Settling On Rafka

I am delighted to announce that I have found the (almost) perfect embodiment of Rafka!! So, as per usual, I will explain to you the various steps I had to go through in order to ensure that my main character was represented in the utmost thorough and accurate way:

Small photoshoot (sneak peak) of my main character

I have compiled research on the way average Lebanese women dress, style their hair, and do their makeup. Starting with the clothing, Lebanon is known to be a predominantly Westernized country starting with their governemnt all the way to how people, especially women dress. Women, in cities such as Beirut sometimes overdress, or are "fashion-consious", wearing popular European clothing brands. Traditional clothing (link here) is rarely worn in Lebanon as it is currently outdated and started diminishing as the country was slowly inheriting Western style and influences. Due to this, my character is seen wearing a stylish shirt to acompany with her jeans that are of a Western brand (although it will not be visible in the intro). The rosary in her hand represents her religion (Which is Maronite Catholicism). It will not, however play a huge role in this film but merely act as a delineation of her ethnic/religious background.

Following the dress code my character has on, the makeup is an important portrayal of her heritage. In this close-up below, she is seen wearing very little makeup (she was instructed to only fill in her eyebrows, have some eyeshadow and use mascara). Lebanese women are notorious for wearing makeup constantly and even doing quotidian tasks. However, what many people are not aware of is that women in the age of twenty, such as Rafka, do not wear as much makeup as women of thirty and forty years. It is as though the youth are the beginners of the makeup phenomenom and so I decided to exhibit this with the minimal use of makeup for this character while also strongly accentuating her foreign facade such as the usual "thick eyebrows, strong facial features" of Middle-Easterns.

Lastly, the hair. I used what I thought I would never use as part of my research... Pinterest... Well, it actually did help to understand what hair styles/trends are famous right now, as in 2016, in Lebanon. In addition with my Pinterest research, I found an interesting article placing the idea of the typical Lebanese hairstyle on a Lebanese hairdresser (published in 2013). Luckily, the person portraying my character has the "shoulder-length layers" hair as well as the touch of highlights to provide a more 'young and fresh' representation of the youth in Lebanon. With all these aspects, the character that is to be Rafka can be seen as an almost perfect depiciton of Lebanese women in their twenties. There will be other aspects, hopefully, that will fullfill the message that the heritage of this character is purely of Lebanese decent.

A close-up of the makeup and hairstyle of the Lebanese character

Crane, K. A. (2013, November 3). Big hair today: Inside a Lebanese hair salon | The National. Retrieved March 23, 2016, from http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/fashion/big-hair-today-inside-a-lebanese-hair-salon

"Lebanese." Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cultures. 1999. Retrieved March 23, 2016 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3435900278.html

Traditional dress of Lebanon. (2012, August 22). Retrieved March 23, 2016, from http://www.thelovelyplanet.net/traditional-dress-of-lebanon/