High School's Next Top Model

Hey guys!

While I'm working on my current season (postponed due to extreme laziness), I wanted to share something with you guys.

High school seniors in the state of Pennsylvania are required to complete a "senior project." We get the last month of school off to explore and engage in an independent study of some sort. Some people create films or art collections. A friend of mine wrote and illustrated a novel, another directed, lit, costumed, and set a one act play. Some people did internships, got jobs, etc. The point is, you can really do whatever you want, so long as you are willing to put the effort into it.

My two friends and I, all being top model fanatics, decided to embark on one of the craziest journeys of my life--we did a Next Top Model competition within our own high school. For anonymity's sake, my high school will remain nameless.

My one friend, Sam, wants to work in television. She's currently interning at Comcast, and loves film. She was our director/producer, and was in charge of editing the final product. My other friend, Becca, is a photographer, and is currently taking a year off to build her portfolio. She was the photographer of our show. I'm a bit of an oddball--I work at a zoo, and have no plans to go into fashion, film, or art. I do love to create, though, and I was charged as the creative director, meaning it was my job to design our shoots and compile the necessary wardrobe, makeup, and locations for them. I was assisted by Maddie, a fashion-forward sophomore who was our wardrobe stylist, and Miriam, known as Merm, who did hair and makeup.

Our process started with auditions--we created a facebook group and handed out flyers at school, letting people know what we were planning on doing and that auditions were coming. The requirements were simple--
1. You must be a female.
2. You must be a current student at our High School. Alumni or previous students who transfered are not eligible to participate.

And that was pretty much it. At auditions, we got a decent turn out. Auditions began by having Sam, Becca, Maddie, and myself interview each girl. We had them all do some of the same things--they all had to give us a runway walk, and they all had to do a mock commercial for "Luna Toothpaste," using a candy bar to substitute for the toothpaste. We also took a quick polaroid of each girl.

We met a lot of interesting characters, but interesting doesn't mean that you make it on. We judged the girls on potential--in this case, that means facial beauty. We couldn't stand to be as picky as the real world of fashion. We couldn't find girls who were 5'10 and 115. We did not expect to see real fashion model bodies.

During the interviews, we asked the girls a number of questions to see how fit they were for the contest--how do you handle criticism? Would you be comfortable working with a model, even if you didn't like her? Would you pose with a 16 foot long python?

We also threw out some less orthodox questions to see how they think on their feet. We asked one girl to create a superheroine identity for herself. We asked three different girls were asked to pose as an elephant, a zombie, and a starving child (among others) but make the pose look high fashion.

In the end, of the girls who auditioned, we picked 15 to make the second round of the semi-finals.

Those fifteen returned the next day for their first lesson in posing. We took them around to a local shopping center, which has stores like Victoria's Secret, The Gap, Banana Republic, Lily Pulitzer,and Ann Taylor, amongst others. We examined storefront ads and mannequins, and examined how the models and mannequins were posed, what their poses and expressions said about the product, and who the target audience of the advertising is. The very first challenge tested the girls when we asked them to give us three poses. The first pose would be one they would use if they were modeling for Victoria's secret, so we were looking for sex appeal and awareness of the body, with poses that emphasize the breasts and hips. The second pose was for Ann Taylor, so we wanted to see sophistication. The Gap, their third pose, needed to be friendly and accessible.

Their last challenge for the day was the first photo shoot. We wanted to see who could really stand out in the crowd. The girls were instructed to dress in black and white--no other colors. They were all styled with their hair back, and then posed in a group on the roof of my house. Each girl was given seven frames as the girl in the spotlight--it was during those seven frames that the girls had to steal the show.

In the end, we could only pick ten girls to move on to the main competition. Two girls, Lauren C and Rachel B, were unable to make the second day of casting, and were eliminated by default. That meant of the thirteen girls who were present, three would have to go.

The results of our first shoot were as follows.

Aliza


Amy


Andrea


Anna


Betty


Chesney


Keisha


Laura


Lauren C- No Picture

Lauren H


Marlee


Mia


Rachel B- No Picture

Rachel D


Ruhama


In the end, five had to go. Rachel B and Lauren C were already out. So who made the top ten?

AMY- CHALLENGE WINNER


BETTY


CHESNEY


KEISHA


LAURA


LAUREN


MARLEE


MIA


RACHEL


RUHAMA


That means Aliza, Andrea, and Anna were all eliminated.

Please tell me what you guys think. Remember, these girls are not real models--they're high school students. Please don't leave comments saying "so and so" is short, because they're all too short to be models--Betty, the tallest, is 5'7. However, I'd really love to hear what you guys think. And if you have any questions about how it went down, I'll answer them all--I was there for the entire process, and I was a judge, after all.

Wow! Nice project. And those girls are all gorgeous.

I'm not really sure if we're supposed to choose favorites, but Chesney and Keisha stand out to me. They're stunning.

I'd love to see future photoshoots from this. Good luck!

Oh my god, I totally forgot to mention that this was a couple of years ago that I did this! I'm not still in high school, and this has already concluded.

omg, betty would make a great model!
and chesney reminds me of allison cycle 10

also, lauren looks like victoria cycle 9!

For me Chesney and Keisha looks the best here! IMO of course


WOW, they should really consider modeling! I wanted Anna to stay!!!!

I think these girls are gorgeous! Keisha & Lauren are super gorgeous, Chesney too!!!

Lauren is the only modelesque one to me

Yeah I forgot about her in my first post, but Lauren definately stands out in a good way. She looks like she could be a model.

You should post the season on here! Very cool idea!

Hi. I will continue his work!

We started on a Saturday morning. Amy had already told us she would not be able to make it on Saturday (she would be in Chicago for a cousin's Bar Mitzvah), so she would be doing her shoots the next day. We expected nine girls--but only eight were there on time.

Mia was late. Laura called her and she got over as soon as she could, but she was clearly hung over, which bothered all of us. She knew we were filming on Saturday, so the fact that she would get so trashed the night before was unprofessional.

When all the girls finished with their promotional shoot, I talked to them about what we were expecting of a good model. I used examples from the show, and then revealed to them what their first shoot would be--they would each recreate a photo from the history of ANTM. We were filming our season during the beginning of Cycle 8, so no pictures from Cycle 8, 9, or 10 were recreated. In a lot of the images, we couldn't get the exact same set, so we used items with similar colors and tried to get a similar feel. In their performances, we weren't looking for an exact copy, but we wanted them to evoke the same spirit and overall look of the shot.

Amy was Ann's Alter Ego (Dark side)

Spoiler:

Betty was Michelle's model stereotypes (Bulimic model)

Spoiler:

Chesney was a version of Yoanna's Solstice shot.

Spoiler:

They could not afford rollerskates, but Keisha had a stunning performance in the photoshoot as Yaya's Dooney and Bourke photo.

Spoiler:

Laura was dancing away as Shannon's Reebok sports ad.

Spoiler:

Lauren was making an impression of Sara Albert, riding a virtual elephant.

Spoiler:

Marlee was a sanitized version of Adrianne's Merit Diamonds:

Spoiler:

Mia became a Desperate Housewife when in terms to Joanie...

Spoiler:

Rachel was portraying Christina's "Kloofing" shot.

Spoiler:

Last but not least, Ruhama was Nik in the country.

Spoiler:

The girls then had a challenge, where they were asked to compile a fashionable look out of outdated, wrongly sized, and just plain ugly clothes. Chesney was the winner, and was granted immunity into the next round.

It was then time for the first panel. It was the most nerve wracking moment of my life. Except for the next panel, of course.

AMY- She shot the morning of panel, and after we had finished all the other girls the day before, Becca, the photographer said, "Can't we just kick of Amy?"
After we shot her, we just couldn't do it. She was phenomenal to work with and a genius at posing. She asked questions the other girls didn't even think to ask, such as how she should hold her hands in her picture. We were all impressed.

BETTY- A beautiful girl. She did a good job but the majority of her frames were identical--we felt we could have seen more versatility in her performance. She got the final product, but we wanted more options.

CHESNEY- Chesney gave the same pose over and over again. I was disappointed in her. She didn't do badly enough to be kicked off, but she was lucky she won the challenge.

KEISHA- Keisha was a pleasure to work with. She posed like none other--her very last frame was a back bend. She nailed the assignment--she gave us the inspiration picture, but gave us her own twist on it.

LAURA- Laura was a nightmare. She clearly was not happy with her outfit, and her movement was stiff, repetitive, and just not that pretty. She needed work on getting facial expressions that said something.

LAUREN- Lauren was great. It started drizzling during her shoot, and she was a trooper through it. She was stunning through and through.

MARLEE- Marlee was a pleasant surprise. Her picture killed it. She looked smoldering in almost all of her shots. It was totally sexy and perfect.

MIA- During the casting group shot, Mia was great. I was so looking forward to shooting her again. What a huge letdown. Her performance was so subpar, and I was upset because I knew she could do better. We were also all displeased by the hangover incident.

RACHEL- Rachel was perplexing. During the shoot, she was a natural, she looked beautiful and moved great. But the film came out terribly. The majority of her shots were just bad. We wondered if maybe, she just wasn't photogenic, and it that's something that could be helped.

RUHAMA- Ruhama was one of the stiffer models, but we all thought she was one of the most striking girls. Sam (the producer/filmmaker) asked us if we thought Ruhama was HSNTM. Becca and I both said she wasn't ready yet, but that we definitely saw the ability for her to improve.

The callout order was as follows:

Spoiler:

And that meant that the bottom two was...

Spoiler:

And...

Spoiler:

...was eliminated.