FMP VISUAL CAMPAIGN PART TWO
KIT DICKSON
Shoot 7.0
At this stage in shooting, I had grown comfortable with knowing my angles, go-to poses and what type of lighting I wanted. Once I realised this, I realised that I should be changing up my shoots. I wanted to avoid posting the same stagnant content. While I want each image to represent me, headshot upon headshot can feel tiring. I wanted to maintain a fresh online presence and something that my consumer could relate to or want to see. In order to keep my audience engaged, I wanted to progress from the headshots and neutral makeup looks to showcase a different side of y personality. While I liked the outcome of this shoot, I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t getting too comfortable and boring in my content. This wake-up call enabled me to brainstorm and come up with a plan for moving forward.
Reference croquis for shoot 7.
Final image 1.
Light editing of saturation, warmth, sharpness and shadows.
Final image 2. Light editing of saturation, warmth, sharpness and shadows.
Shoot 8.0
As another example of a filler image, I wanted to include this top as part of my feed. The anime theme is one that I explored in my brand me and found I enjoy this visual. On top of this, the top was purchased from Zara’s female petite section, thus further proving my point that clothing retailers should not segregate their products by gender and should start to be inclusive to gender-neutral consumers by having a fully genderless approach to fashion. The yellow in the top also ties in with the final image 1, from shoot 70 and fits in with the theme of summer in my Instagram grid. I used the same mood board to inspire this soot as I did for shoot 6, adapting my approach to include the natural lighting and learning from my mistakes in shoot 6.
Shoot 8.5
Adopting the ‘smart planning’ approach to content creation, I decided that while I had the lighting, set up and time, I would shoot some more outfit filler images. This was a great idea as I was really pleased with the way that these images turned out. Following the reference image more clearly again I was able to recreate some of the poses and settings in my own style representing my genderless style with the juxtaposition of the more masculine plaid shirt and jeans with the femininity explored in the crop top. The colour palette also introduced a new blue shade to my feed while maintaining the themes of neutral shades and the warm tones associated with summer. I also re-shot some images in the anime top as I decided I could do better than my attempts in shoot 8 where the top was slightly creased, and the design was partially lost due to shadows and creasing.
Final Image 1.
Warmth, sharpness and shadows altered slightly in the editing stage.
Final Image 2.
Warmth, sharpness and shadows altered slightly in the editing stage.
The top two images for this look. Warmth edited slightly.
Shoot 9.0
For this shoot, I wanted to incorporate a more masculine feel to my feed. This is because I wanted to show a truly authentic representation of myself. 50% of the time I am dressed more femininely with makeup and the other half of the time I tend to lean towards my more masculine side. Therefore, in order to create a real and genuine bond with my consumer I wanted to honestly showcase a true representation of my life. This approach will allow my consumer to grow a sense of loyalty to my brand and will increase the relatability factor that a lot of influencers strive to achieve. I also wanted to ensure that I didn’t start to feel that I couldn’t post without a full face of makeup or an ultra-feminised version of myself, as the whole point is that my consumer is buying into my lifestyle and who I am, my personal branding. This is the last image I will take using this location and setting so as to avoid the stagnant or boring feed that may come from using the same background, lighting and theme. It is important as previously stated, to keep my audience engaged and interested in different types of content. The only reason I used the same technique as shoot 7, is that the overall theme of this shoot was more masculine.
Reference croquis for shoot 9.
Final image for shoot 9. Slight editing of warmth and shadows to create a moody, masculine feel to the image.
Shoot 10.0
This shoot was the only shoot that required someone to take y pictures, I used my friend, this method worked but took a lot longer to get the desired effect. There were far more shots I didn’t like than ones I did. However, I was eventually able to find an image that fit the theme of my grid. I was inspired by my croquis to incorporate an industrial type feel into my grid as I felt it would contrast nicely with my feed adding a point of interest, much like the addition of the red top in shoot 2.5. I wanted to pair the bright red background I had seen on a walk-in Chester City Centre, with a neutral outfit so as to not overwhelm the image. while I used colours such as blue, pink and green; I made sure to use duller colours so as to create a nice juxtaposition with the bold brightness of the red background. The close-up shot of my outfit was another example of ‘smart planning’ and allowed me to gain a face/body image and a close-up image of my nails and outfit for a filler post. The point of smart planning in terms of creating content is to take advantage of the work you have already done, for example, styling, and making less work for yourself when it comes to shooting for filler images.
Reference croquis for shoot 10.
Final image 1. (filler image)
Final mage 2.
FINAL VISUAL
Using the content creation app ‘Preview’ I was able to plan my Instagram feed ahead of time, moving around my content into a grid that would fit the theme and aesthetic vision I had for my social media platforms. I arranged my filler images in between every headshot or image that included my face just to break u the content and make for an aesthetically pleasing overall effect. This will appeal to my consumer as it is the right blend and juxtaposition between masculine and feminine, while taking into account current trends and external factors such as the season and colour stories, ensuring that there are no accidental clashes of colour and every contrast is intentional.
Final Visual of my Instagram Feed.
REFLECTION I decided to incorporate an image from the Life of Kit photoshoot as I felt it fit in well with my feed and added another full-body element which is something I feel I could have incorporated more of. However, without collaborating with a photographer I found this type of photo hard to execute alone. Going forward I would collaborate with photographers more often to create a more varied feed, however, that being said I am pleased with the way my feed has turned out and I believe it showcases my beliefs, and aesthetic and has achieved what I set out to do, which was to market myself as a social media influencer. As a visual campaign, this feed has given me the foundation to build a career upon. This is the starting point where I can now continue to grow my audience, by maintaining consistency, originality and continuing to express myself, thus creating a safe space for my audience to feel a sense of escapism and inspired freedom to experiment and express themselves. My social media presence has already grown as a result of this, even though I wasn’t expecting instant growth, this type of positive reinforcement has acted as a motivator to continue this project outside of this module, evolving it into a career path. A minimum gain of 20 followers for every live stream I have done on TikTok has allowed me to channel some of these followers to my Instagram. The fact that I have cohesive branding on TikTok, and Instagram has helped me to do this. Going forwards I am going to utilise the promotional feature of stories on Instagram to communicate to my audience when I have posted on each platform to channel my following to the alternate platforms which will act as a method of growth.
REFERENCES Fig 1. Jenner, K. (2018). Crab emoji [Blog].
Retrieved 9 July 2022, from https://www.instagram.com/kendalljenner/.
Fig 2. Petras, K. (2022). SlutPop [Album Art]. USA; Online. Fig 3. Inspiration, N. (2022). Blue coffin nails [Photography]. Pinterest.