Annie L

BLACK PEOPLE ON TV! TWIG

BLACK PEOPLE ON TV! Looks at hair and makeup styling for people of colour on TV & FILM

Here Annie Little shares her process for creating hairstyles as hair designer on the film TWIG.

'Hello...? Yes, it's me. I'm just letting you know there are some black people on TV. Well actually at the movies, in a film. Yes, and it's showing now in Ireland.'

A biracial woman wearing braids — TWIG By Blue Ink Films. Directed by Marian Quinn. Starring Sade Malone & Brian F O'Byrne.

TWIG dreams of escaping a divided Dublin. Her brothers gangland feud is trapping people in a culture of fear. But when tragedy strikes Twig seeks to do the right thing a decision that ultimately seals her fate.

How did you come to work on the film TWIG, what was your role?

I was hired as hair designer / hair department head on the film TWIG, recommended for this role by producers I worked on a film with a few years ago.

Who was on your team?

On the hair team was myself as designer and Emmett as hair assistant. I loved Emmett he was a great person to work with. He was charming and enthusiastic.

He watched everything I was doing with afro hair and wanted to have a go himself.

He introduced me to Janye who came in to help us on large crowd days, she was very talented. I lucked out working with these two people who I didn’t know and had never met. Although I did interview Emmet on the phone and he came highly recommended. It is a gamble but one that paid off and we were a solid unit. They trusted me and had my back and we could cover one another which was important, because as you know on a film set there are times when you all need to be in different places.

How did you prepare for this job?

TWIG is based on a Greek Tragedy called Antigone and so I familiarised myself with that story and then read our script to understand our version and our characters. I had meetings with the films writer and director Marian Quinn to hear her thoughts, expectations and ideas about the looks for her film, and then did my research.

I met with Costume, Production Design and Makeup to discuss our mood-boards and our intentions for the characters through each scene. Finally, I met with Sade Malone who plays TWIG to discuss her hair and what we hoped to do with it. The TWIG character was going to wear long plaits and so before filming began, I took Sade to get her hair braided in London before flying over to Ireland (where the film was being made) to do hair fittings with the rest of the cast.

What was the inspiration for your hair designs?

My designs were inspired by the story and by Marian Quinn and her vision for her film.

The fact Marian hired me as hair designer and not 'just as a hair artist' for her black characters showed me how thoughtful she was - I was inspired to give her what she wanted. I listened to her and considered who these characters were, and how they moved in their world.

TWIGs hair was inspired by a Zoe Kravitz image I saw, it was the right look for a young carefree girl walking around Dublin. Eunice who plays Eamon’s mother reminded me of a Karlie Kloss - pretty but very buttoned up, not a hair out of place. The looks we gave Eunice are some of my favourites. Our thug Jason's look was a rebel-like James Dean.

My ideas might come from looking at real people or trends, or shapes and emotions, lots of things. Also the tension in the story inspired me – I think emotion is a great catalyst for style.

Thankfully Marian and the cast liked my ideas and trusted my process and were happy to let me explore a variety of looks until we got to the right one. I had a lot of fun.

What do you mean by 'emotion is a catalyst for style'?

Well, whatever we feel shows up in our look, doesn't it? Often our hair looks great when we are having a good time in our lives. Changes in emotions can affect how much attenion we give ourselves - little points that can help navigate a hair story. As an example when we meet TWIG, her hair is tied back, casual, she is happy. As the tension mounts she's in warrior mode, her hair goes up into a high ponytail - it's quite an empowering action when you physically tie your hair up like that. There was a physical shift in Sade's energy whenever we put her hair up high - she brought that confident energy to TWIG. Her back straightened and it's like ‘don’t ‘eff with me’ . When TWIG is defeated her hair comes down it's a bit frazzled.

There are moments like that for some of the other characters too. But I'm not asking for these kinds of notes to be obvious to the audience - but for me in design these markers are helpful.

What about TWIGS hair - Do braids make life easier?

You can think so. Braids are an option, but they are not an easy option. If they are easy, you are not being mindful of your actor. There is no less attention or hair maintenance, or continuity involved when the hair is in braids. You might be ok at first because the plaits are new, but TWIG is in almost every scene and so is her hair. TWIGS plaits and Sade’s own hair underneath still need conditioning and looking after on a day-to-day basis.

Actress Sade Malone wearing braid hairstyle laughing — Twig in braids

Sade's hair was relaxed and came to us a bit fragile. She wanted to give her hair a rest and was concerned about her edges which had suffered previously on other jobs.

Putting her hair in braids was a careful consideration and my goal was to make sure that this young woman left this job with her edges intact, and because I was looking after Sade's hair personally, I was able to pay attention to every little thing and by the end of the shoot her hair was thicker and healthier.

I protected her hair as much as I could. She had a bonnet to protect her hair off camera. I re-did any plaits that needed attention or were coming loose straight away. Her scalp was greased every other day and her hair with sprayed regularly with a special mix I made. At planned intervals her hair was washed and conditioned.

Hair maintenance was planned into the schedule and except for hair washing, everything was taken care of in the call. Undoing and re-plaiting hair takes time, so I made time for it. My station was always set up and ready to handle her – I was re-plaiting braids every few days.

Our tiny hair department looked after her and looked out for all the actors.

How enjoyable was designing hair this film. Were there any hair challenges you faced?

I loved every minute of this job. Everyone was happy, this was a modern film - it was nice to make people look real and let people feel seen. Every person no matter how much hair they had got time in the chair. All challenges got worked out - but one we didn't expect involved - Noaise, who plays cheeky schoolgirl Mikayla. Noaise's hair is super long and very very heavy, making her hair look like a simple ponytail was not that simple.

Did you incorporate any specific cultural elements into any of the characters looks?

When working with characters who have textured hair, I think you would naturally incorporate specific cultural elements into their looks that are familiar to their heritage or environment. E.g. We see Izzy (TWIGS sister) in her bedtime headscarf, or her hair is wrapped up when she is relaxing at home. What you don't tend to see on screen is that cultural follow through. For example, in the girl’s bathroom / bedroom we see black hair care products and combs, details like that are usually forgotten.

Actors with braids, cainrow, hair fade and curls — One family multiple hair textures

This film features a mixed-raced family and their younger selves. I don’t recall ever seeing 8 - 10 family / friend characters in one film with hair like theirs. In amongst the storytelling and the film we were making it was great to be able to show their culture through identifiable hairstyles like cainrows, plaits, fades and hair types that are straight, waved, curly and natural.

Do you think it was important that you were a black designer doing the hair on this film?

Hairstyles in braids, cainrow, curls, barber fade — The Siblings

Yes and no.

No, because I was hired to consider the hair of everyone in the film. Yes, because the first thing I do is make sure my actors of colour hair does not look the same as it always does in real life or on their other shows.

Yes, because the cast of colour were able to have experiences through me they said they never had before as actors.

There was a moment during fittings when I understood how important it was for them to have me running the hair department - and they were appreciative of the simplest things I take for granted. For example, the character Paulie has his hair braided. Justin the actor who plays Paulie had never in his life had his hair braided / cainrowed and was beside himself over the moon.

What was your experience of working on this film? What did you enjoy?

Honestly all of it. This was one of the nicest jobs I have done. I was the only one over from London, but I never felt like an outsider or alone. The cast and crew made me feel at home from day one and even during the film launch welcomed me back like an old friend.

They were funny, lively and fun. Through filming the producers and even Sade looked out for me. The main set was about a 30 min walk from my hotel which gave me an opportunity to absorb my environment, do a quick shop if I needed to and think about the day ahead. If the location was further away the Line Producer Helen would drive me in her car, the two of us chatting so much we often missed the turn.

I enjoyed getting to know my team-mate Emmett who was the best partner for this job and Jane too. Watching Marian Quinn our director and Declan, the DOP (who happened to be her brother), collaborating and working together is a core memory. I loved the respect they gave each other and the way they made room for each other’s process and how that showed up in the work.

And honestly, watching the fake siblings get to know each other and become an on-set family was heartwarming. There is a moment in a day’s filming when people interact with each other and forget they are not actually related; they are totally united, free and happy.

TWIG

A Film By Blue Ink Film, Janey Productions. Director Marian Quinn.

Released 21 June 2024, Stars: Sade Malone, Brian F. O'Byrne.

Hair Design: Annie Little. Hair assistant: Emmet McCauley, Jayne Gilbert.

Makeup Design: Louise Myler.

All Pictures Credits to Annie Little & Blue Ink Films.

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