We just had to do a holiday theme for October and luckily Zoe West has some crazy tights and Amy Hope was able to channel her "Good Witch / Bad Witch" personalities for a sensational shoot.
For the Trick or Treat theme, Zoe's tights really sold the shot. The plastic candy bucket was a no-brainer to add that Halloween flavor. Check the reflection and you can just about see Zoe's wonderful face.
Then we wanted to try a Flying Witch theme so I grabbed my trusty broom and Zoe gave it her all in the deep end of the pool. Flying on a broom underwater looks pretty convincing when Zoe is swimming on the surface and I'm lying on the bottom at about 8 feet. But there's just one thing. Can you spot it?
Zoe West sells the pose, the prop master phoned this one in.
Yup, our broom pretty much sucks. Works great as a broom, but it just doesn't sell the shot as a prop for witches. Zoe is close to pulling off a great pose but no matter how hard she tries on this one, the broom says "clean my floors" and not "I'm a wicked witch".
Enter: Amy Hope, model, stylist and broom owner. Well, actually she "borrowed" it from her room mate and had the nerve to schlep it on the bus from Brooklyn without being detained by Homeland Security as a security threat.
Amy Hope with "real" witch broom, Starbucks, and supervision from Lucy, the dog.
This is where the "Good-Witch / Bad Witch" theme really starts to work and it's not just the broom. Amy did some funky face makeup to help sell the "Good Witch" part of the shot and looked overjoyed when she hit the 75-degree water on a cloudy September day. She's a good actress.
Amy Hope ready to fly or be baptized, which ever comes first. Oh, wait...
Did you ever swim in heels and ride a broom at the same time? Well, that's just one of the challenges of pulling off the theme. We did some pretty wild shots that could cast a spell on most any one.
Casting an underwater spell.
But the real prop that sold this shot was the broom... making a clean sweep of our holiday theme.
Good Witch.
Bad Witch.
Wet Witch.
Can you spot the hidden production tools in this shot? List them below in your comments.