them looking like this, we've seen them as slaves, running away and they're poor and they're like being beaten and they're. All of this, but these are all like fabulous people, because i'm thinking you know if i was there, what would i want my hair to look like what would i want to look like if i was going to church on a sunday if i was going to A party - and so that's where we're kind of pitching the whole look for them. Young journey, she's, amazing she's. You know her mom sends her off to come to see her grandad and she turns up and um and the look of her like you want to say it's a bit steampunky um, but seeing that in the victorian setting that kind of brings the fantasy element. So you have the grounded victorian and then suddenly, where we're kind of creating our world, she turns up and she's wearing the puffs. You know and every black girl knows you grow up. That'S what you get you get puffs you go to church and you're. You know you get your nice puffs down until you kind of grow up into being older and then you can have like another hairstyle so and then her hair ornament. You know all the kind of little pieces we made um the the ribbon, trying different colored ribbons to kind of tie in with her costumes and then the different kind of decorations on it and yeah. And then we ended up with the design that we have and um and yeah. I think it's a look that you know a lot of girls are going to love when you look at um joanne's hairstyle with its um, the the sculpting that's been done, but we keep the weight at the bottom of it, because at that time, um of the Period, the weight of the hair sat very much into the nape and then you look at anything. Well, it's sitting there, but does she look pretty so then we go into making her look pretty with the hairstyle, but it's a lot of sculpting and shaping and pinning - and you know stuff like that - my inspiration for the look of the hair and makeup for jingle Jangle is you know to going back to looking at you know, references of you know old, like victorians. There'S not wasn't as many black victorians like readily found, but you know like frederick douglass he's he was quite easily found and he has amazing hair, but i think he's so easily recognizable that i didn't want to copy his look. But to use it as an inspiration and forrest is who plays older jeronicas he's basically a mix of a frederick douglass and this lovely contemporary man here, because we like the texture of his hair and his beard, but also the shape, we're borrowing from the shape of The victorian frederick douglass johnston in the in the film she is, you know, yeah i'd, say she's a very early feminist and she wants the man and she's going for it and she's not subtle about it. So we decided you know she is a lady that i kind of remember growing up as a child. You see these very kind of you know solid women going to church and they're very tidy and they're very neat, but everything is just perfect on them and they look beautiful. So we then went in and then michael has a hat for her. So we thought you know she would have like a you know, nice kind of rolls and texturing in the back and and the shape of it like just you know the lovely squaring off the shape of it like just fits into the period perfectly and with the Um, with her hat and her costume, i mean yeah, i i love her. What sets jingle jangle apart from other holiday films and other musicals, is the mix it's the mash-up. I mean you've, never seen victorian, dresses, cronking or twerking and the dance routines in those costumes and the makeup and hair as long as i've been doing movies. When i looked at it, i it just makes me emotional - and i don't know if it's something that's so deep in my dna - that i have never seen this kind of representation on screen before that makes me emotional. I have to walk away because it's so special and i think you know we all love. You know watching cheetah, bang bang at christmas and you know all the musicals and you know, and i've just bought a digitally remastered version of carmen jones, because i like a musical, but when i see this i think that's the life that it will have. It'S like that carmen jones movie, because to see all this look coming together, it's timeless it's liberating and inspirational. I hope that's what people will get from it. It'S 100 fun! There'S! No politics! There'S no brexit, there's! No! Nothing! It'S just a fun movie that you know! Generations can enjoy, and you know i don't have grandchildren. I hope i do have them and i think that's probably the only movie that i've done that's going to live on that my grandchildren will be watching this. Oh my grandma did that and i'll be proud. Well, i hope you know with jingle jangle in terms of the makeup and hair design, that you know, people will be inspired by it and loving. You know, love your natural textured, afro hair and some of the styles that we've created. You know for sure we can see them down the street in the future.