Reflective Research Introduction This is an individual assignment. It comprises an edited selection of your research so do not include everything you have collected. Have very clear, labeled sections for different areas of research. Your research must be correctly referenced — sources given, dates where applicable — and your analysis of the material must be evident. • Research covers inspirations, influences, styles, genres, histories, contemporary attitudes and movements in film, social media and techniques. Consider that everything that influences you on this unit as research, and be sure to indicate the breadth of your work — so do not edit down too much, but consider how best to communicate it. • It is important that you see your reflective research as an individual exploration — any information must be credited and annotated and reflected upon from your own perspective. Your responses to classes, technical issues, to inspiration, to working with your partner-all will all lead to different perspectives.
Week 1 21/9/15 Planing film In the first week we were initially introdcted to the assignment, which was to make a fashion film. I was immeditaly excited and optermistic I then proceeded to research a few fashion films and designers I liked in conjunction to the assignment so I could have a better understanding of the project.
Fashion meets film. Fashion is originally seen as a still image a picture in a magazine, billboards ,posters etc however fashion film is a video or advert. Or a film that is heavily reflected on a designer to showcase their design in a narrative that is played out on a TV screen other than a still image. The birth of a fashion film/Advert was for Barbie in 1959 which was one of the first toys to have a marketing strategy based extensively on television advertising, which has been copied widely by other toys. It is estimated that over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries, with the well-known fact that three Barbie dolls are sold every second,with help of doing the advert.
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Some of my favourite fashion films/Commercials Fashion films, for brands such as Dior, Parada, Lanvin and Yves Saint Laurent. Have captivated my attention as they use a combination of narrative, movement and experimental. In the second week we were still deliberating and analysing fashion films and looking at concepts,for further inspiration and know how. We then were given a task to form a group of 3 and 4. However as I was new to the course, and was not entirely familiar with other co creators who I believed would be a perfect fit for collaborative partners.I had only seen some other students film projects that they had composed during the summer break. Even though we had not formed our groups I was clear that I wanted to base my film around a designer that I felt had a concise style and vision. I wanted to create a fashion film that was different from any visual commercial they had done before. Moving forward to week 3 I was then paired with Precilla and kitty. We looked at different designers who had experimented with the use of the fashion film, and those who had not. We threw around a few ideas and those that stuck were Givenchy Vs Yeezy season 2!I was strongly pushing for Givenchy based on my knowledge and patronage of the brand.
YEEZY X ADDIDAS Simple designs
GIVENCHY Multiple Brand divisions
Colour palette of 5 colours
High end Luxury brand
No fashion film available
Has a collection of fashion films
New designer
Founded in 1921
Collaboration with a highly respected brand
Fashion pioneer
Aordable
Clothes has been featured in many films amongst hollywood stars
After a lot of deliberating I looked at the pros and cons of both brands. I felt that the Adidas x yeezy season 2 brand would be more suitable compared to the Givenchy brand as there was no fashion film available, so the ideas of creating something original were for me and the group endless. Delegating roles! I choose to be the Art director even though my initial back ground and skill strength is with creative direction as well as styling and editing. I chose to look into a new role that would in turn develop my skills and experiences as well as help my creative ideas and level of conceptual thinking to progress. This is the role that I decided on. Concept Director & Art Director Leads on: •Development of initial concepts •Presentation of concepts in week 2 concept pitch session •Storyboarding/scripting •Obtaining props and other ‘art department’ materials As a group we all felt collectively that we could all contribute to the various roles if we felt we were not able to fulfil the requirements.
Week 2 concept development 28/9/15 In this week yezzy season ideas and we We looked at
we worked on the concepts for the 2 film, we came up with three initial tried to develop them Individually. narrative, experimental and movement.
We had to look at the tone of film the genre and all round ethos. I really thought hard about producing an outcome that reflected innovation and originality and that which reflects well with the brand. I looked very deep into the brands influences as well as the designer. I came up with a lot of findings.Kanye is very fond of work from Marginal, Raf simions and Helmet he went on to state . “You know my influences. You see Raf Simons right there, you see Helmut, you see Margiela, you see Vanessa [Beecroft – who directed the presentations for both YEEZY Seasons 1 & 2]” I looked further and found a blog in particular that pointed out in plain sight his influences and where his designs resonates from.
Visvim’s
Noragi jackets Hiroki Nakamura’s Japanese label has garnered a cult following worldwide with its heritage aesthetic that mixes Japanese craftsmanship with an adoration of all things Americana. It seems that Kanye, who has regularly been spotted in the brand’s legendary FBT sneaker, took inspiration from visvim’s Japanese Noragi jackets for this particular piece. Haider Ackermann’s Oversized Sweaters Boxy, voluminous sweaters are an integral part of Kanye’s new grungy, disheveled aesthetic – both on the runway (or “parade ground” as he’d put it) and on his own back. Yeezy has been spotted many times in oversized sweatshirts from Haider Ackermann, who has made the one-size-too-big look something of a calling card.West most notably showed love for the Colombian designer with the velour hoodie and silk bomber that saw heavy rotation. Maison Margiela’s Nude Bodysuits While most of the street wear world’s coverage has centered on the menswear portion of the YEEZY Season 2 line, it’s important to remember that Kanye’s latest venture includes a heavy womenswear collection too. Margiela-esque nude bodysuits were used throughout the collection’s women’s looks.
Beecroft s inspiration s I looked into Beecroft’s(Creative Director)work as she was the lead coordinator for both shows of the collection.I found a lot of similarities throughout her runway presentations, which resonated a strong formation presentation throughout her work, with a concentration on silhouettes and the human anatomy.She has worked with West, on a number of his music visualisations. I felt that with my research and interest in the clothing line.I would be able to come up with a concept that would represent the essence of the brand. As you can see by the pictures Beecroft is about movement and placement that has heavily influenced Yezzy’s presentation and collection as well as his visualisations for his world tours. It was surprising to note the scope of the work they have done together and how consistent their working relationship has been and the inspiration she brings creatively.I was intrigued to read that, ‘much of Beecroft’s work is informed by her own personal struggle with an eating disorder and the exploration of issues of body image and femininity in contemporary culture. While her models are often motionless — perhaps as an indicator of just how powerless a person can feel when it comes to dealing with external pressures — many who have seen her work in person point to an intricate relationship and a two-way street between the viewer and the viewed.’ Beecroft mentions on multiple occasions during an interview with Museo Magazine that Renaissance artists like Piero della Francesca and Michelangelo heavily influenced her work. Considering that the artist grew up in Genoa, Italy, ‘it comes as no surprise that classic Italian art would play a part in her own artistic productions’.
Raf Simmons,Helmut and Masion Margiela Raf simions and Helmut inspired the collection for season 1 and 2 with his over sized bomber jackets that are military inspired. Helmut Lang and Masion margiela Not only that are they known for their nude bodysuits that are somewhat close to flesh tone. I also took my research further and looked into helmut.He has composed a book that takes us through the years of his career in the fashion industry.The book referred to the female form which I found quite similar to Beecroft’s theories and west’s collections and the choice of clothing . It just showed me that designers are heavily influenced by other designers to make their brand stronger,in this case I think Kanye has used this very well.Helmut is regarded as one of the premier minimalists because of the raw, stripped-down, architectural quality of his clothes, and these signatures—along with his colour palette of black, white, and earthy neutrals. Below are pictures of Masion Margiela s collection and Helmet Lang compared to the Yezzy season 2.
I took these pictures from the Helmut book where he has a history of work based around the female form and body.This for me is reflected heavily in West’s collection, and where his inspiration can be considered derived from.
Below are some of the looks from Rick Owen’s runway presentation which are very much similar to the structure of the yezzy collection, it was very inspirational for me the juxtaposition of shapes In his runway shows to showcase fashion in a performance setting.
Concepts From this research I gathered a better understanding West’s influences. I was able to come up with ideas that the group and I could begin to experiment with.We all agreed that when developing our ideas we would look into the three points of reference experimental, narrative and movement. In the first concept we looked at incorporating Vanessa beecroft’s theories. Military style, Placement-the use of different types of models, flashing images,West’s signature editing style. Layering effect on Styling to create and invoke the signature military look . The second concept for our group was movement. We thought about using a ballet dancer, with the back story of being empowered by her love of dance. We wanted to play on the layering effect again as usually dancers can be seen layered with jumpers,leg warmers, leotards and pullovers. All of which I believed was synonymous with the essence of the collection. The brand target market, can be those of dancers, athletes and or fashionistas who are looking to play on the nude,and dancer silhouette. In the third concept we looked at narrative that looked to link two people.In this case a male and female. A story about Two lovers who have the yezzy collection in common. A bad boy and a good girl. He introduces her to the yezzy collection.And to add to a sweet ending they fall in love.
WEEK 3/4/5 CONCEPT PITCHES From the three concepts we created we knew that we had to pitch them .I particularly loved our concepts for 2 & 3.The group pitched our concepts to Sarah and the class we looked at each idea and decided to pick and discuss/explain where our inspirations came from. We did get positive feedback overall however concept 3 for Sarah was clearly explained,how the last concept tied in with the brand. In addition to her response I felt that putting the link in my research book for the third concept would give more understanding as of where I was going with that concept. Moving forward from the week on concept pitches we developed the two most favoured concepts 1&2 and elaborated them into a storyboard. However in this week we found out that kitty had withdrawn from the course. We were very surprised as she had not confided in us her desire to leave the group. This left us very confused as of how we were going to juggle work that was meant for a group of 3 or 4. With just two members left, we decide to regroup and discuss who we were going to share the roles and responsibilities.We relied heavily on one another to get the work done.
DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPT 2& 3
I looked into different active wear brands that had fashion film with movement and dance elements that features in their campaigns. I especially was impressed by Nike’s brand Women x Pedro Lourenço conceptualised by Abteen Bagheri and is fittingly entitled NOWNESS. This film impresses me due to the simplicity of the visuals moreover the concept of the film played with dance and fitness alongside, day and night lighting concepts. All of which were the ideas I had conceptualised with the group in the initial stages of the planning cycle.The styling as well was very true to the brand.
Additionally I identified with the concept for the adidas commercial with striking elements they used which were related to the brief we were asked to look into.I adored the use of celebrity status as the voiceover which was used to highlight the narrative in the film.With this element being explored it had a greater impact on the impact fullness of the film to evoke a different emotion for the audience watching it.
Storyboarding & Treatment In this week I worked on the storyboard I tried to elevate the ideas we had as much as possible, we decided to merge the too concepts of one and two. I believe we came up with a strong narrative that had elements of movements and critique.In this week we also worked on the treatment that was a backstory of the character and scenario of the film. For me building the character wasn't as hard as I thought it was gong to be. For the film we had a dancer in mind, it was all about how the story would make sense and how we were going to portray the characters story through film.
INSPIRATION ON MOVEMENT I was inspired by the element of movement from the video Mine by ( Beyonce). I looked into this as inspiration and as a point of reference to scenes within the film. I was very much inspired by the movement in this video and believed that the visuals were very distinctive.
Ebony Williams solo performance from global citizen I also looked into more movement inspiration that would help me come up with choreography for the story board, I found a great reference to a dance routine on line by the dancer Ebony Williams, she is a very sensual dancer, who uses story telling in her choreography sets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lmtXYwFowQ
WEEK 5/6 CAMERA/LIGHTING WORK SHOP
We began to work with silhouettes and lighting that we believed would help us to create the effects that we desired. wind machine,spotlighting,foiling as a background effect. Different ideas playing around with lighting
In the lighting workshop we looked into different elements of a film.We played around with lighting and the wind machine.To add effect to the scenario. In our film we wanted a back drop a silver effect. We then proceeded to use a foil however this didn't work best on camera and the effect was too strong. It didn't give us this cinematic feel we wanted. I took it upon myself to look into camera shots for my research as I felt the camera workshop wasn't as in depth as I would have liked. This did help me.
TEST SHOOT Lighting ARR I 650 used for most scenes White gel diffuser boom pole Camera Canon EOS 500D Camera lens 24-70 of 2.8 Testing the actress/ Musicdancer out, and to determine if the Audio tracks will be chopped and screwed mixture of two tracks composed and edited. movement would be The first track will be a mellow tempo later on transitioning to a fast beat to symbolise her captured within the mental state and sense of control. frame. The shadowing did not work, hard for us to place her in movement and to get her into the frame.
CASTING / STYLING BOARDS
Treasure is a dancer she is 20 years old, She is trained in ballet & contemporary
FINAL STYLING BOARD /HAIR & MAKEUP Makeup and hair
We discussed the styling board a lot it was very hard for me to come up varying looks i had wished to experiment further with, as the brand is very simplistic and bare, are styling choices at best were limited. The styling items we used to style were scouted from a UCA students final design project. I was very excited about this as it brought a dierent element to the costume as it is very similar to the cut of the Yeezy collection.
WEEK 7 /8 ROMA WORKSHOP , EVENT PLANNING
During Roma’s workshop we came up with the shooting schedule for the film.
Lighting ARR I 650 used for most scenes White gel diffuser boom pole
Day of Shoot
Camera Canon EOS 500D Camera lens 24-70 of 2.8 Music Audio tracks will be chopped and screwed mixture of two tracks composed and edited. The first track will be a mellow tempo later on transitioning to a fast beat to symbolise her mental state and sense of control.
Shoot day hair & makeup
Hair and makeup was conceptualised by me as I am a self taught makeup artist. I felt it was appropriate to take on the make-up artistry the look we were going for was very simple nude bare, fresh faced makeup, which is highlight in this seasons A/W looks.
FINAL STORYBOARD I decided to put in the final storyboard with the final edits to make it look more realistic, I loved coming up with concept and the creative vision of the film, this was a great unit.
EDITING FILM
The editing aspect comprised of piecing together scenes in the software Premiere Pro, Synthesising the scenes so as to get the continuity and visual that we had conceptualised.
PDP In this section I will be me analysing and re,lecting on my role in my group for the 5ilm project in conjunction with other areas of the unit such as the Research book, PR and social media audit and my essay question. Coming into the University in second year was challenging for me as my background knowledge is fashion design/buying. However I’ve always had an interest in the way products are promoted and how media plays a big process in fashion consumption. The 5irst task we were introduced to was the 5ilm unit. We were going to be assessed on the 5ilm we made. Moreover it was a group task. I was in a group with Prescillia and Kitty. We came to that decision after a lot of deliberating with other people in the class. I was very set on the type of 5ilm I wanted to produce. I was intent on 5inding a group or classmate that had similar interests and ideas to me. In addition I was new, so I knew people in class had already formed their friendship groups. So most likely friends would be paired together. However Prescillia seemed very interested in my ideas and inspirations. Prescillia also wanted to produce a 5ilm that had a clear message in terms of concept development, even down to the production of the 5ilm. Kitty was Prescillia s friend so she decided join. My reaction to that was 5ine, as I had spoken to them previously. As a group we thought of a few different brands/designers, concept and form of 5ilm. I liked the brand Givenchy. Kitty liked the Yeezy brand; Prescillia was on the fence on the two brands. I stated my reasons as of why I favoured the brand. I preferred Givenchy due to the longevity of the brand and their existing level of creative ideas. After 2 days of discussion we decided on the Yezzy brand. I wasn’t two enthusiastic about this choice at 5irst but I came to realise that we could make this work, as there wasn’t a fashion 5ilm available for the brand. We 5irst worked on what season we would look at. Kanye west is the designer despite teaming up Adidas. Kanye has only two collections called season 1 and 2. We settled for season 2 as that was the better collection to work with as the collection was more varied than season one. We looked at narrative, experimental and movement, after working through different sets of concepts.
In week 4 weeks we found out kitty had decided to leave the group, which was very strange because she didn’t raise the issue or her thoughts of leaving. Kitty was the main reason the brand Yeezy was chosen; it was her initial idea she brought forward. Moving on we knew we had a lot to do as it was just the two of us in the group considering others had 3 or 4 members in their group. The concepts Prescillia and I liked were experimental and movement. Experimental was focused on positioning with the use of 3 male/females of different heights and ethnicities. Movement was an idea we thought of with the use of a dancer that could portray the story through dance. We decided to merge those two ideas together and we came up with this concept with the use of a female dancer. Concept of the protagonist . Her current occupation is working as a Military of5icer; however she is also a trained dancer and underneath her uniform that is the uniform she identi5ies with most. In the military she is made to feel unimportant and invisible and restricted by her uniform. She has a passion for Dance, and believes that is who she is once she wears the clothes that helps her to identify so strongly in this way. She begins to show us this hidden talent that she has which is unknown to everyone, Though her movement and dance .She leads the audience into an emotional journey throughout the 5ilm she does this through the expression of contemporary dancing. Throughout the 5ilm, movement will be captured as she begins her routine. We captured her movements as she performs, Her face was not revealed until the end of the 5ilm, as a metaphor of concealment so as to create Mystery. We want to keep the audience engaged to 5ind out what she may look like in the end when she is revealed. When it came to creating the concept I was fully involved in that process as my role in the group was concept/art director. Creating the concept was very exciting for me, as I had creative control over what the 5inal concept would be.
There were weeks in the process where we had to present our ideas to Sarah as part of our formative review. The feedback was very constructive when it came to our ideas for the different forms of 5ilm. She felt our 5ilm may be miss construed if there wasn’t a clear narrative that we were trying to achieve. We went back to the storyboard and changed a few things as well as working on styling ideas to work with the concept. The class also gave us ideas that were very helpful towards developing ideas further. Filming techniques We had a few lectures about 5ilm techniques for the shoot. Experimenting with lighting and camera angles as well as editing workshops. I very much enjoyed the editing workshop, however I did miss a lesson. I didn’t feel that the lesson was long enough to achieve the ample amount of knowledge to edit to a high standard. Thus I did feel the editing lecture should have started after we made our 5ilm. Editing wasn’t my role; all the same I still wanted to understand the process as of how a subject can be edited. I was very much present in the editing even though Prescillia had creative control over that area. That also goes for the camera workshops I didn’t think that the lecture was as helpful as I would have liked. It was not as hands on. We played around with the camera however that was it. I came up with the shots and angles as well as set dressing and props. We did have a test shoot within in that day, we worked on ideas that we thought about despite we weren’t entirely sure how it might play off on camera. The test shoot was the time to really play around to see what would stick. We had a whole day to rule things out. When it came to the 5inal edit of the 5ilm we looked at all scenes and what snippets needed more editing than others and what would make sense towards the 5inal edit. Prescillia and I watched the 5ilm over and over again we really analysed each scene, hopeful that we didn’t miss anything out. In the end of the 5ilming process I didn’t realise the amount of work we had to do in the amount of time it had to be achieved. I was content with the 5inal result even though things can also be changed given more time to do so.
Film evaluation I really enjoyed making the 5ilm and the process what I didn’t like as much was the editing process as I wasn’t 100% capable of editing to a high standard.I do believe I captured the concept in respect to the brand. I even believe that the concept is good enough to be used for a commercial with more professional elements. During the editing process, I felt challenged , as my partner and I are not professional editors. We did bump heads when it came to ideas for styling and set design. I felt it was very appropriate to work on styling that could be seen as trend forecasting for the next collection, however my partner didn’t agree. I believed we had enough knowledge from our research that we could do that.I do think the concept from our research worked hand in hand with the brand moreover there is always something that we could change if we had more time. The technical aspect of the 5ilm could have been better if we had more advanced equipment such as strobe lighting and two camera angles. Musical choice was derived from a contemporary artist as I believed this re5lected simultaneously with the movements of the dancer and the messaging that we were trying to convey. We wanted to use the smoke machine however it wasn’t available to be shared Alternatively I called a prop shop but it was last minute, on the day of the shoot so it was too late. I think the technical aspects of the production could have been greatly explored given the technical support.Nonetheless the lights we used and the amount was 5ine due to the concept being quite simplistic. The angles that we shot from were great, as we captured what we wanted to portray. Prescillia and I disagreed when it came to the amount of work we had to delegate between us we both picked up the slack for each other, However the editing part was more me than her and I did feel that was very unfair as that isn't my role and I ended up spending the whole of Sunday night having to tend to it. Neglecting other aspects of the core components of the unit. I hope that my grade isn't poor due to this . Overall I am happy that I experienced different aspects of learning in this unit, as I was able to blend a range of skills together which include concept and creative direction, make up artistry and editing. I look forward to taking the skills I learnt during this unit into other areas of my work.