Food A fashion film

I managed to shoot a few shots with my friend when I was at her flat the other day to try and create a better film that reflected more of me. I feel, perhaps because I myself do not understand true obsessive love I was not able to capture it or display it in a film in a way that I liked. However eating is something I know very well. Me and eating go back 18 years. I asked my friend If I could just film her with a bunch of food and she was totally up for it. However we did run into some issues (naturally.) I shot my editorial at her flat as well and lighting was the major issue of that shoot and of course again that was an issue with this shoot. My camera struggles to capture images in darker environments and I didn't want to touch up the videos at all, I wanted it to be pure and raw. However if I were to edit it again I would probably lighten some clips. 

Because my camera was having a hard time filming in the poor light I started using my phone to film, so this final piece is a combination of Iphone clips and Nikon D5100 clips. 

For this film I found a song that I really liked called 'Ain't No Rest For The Wicked,' By Cage the Elephant. I Chose this song because I like the rhythm, I think it flows well, it is fun and upbeat and really creates the feel I wanted for the film. I also chose it because I like the lyrics and the message. 

"Oh, there ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
I got bills to pay
I got mouths to feed
And ain't nothing in this world for free
No I can't slow down
I can't hold back
Though you know I wish I could
No there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good,"

It connotes some of the thoughts and feelings of living life obsessed. For example the line "No I can't slow down, I can't hold back" reminds me of the thoughts of someone who is so glued into their obsession that can't stop or slow down, they cannot resist their obsession. Then the next line "Though you know I wish you could," This is like the next thought of the obsessed person, when they come to the realization their obsessions are truly controlling their lives. 

The following video is the finished edited piece. Overall I am really happy with it and feel like it shows more of my personal style than the other video. However one more point I must make is that it is probably less of a fashion film as there really isn't much literal fashion references. If I had more time and planned better I would of tried to add way more fashion elements into the film. 

Video Authors own 

The kiss

This is the end result of the film I just did not like no matter how i edited it. I decided that maybe if I wrote a love poem to read as a voice over instead of music that it would bring it more to life.

I also really did want to try and include poetry in my work in some way as it something I really love and enjoy. In my sketchbook when I was looking at symmetry as a type of obsession I looked at the poem Tyger by William Blake, there is a line in it that goes "Who could frame thy fearful symmetry." I love this poem but I also love this line and can take it out of the context of the poem and link it to my work. I was trying to think about symmetry when I was filming my video. However to film completely symmetrical and balanced a tripod really does help, I should of brought a tripod with me.

The excessive fashion look at the end of the film
(Image authors own) 

Here is the video...

Film Practice

I still haven't been able to edit my film a way that I am completely satisfied with. I think I could of filmed it better and made this a lot easier for myself. Because I genuinely enjoy filming and editing videos I went out for a coffee break with Esosa and decided to film it. I edited together a 1 minuet film that is all black and white. It isn't anything over the top but I like it way more than my other film at the moment.

It can relate to my theme as we were getting coffee and coffee is one of the main obsessions I looked at. 

I will post it here even though I do not think it will work for a final piece it is nice as research and practice. 

                                               Video Authors Own 

Discontentment

I have now done a photo shoot for my editorial based on the food/coffee/general obsessive theme. I have also shot my film based on obsessive love and the structure of that.

I received some constructive criticisms on my photo shoot. They were kind of boring, especially compared to my day of the dead photo shoot. I wanted the pictures to be subtle but I tried so hard to make them subtle that they are now boring.

This is a major dilemma! The last thing in the world I want to be is boring. I was given some tips on how to take them and edit them to be less boring. For my day of the dead shoot I did a collage around the photos making a sort of frame, I am thinking about doing a similar collage type technique to make these photographs more exciting. I enjoy doing collages over my work, it adds an interesting element.
If adding things on top or behind the photographs does not enhance them or make them more exciting I will do a completely new shoot.

Collaged photograph (image authors own)

Not only am I discontent with my photographs but also my film. I have looked through the videos and they are okay but there isn't enough to make it a solid film. I could potentially get at least 33 seconds but that doesn't seem long enough. However I thought about TV ads, they are all quite short and so in a way being able to create a very short film and getting across the message is a good thing. The only question is will my message be understood in only 33 seconds or will it look like a quick mess just thrown together. The message or story I am trying to tell is one of a boy and a girl who see each other and fall in love instantly and the closer they get to each other the more vibrant and colourful their lives become.

Fashion Film Final

As my alliterative title suggests this post is about the final fashion film we must create.

My theme is Obsession. For this film I am thinking about keying into the obsession of love and also hopefully trying to add in a little bit of my other theme family structure.

I just wanted to jot down some of my inspiration for the film. I am still trying to story board and plot the entire plan. I am going to shoot it on Sunday.

The idea is to capture the moments before a kiss between two people and then right at the end finally having them kiss.

One of the directors I have begun to look at is Wes Anderson. Partly because of his use of colour pallets and also because of the way he frames his shots so symmetrically and centered.

(Video by kogonda)  

This video perfectly shows the skill Wes Anderson has when it comes to symmetry and composing the frame of a shot.

His use of symmetry keys into a type obsessive nature that I briefly looked at in my sketchbook. Some people genuinely do obsess over having symmetry and this mind set really does fascinate me.

Photoshoot time!

This is the shoot that has had the most mental preparation. Also the most mood boards. So if I haven't nailed the mood I will be a little more than disappointed. I was aiming at 70's styling, I tried to get he Farrah Fawcett hair, and added a little blue eye shadow. I also tye dyed a white t-shirt with coffee that one of      
(Insert shots of mood boards)

William Eggleston's photography was also another inspiration point. I loved the colours and tones of his photos and also how natural they feel. So I wanted to create a natural feeling photo that subtly hinted at the obsession of food and coffee.

We started hair and make up at around 4ish. And we finished taking photos entirely at 7. It was unfortunate that we had to shoot so late in the evening because the lightning was not that great. For one of the locations I used my models bed room. It was very dark so I turned on her bedside lamp and this added such an interesting affect to the models and their characters. I feel like these photos capture more of the relationship and personality of the characters rather than the theme.

I chose my friends kitchen and room for the shoot (also her balcony) because it was easy firstly, but because it was also so subtle. It isn't anything fancy, it isn't staged, it is what it is. That was what i was after. However choosing a location that isn't so easily changeable and workable posed many difficulties. The lighting as I mentioned before was the main issue. But I also just could not figure out how to pose the models, where should they stand, how should they stand, should they hold food or coffee, should they be moody or smile or what! So we took a few shots and they sucked. Everything felt wrong. Then I had the models move around and tried to think what you wouldn't expect someone to be doing in a kitchen. So I had my model lay down. I imagined she was in a massive food coma. I state of I ate to much but I am not sorry about it. Then the models began to loosen up and we had fun. I took a thousand pictures, most of them are going to probably not be that good but I am hoping once I search through them I will find some gems.

Location shit (Image Authors own)

I originally thought I would shoot with orange film over my lens, but the colours were too bold and not exactly what I wanted (Image Authors own) 

You guessed it, more location shots (Image Authors Own) 

Last location shot (Image Authors Own) 

Photoshoot

This week the goal was to plan and produce a photoshoot based around the accessories we made the precious week. I spent a lot of time thinking about my theme and about the accessories I made (which I did over the weekend) and how I could combine the two and successfully pull off a good photoshoot. One of my themes is family structure.So I began looking for photos of families.  I thought of the Dolce Gabbana ad campaigns that always have such a family vibe and essence. It led me on to old family portraits, specifically ones from the 19th century. I was also very inspired by images I was seeing of the day of the dead and the sugar skull. I saw an illustration of a family of sugar skulled day of the dead skeletons and thought it was perfect. So my research led me to my final idea. I wanted to create a family portrait style, or have two lovers portrayed in an old fashioned meets modern day of the dead way. And of course wearing my skeleton head piece and neck piece. 

We arrived at Uni around 11:30 to start the shoot. First I had to paint their faces. I had a few reference photos but mostly just winged it. I felt really good about the finished looks. Especially considering I didn't have time to practice. I used black and white paint and also orange because I have decided that will be my colour theme. 

I had a Mexican dress found at a vintage store in Oklahoma that I knew would be perfect for this shoot and asked my male model to wear a white button up and jeans. 

After styling their outfits I had a great struggle attaching my accessories to the models (tape had to be used.) We went to three different  locations for the shoot. By a black wall, in a park, and lastly in the Ravensbourne's cafe. It was so windy outside making it very difficult to shoot in the park,  especially with the hair pieces flying all over the place. So I had a sudden idea to take the photo shoot into a cafe and get photos of this living dead looking couple having a coffee and some food. This helped to relate the shoot to my other theme of food obsession. 

We finished the shoot at 2:30. I am now starting to think of how I want the final photos to be edited. Originally, I was going to have them in black and white as one of my references/inspirations for this shoot were 19th century family portraits and they are all in back and white. However there is so much vibrancy in the images and the day of the dead influence does bring a strong element of colour that would be nice to come through. So I am thinking of editing them both ways and seeing which turns out the best. 

Here are some photos of preparing for and doing the make up for the shoot.

(All photos authors own.) 

Magical mystery fashion tour

We went on  Magical Mystery Fashion tour today! When I opened the file with the instructions for the day on my computer and saw this title I was too say the least excited. I was a young Beatles fan, I went through a phase where I would genuinely only listen to the Beatles, so this title had a very personal connection with me.

My laptop broke in a tragic accident (that was all my fault) so I couldn't map out a route for the day. However in the morning I put the names of the streets into the Google maps on my phone so we had a GPS to follow (Thank you Jesus for Google maps.)

We went to quite a few stores and when I say quite a few I mean a lot. I collected catalogue's, leaf lets, and basically anything I could get for free. While I was at the stores and walking down the rainy streets of London I kept in mind the target audience of these stores. The extreme life of luxury was evident. I mean every door was opened for me, if that is not luxury I don't know what is.

I also took note of how each store had this homely element. There were sofas, pictures on the walls, and even a fire place in the Vivienne Westwood Men's store. I felt like the goal of these establishments was to make those who walked in (and looked like they could afford to buy things) feel as though they are in their home casually shopping and dropping thousands of pounds on shoes. The carped floors and marble stair cases, give you the feeling that you are walking through your own homely palace.

I also took note of the actually articles for sale. The difference in quality is evident in the material and the stitching and even the structure of the garments.

As well as walking down Old Bond Street,  Conduit Street, and all those other streets that were listed. I headed down to Dover Street market. I had never been before so I had no idea what to expect. It was very interesting. The fact that £2,000 clothes could be bought form cashiers in old rusty look huts that you'd imagine poor people in third world countries to live in seemed rather ironic, and also felt a little like they were taking the piss. There was a casual atmosphere yet this tension that rose in the air as you approached any item of clothing. The eyes of workers watching your fingers as they briefly just touch a pair of shoes. I'm not gonna lie I felt moderately inadequate and inferior walking up the bare stair case, as a person who can barely afford to buy a coffee, I was the porto loos and rusty huts that were ironic and being laughed at and everyone else the posh totty who dresses cool and wears £65 Commes De Garcons shirts.

On the other hand, it was inspiring to see these places. To think about the potential of fashion and it's influence on the world. It made me want my own shop. It made me want to get to work and start creating and start pathing my own path.

Accessory experiments

Here ares some of my initial experiments with the objects I chose for my accessory 

Melted two skeletons together with the heat press 

Family dinner 

Skeleton shoulder piece 

Lego bag with skeleton strap 

Skeleton sunglasses?

(All images authors own) 

Accessories

Accessories week was supposedly supposed to be a week that was great for both design students and promotion students. Perhaps because I was ill and that took most of my energy, accessories week wasn't my favourite. The first dilemma I was faced with came before the week even began. I was racing up and down the high street going to all the pound shops thinking over and over again in my mind; obsession, obsession, obsession, family structure, family structure, structure, structure, attachment. I looked at everything with these words in my mind and nothing was clicking. I was thinking way too hard about it. I was thinking how these objects could be transformed and rearranged to create something wearable rather than 'oh I like this, this relates, lets get this.' I think I went to seven different pound/cheap stores. I ended up home with these weird plastic skeletons, pastel coloured lego's, doll house furniture, toy tiaras, rings, and a glue gun. If I were to go back and redo it all I would probably get objects that weren't so eccentric and colourful.

We worked throughout the week doing different workshops to try and develop our accessory. Even though my body was drained and I was physically pretty much dead I enjoyed this development. I particularly enjoyed ones that were not 3D like making collages on top of models.This collage process really helped me to think about it in a more physical way then the 3D modelling on mannequins. I think this may be because I used to this type of thing in my free time a lot, so I understood the process more. I began thinking about a head piece and how I could manipulate these little skeletons to fit around someones head or be placed on a head. I thought about the same with the furniture (I didn't like the furniture as much.) I then thought about a bag made out of legos, this seemed like a pretty cool idea. However it wasn't abstract or conceptual enough so I am sticking with a head piece. 

I was bed ridden ill by Friday. I woke up at 6 planning on heading into school but couldn't muscle it. So sadly I missed the final day where everyone was creating the final accessory.