Here, sit down. I’ll get your face in order. Then you will be ready for the shoot.
No, you have to be completely still. Hold still. Look, this is delicate work I am doing, if you want me to do it right, you are going to have to hold your head completely still. Is that so difficult?Here, let me show you a trick. Look at the wall, the wall reflected in the mirror, and pick a spot on the wall and look at it. Not just a blank spot, find a crack, or the corner of the lockers, or the edge of the poster, or one of the flowers in the vase. Whatever it is, anything will do as long as it is something you can keep focused at the center of your vision. Concentrate.
Now take a deep breath in, and let it out again. That’s right. Keep your attention focused on your spot. Take another breath in, and let it out again. Make that spot, that thing you are looking at, make it the center of your world. Put all of your attention there.
That’s right, and continue to breathe slowly and evenly. The longer you do this, the easier it will be for you to hold your head still so I can apply your makeup exactly right.
Very good. Keep focused on your spot. It won’t be much longer. It is easier and easier for you to be completely still, like a statue, like a doll, a doll to be posed. Imagine that you are a maquette, to be posed at will for the photo shoot, doing whatever the photographer tells you to do.
You want the photographer to take the best pictures possible, so you want to be ready to do exactly what she tells you. Stay focused and still, ready to be posed, ready to do exactly what you are told. It feels so good to do what you are told. It feels so good to be completely focused on your spot on the wall. It feels so good, in fact, that you are coming to realize, as if you had known it all along, that you want to stay in this calm and focused state of mind. That’s right, you are doing great, breathing calmly and evenly, keeping your head still, while I finish your lips
Completely calm and focused, completely motionless, completely ready to follow and obey the directions of the photograper. It feels so good to be like this.
I am done now, and here is the production assistant to take you to the photographer. It feels so good to be calm and focused like this, ready to follow the PA, ready to do whatever the photographer tells you, absolutely anything she tells you. You want to please her. You want to stay calm and focused. Yes, that’s right, just like that.
(Here, she’s ready now. I think you’ll be pleased with quite how much she wants to be a good model, to do what she is told.)
(source: Lady Dior Web Documentary; model: Marion Cotillard; via @digitalswitchgamine)
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