Hi, my name is Veronika, I'm 24 years old
I've been living in Japan for already 6 years. And I'm "hafu"
Half Japanese and half Russian
One of my friends knew a guy who is a photographer and he offered me to model for him
And the photos turned out OK
It was a swimsuit shoot because it was summer time
And them my mom started working
as a nanny for a kid who's mom is a model agency's owner
And she invited me to visit her agency
So, I've registered at their agency. At that moment I've already had some photos in my portfolio
And then I've started meeting other girls who were modeling too and they've recommended me some other agencies to work with as well
They have given me some links, phone numbers etc. So, I've started calling them and have registered at those agencies too
So, then I've started receiving e-mails with castings invitations and job offers etc
And I've became a model lol
In general, all of these agencies (those who works with freelancers) don't sign in foreign models
So, only those people who has Japanese visa and who lives here in Japan can work there
But there are some agencies that may help some models with getting a visa
Like in some cases if someone was a student and had a student visa that has expired. But that person had many modeling offers and worked really good, so they might help him to get a new visa for half year or year smth like that
Maybe they even help them with another visas in the future
My first agency was Angel17. This agency's owner is Russian
It's a very good agency
Because they really care about their models
You know in many agencies manageres don't often go to a castings with you
Managers from Angel17 always go to a casting with you, always tell the clients about you
They say that you're so nice, so the client should book her etc
And most of the jobs are really nice
I mean most of the jobs are high-paid and you can earn a lot, they offer less "extra" (low-paid jobs)
And I have kinda small contract with this agency
You know, there are situations when different agencies offer you the same jobs (castings)
So, if for example I've got the same job offers from Angel17 and from few other agencies at the same time
I have to take a job from Angel17, because it's the first agency where I was registered ( the agency with whom I have my 1st contract)
So, now I work with 5 agencies
There are 2 major parts of Japanese fashion business (2 types of model agencies)
Those who works with international models. So, Mother Agencies from various countries send models to work in these agencies
And there are freelance - oriented agencies
The agencies for people who lives in Japan
Most of the times girls who works in International model agencies
They are more like fashion/ runway models. They do the shows etc
The take jobs where clients want to see tall models, I mean real models :)
And we (local freelance models) most of the times take "lifestyle" jobs
Like advertising, some fashion catalogs as well
Some time ago fashion models and lifestyle models have never crossed / met each other on the castings - the jobs were totally different
But now the marker has grown and there is a real diversity among models
So, sometimes we see each other on various jobs. Like music video sets etc
Japan is very specific country
And you really never know what kind of look clients are looking for
So, even the girl who's just a little bit cute
She can become a model in Japan and
And the height doesn't really matter here too
If you're too tall it's not good too, because there's no normal clothing size for you
And if talking about tvs / advertising jobs, most of the times the actors there
Japanese actors are about 170 cm tall maximum
OK, maybe 172 cm
So, if the girl is taller than the guy beside her, it obviously looks strange
So, most of the clients look for girls about 165-168 cm tall for the tvc / advert jobs
because you'll be working with famous Japanese actors etc
The most common jobs that I take are video jobs
I don't know why
I've never worked in fashion show
Because I'm not tall at all. My height is 165 cm
And my weight isn't really like model's weight lol
And at the moment I work really often for various sport brands
It's like... jobs for sport clubs, gyms, sportswear
And now I work for New Balance
I have a really good collaboration with them, because I model in their catalogs several times a year
And also they give me their clothes for promotion ( I workout wearing it, photographing myself for instagram etc)
Ok, and could you please tell us with what agencies are you working at the moment?
Maybe you could also recommend some good agencies for local freelance models?
As I said, I'd recomend Angel 17
Then Avocado Model Agency, Free Wave Model agency
And Remix Model Agency
BTW Remix Model Agency really loves hafu
I mean mixed models who are half Japanese
They offer many jobs for TV
Some jobs in the movies
So, those people who lives in Japan and are fluent in Japanese
have a very good chance to become a "talent" as they call them here :)
Becoming actors, tv personality etc
So, it's a very nice agency if you want to grow in this field
So, I think I'll tell you from the beginning how the process of getting a modeling job goes here
I receive e-mails from various model agencies
With the job information: the payment, date of casting, date of actual job
Name of the brand
Sometimes they can also attach some similar photos of videos as an example of the job
If the dates work for me, I send them "1st keep"
It means that I'm 100% available on those dates
If I'm not sure whether I'll be available on those dates or not, I send them "2nd keep"
And if I can't work on those dates I send them "no good", just tell that I'm not available
If everything's OK and I have 1st or 2nd keep for this job
They invite me to a casting
Actually first of all, the agency sends the pictures of mine to the client
If they like me, they invite me to the casting
So, if I was invited to casting, the agency sends me the e-mail
with the casting location, date and time
and most of the times they also
give the information about the clothing - what I should wear and what make-up I should wear as well
If they don't specify any make-up or clothes
It means you can wear anything you want
But most of the times I try to take a look at the client's website or take a look at the brand
So I could see what kind of brand it is, how their products look etc
So, if it's some business company, I try to wear some suit for a casting
If it's a cosmetic brand the clothes don't matter at all, the main thing is to come to a casting wearing natural make-up
So, it depends on the job
So, if I see that it will be smth romantic, I'll probably wear a dress
If they need kinda Cinderella, I try to look like her, become a Cindrella lol
You know what I mean lol
So, the client could image me in that role and think: yeah, she looks like her, so we need to book her
So, the payment
So, you can earn from 100 to 10 000 $ for a job
So, usually for the cheapest work you'll get about 100 - 150 - 200 $
These jobs called "extra". It's like the extras in the movies, music videos etc
So, most of the times it's the job where many people are involved
And there's one main actor who's the face of this ad
And the other people are one the background doing smth
So, its the cheap job
And you'll get from 30 000 to 200 000 yen for the catalog jobs
It's from 300 to 2000 $
The price depend on how popular the brand is and etc
And the jobs for really famous brands like Toyota, Panasonic
Fujifilm... Like various cameras, cars...
And "Este"... The jobs for those brads are highly paid
I think the most expensive is "Este"
Este means the jobs for some Beauty salons
For example if its a TVC for the beauty salon it's a very expensive job
And you'll get about 7 000 - 10 000 $ for that jobs
Because most of the times these jobs require partial nudity
Like there can be a naked back. Or like an advert for massage salons etc
And if there are any restrictions
They'll pay you for this job more as well
It means, for example you have a catalog shoot and that catalog will be used by that brand for one year
For example it's catalog for Nike
And the restriction means that you can't work with other sport brands for a year while you have a contract with Nike
Let's imagine that you're successfully working for one month
How much can model earn
Do you think it's possible to work like this full time or it's more like a hobby?
First of all, it depends on the model
How she works....
And not really how she looks...
I'd say that Japanese clients pay more attention to the models personality
For example you need to not only be good in doing the task on the casting, but
be like
very communicative, positive
Both on the casting and during your job
So, if you want to get that client
like for the future jobs
If you want that client to book you for other jobs
Beside the working process on the set
When you have a lunch break or smth like that
you also have to be like very positive, fun, communicative, you have to smile a lot etc
So, the team would think that you're so cute
And they would love you as a person. It;s really really important
So, that's what your monthy salary really depends on
So, if you're often get booked for the jobs thanks to your personality, you have a lot of work in general
And you earn a lot of money
And it also depends on the month.
So, for example December isn't a really good month for work because it's the last month before the New Year and Christmas
So, it can turn out that you won't earn anything at all in December
Or for example you'll earn like 1 000 $ only
And there can be the other month when you'll earn like 10 000 $
Or you can earn like 5 000 $ for one shoot or smth
And those months when you have lots of jobs help you
survive on the months when you have no jobs at all
So, you think it's possible to work full time as a model?
Yes, of course there are many girls who works in modeling full time, it's their main job
But for me it's just a hobby and I'm not going to work as a model my whole life
So, I have another job as well
But being a model is very interesting
Because modeling industry means connection in various fields
There are like... Parties where models get invited
Where you can meet people whom you can meet in the future or use this connection for your future job
Thank you so much for the interview, it was a pleasure!
Thank you too :)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét