BA (Hons) Prosthetics and Special Effects student, Ella talks about her experience of being a contestant on the BBC TV show, Glow Up.

Solent student features on BBC TV show 'Glow Up'

Awards

Fashion, make-up and prosthetics

Ella is in the make-up studio at Solent, applying make-up to a male model.

Ella is sat in the make-up studios, talking directly to the camera.

It was such a good experience. Actually seeing how TV works, like, I really want to go into TV myself doing makeup so seeing how the TV world works was a really cool experience and just being part of a TV show - it's really cool.

Cuts to Ella applying make-up to her model in the make-up studio. Ella is applying green and blue make-up to her model. Cuts back to Ella talking to the camera.

One of my favourite moments was working on Six the Musical because that's what I really, really want to get into. I love musicals, theatre... I've worked at the Southampton theatre for, like, the past two years so, yeah, doing that in the West End was so cool. 

Cuts between Ella applying the blue and green make-up to her model and talking to camera.

And the Roblox thing as well that we did. Like, now I've got a character in Roblox that everyone can download! So, yeah, so many cool experiences.

Ella is talking to the camera. Cuts to a close-up of her eye palette.

To be honest I didn't think I'd get to the final. I'm the youngest ever to get to the final so it's pretty amazing. I believed in myself but I just didn't think I would get that far so to actually say I'm a finalist in Glow Up is pretty amazing! 

Starts with close-up shot of Ella taking some of the green make-up from the palette and working it with a make-up brush. Cuts back to Ella talking to the camera.

I think starting at Solent I didn't really know where I wanted to go with makeup but after experimenting with special effects and, like, using the studio spaces to get really good quality photos of my work, like, it's really shown me how how I can express myself in my work a lot more.

Ella is talking to the camera. then cuts back to her applying the make-up to her model. We see her adding more detail.

I think the creative culture is very good in the sense of, like, I've done so many collaborations with different courses like photography, TV, media, fashion... I've done so many things with different courses, so, yeah, I think that's a really good thing that Solent offers is collaborating.

Begins with Ella talking to the camera. We then see a close-up of the drawing of her make-up look on a tablet screen before cutting back to Ella talking to camera.

My tips for people who are wanting to come to Solent, or to start doing special effects makeup is to just practice. Just keep on practicing. I think, if it doesn't turn out good the first time you just have to do it again. I remember so many times in my first year where I'm scraping silicone off my prosthetics and then it looks awful, and it falls out and it's like [makes an anguished sound]  but I just keep kept going; kept practicing and eventually came up with good prosthetics. And, yeah, figured out that I was actually all right at special effects!

Begins with Ella applying the finishing touches to her work. We then see a close-up of the finished look - the model's face is completely covered in a green and blue blended make-up with white lines going from the forehead and temples towards the nose. Cuts back to Ella talking to camera.

My hopes for the future is that I have a good career. I really, really want to work in TV and film. I'd love to work on something like casualty or, like, a big SFX film. Yeah just, like, working in that industry. I think after seeing how TV works I just really want to get into it now. I'm just so excited!

Solent university's branded outro. A red wave appears, filling the screen, and then Solent University's logo appears and the URL www.solent.ac.uk

Solent student features on BBC TV show 'Glow Up'

Related articles

Innovate UK Women in Innovation award-winner, Louise Ben-Nathan