The Story of Harvey, A Character Photoshoot
When Publicity Director, Michael Colford, from The Footlight Club, approached me about their production of Harvey, I had to admit that I recognized the icon, but had never seen the show. I didn’t know the story of Harvey.
“Doctor I’ve wrestled with reality for 40 years and I’m happy to say that I’ve finally won out over it.”
Tasked with creating a photo illustration poster and a series of character portraits for the club’s Social Media accounts I needed to learn the story of Harvey quicky!
A huge thank you to Dedham High School sophmore, Harlee O’Sullivan, who stopped by the studio during our photoshoot for Harvey. She has a lot of talent and I look forward to seeing future work from her. You can follow her on instagram at @harlee_osullivan
Poster Photography Preparation
We had the amazing Dustin Rennells (Cabaret, Our Town, Honk, The Importance of Being Earnest) back on costumes. He made a huge number of costumes for the show and had them already for our photoshoots.
On set, we had the amazing Rodney Raftery. He was actually one of the first people I had photographed for the Footlight Club, some 15 years ago, for the Charles Buch Psyco Beach Party poster. Working with him for the cover image was Carol Gallagher and Katie Speed.
The Character Portraits
Michael Colford, the organization’s Publicity Director, uses Character Portraits as a part of his marketing tools. He posts an interview with each actor, featuring them in character, on the Clubs’ instagram and facebook pages.
One of the challenges of creating character portraits is actually toning down the actors. They are trained to project to the back rows. Which often means that everything is slightly broader.
However, to tell the story of Harvey on a poster, where the public is going to be able get up close to the images, we need to pull in just a little bit.
With Zach Best, the director, on set with me, helping the actors to find their roles, we gently cajoled the characters out. We made them bigger than life, but not caricatures. They have to be believable.
They have to see Harvey and make you believe it.
The Cast of Harvey
- Tags: character portrait, photo illustration, poster, theater, video
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