At Models Direct we deal with clients requesting all kinds of looks, so when Ad agency Poulsen Selleck approached us looking for a Japanese man for a photoshoot – we knew we’d be able to help.

We put together a selection of models and the client chose to use Sel-Vin, a model from Manchester.

Here is what he had to say about his day: “The shoot took place in Ipswich between 13:00 and 17:00 with photographer, Roger, and design director of Poulsen Selleck, Neil. Poulsen Selleck had been approached by the Puffa brand to relaunch their Puffa Jackets. With the

jackets being extremely well received in the high end fashion outlets in Milan and Tokyo, Puffa felt the time was right to approach some of the more exclusive outlets in the UK. With the help of Poulsen Selleck, they created a fictional Japanese character who is head over heels mad for Puffa Jackets. This character creates scrapbook of his obsession with Puffa Jackets, depicting how great they are, and sends them out to the prospective buyers, encouraging them to sell Puffa Jackets in England. The end product looked as if it was mailed from Japan, helping to maintain Puffa’s exclusive and desirable image – perfect for targeting top end buyers in stores such as Harrods and Liberty.

That would be superimposed over existing shots of busy Japanese streets and stores stocked full of Puffa Jackets.
My role was to play the OTT Japanese character wearing a variety of

Puffa Jackets in a variety of poses, someThis being my first shoot with Models Direct, I was initially apprehensive as I had no idea what was expected of me.However, Neil and Roger had a very clear idea of what they wanted, and I quickly loosened up. We started shooting outside while the sun created the light right for the shots to be superimposed. They wanted a very eccentric character, and there was a lot of jumping around and pulling of overexcited faces as I pretended to roam the streets of Japan shopping for Puffa Jackets. I found it easy to play up to the mad Japanese culture drawing upon hours watching Banzai and Takeshi's Castle, and Neil and Roger were definitely pleased with the mood they were capturing.
We then moved into the studio were a couch laden with Puffa Jackets was arranged to represent the end of my long shop. This was greatly enjoyable as I had to be quite diverse and show different sides of the character - serene and surrounded by Puffa Jackets, deeply pleased with my huge collection, in awe/disbelieve of after my long shop, etc. Neil and Roger were able to capture a range of angles and distances, and again, they seemed very pleased with the results.
The couch setup was then cleared and I was asked to wear each of the jackets in turn using a different pose, so as Neil could collate them into a montage. The jackets came in a range of colours and sizes, but I had brought along a good range of my own clothes and accessories so Neil could get variety he needed. Again, I was asked to try and show different aspects of the characters personality - attitude, surprise, ecstasy, cool and joy to name a few.

Under direction I felt quite easy to slip in and out of emotions, although some poses did take a few shots to get the right feel. We covered a great many angles and poses, sitting, standing and running around, and Neil and Roger showed great enthusiasm when we managed to capture the exact idea they had envisaged.

Overall the shootwas extremely enjoyable. I bonded well with Neil and Roger which helped get the job done, and although I can't speak on their behalf, I went away feeling happy that they were pleased with the results. This is definitely something I would do again, and in future shoots it would be nice to use this experience of acting and explore the range of characters I can portray.”
Client was very impressed with Sel-Vin – and he clearly had a good day! Feedback from assignments appears on our website (our models say). This gives a great insight into the kind of work we do at Models Direct and a flavour of how the models and clients felt the booking went. Keep in touch with who we are working with, and see if your feedback has made it onto the website.