General Information for Prospective Models

Antrix has been in business well over 30 years and offers costume hire and other services from its base in Loose, Maidstone. At a time when there are many internet sites offering costumes for sale or hire, we try to offer a selection of outfits which are both of higher quality and different to those you see on other sites. We have the advantage that before we even started the business, we photographed the costumes in our collection. Given that we are constantly adding to our existing stock, and that our storage space is becoming increasingly limited, the website(s) and our internal photo catalogues are the primary sources of displaying our costumes and are extremely useful in showing what we have available.

 

The in-house modelling basically involves being a body and/or face to fit a costume around, so this is not studio-style portraiture. You are welcome to have copies of photos as a souvenir of your work, and for any portfolio you might be building for yourself. You are also welcome to bring a friend or chaperone to sessions (provided they will not be a distraction – in fact they might find themselves helping out!). You can also ask to see details of previous work, find what is involved in the various types of modelling and generally satisfy yourself as to how we intend to make use of your services. In a wider scenario, with people having their own media channels and creative outlets, we offer the opportunity to collaborate on projects.

​

Because of our different style of service, the costumes come in all shapes and sizes, from the conventional off-the-peg designs, to our own custom-built creations although we have very few multiples of outfits. In addition to our 2000 ‘core’ stock of outfits, we have a vast range of other costume elements, props and accessories, from which to improvise different ‘looks’. Although some outfits may be based on leotards, catsuits and the like, there are many others that keep things well covered. We never ask people to showcase costumes that they are not happy in – after all, the objective is to get people to hire/purchase items and an unhappy model does not photograph well.

​

Some costume ideas may use make-up, face-paint or masks. We encourage models to be pro-active and get involved in the creative process, and for those who want to be more involved, we also have 'stand-alone' costume, face and body paint creations to be worked on (or perhaps you have ideas of your own to bring to the table). This work may be more experimental and not necessarily intended for our catalogue or website, but may be available for your use on your media.

 

Time Involved

Obviously, it depends upon what needs to be done. A simple costume with no make-up involved may take about ten minutes (depending upon the time to change into the costume and have 3 or 4 photographs taken using both conventional and phone photography. For the more elaborate costumes and/or make-up, things may take longer, although usually we try to link between costumes and 'looks' to reduce delay and ‘hanging about’. A session of two to three hours typically works best, but we will try to make use of whatever time you can offer us.

We tend to do most of the photography on weekdays during the Summer and early Autumn months (when we are not so busy) as it is preferable to take them outside on warmer days in natural light, rather than indoors with artificial or flash-based photography. In some cases we have even been known to go 'on location'.

​

Payment

We do not expect people to work for free, though some do it just for the experience, portfolio material (Time For Prints/Time For CD), or for fun. We currently pay about £12-£15 per hour, but as we prefer potential models to be motivated by interest and enthusiasm rather than how much money they can make, we tend to work on an individual case basis. On some occasions it may be best to negotiate a fee 'for as long as it takes', rather than work against the clock/meter and if we are working with several people at once, a fee based on 'per costume/creation' basis may be more suitable. Payment on collaborations can be negotiated based on the input from both parties. NOTE: As heights, sizes and other factors vary between people, there may be a limit on what work is available to some individuals, at a given time or session.

​

The more you can tell us about yourself and your aspects of interest on the application form, the better we'll be able to make use of you and your time. Because the form is only an introduction, you may find it mutually advantageous to have an initial meeting or a 'test session' to ensure that you are happy with the sort of work involved and that we can work with each other to get the best results.

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Peter & Anne at Antrix

​

Interested? You can download the pdf pack (Iinformation including the above, plus an application form and Model Release Form - 142kb) here.

Any questions? Email us (address below) or give us a ring. Thanks for your time.