Mastering Film Budgeting: Hair
Hair plays a crucial role in setting the world for your audience, be that fantasy, sci-fi, period, or even contemporary. It can literally make or break your film’s visual aesthetic and take the audience out of the story when done poorly. Great hear grounds stories in reality. Despite it’s importance to our storytelling, budgeting properly for hair often gets overlooked or underestimated.
Here are some ways to master film budgeting when it comes to your Hair Department.
How big’s the cast?
Mo’ cast; mo’ money—typically. Larger casts require more supplies and hands on deck to create the looks you’re aiming for as well as get them through the works in a timely manner to maximize your shoot time. How much you’ll need per cast member will depend on the following.
When doing something other than straight contemporary, the size of your background can drastically affect your hair budget. They might needs wigs, styling, extensions and the like.
Do the cast have the hair?
Want your character to have a mohawk, but they don’t have the hair? You’ll need to budget for a wig to achieve that look or hire a different actor. Want your blond actress to be a redhead? You’ll need to budget in a professional hair colorist to dye your actress’s hair every two weeks.
If your cast doesn’t have the hair you’re looking for or can’t cut/dye their hair to fit your film’s needs, that will add to your budget. It’s important to look at what you’ll need to bring your desired look to life as you start budgeting for your film.
How Complex are the hairstyles?
The complexity of a hair style can up your budget by needing more time and even more resources to create and set the desired style. Hair extensions might be required to give your actress more volume Some period looks require rollers to set overnight. For this reason, the more complex the look, the more likely you’ll want to invest in wigs to expedite the cast’s time going through the works—especially with period, sci-fi and fantasy films.
Do we need stunt double wigs?
Does your stunt double have the same hair as your principal cast or do they need a wig to be passable? Let’s add a bit of budget for that one please.
Ways to save
The way to save is to get clear on what matters for your film most to create the world you want to see on screen. This could mean checking in with a Hair Designer to consult on where you should allocate more money and where you’ll want to allocate less money to achieve your creative vision. To save time and stress on the day, do a hair test to make sure everyone’s happy with the look before the shoot day. This will avoid any unexpected changes that could lead to a hold on set. Holds on set always cost more than the extra day for a camera test.
Budgeting for your film’s hair design is affected by many factors. The clearer your vision, the more successfully you’ll be able to allocate your film’s budget utilizing all the variables above. For more on clarifying your creative, check out Text to Moving Images—a workshop on film design, budgeting for design, and how to get the best out of your creative team.
