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.

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.

Week 1 21/9/15 Planing film

3

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.

Some of my favourite fashion films/Commercials

YEEZY X ADDIDAS GIVENCHY

Simple designs 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

Affordable 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.

In this week we worked on the concepts for the yezzy season 2 film, we came up with three initial ideas and we tried to develop them Individually. We looked at 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.

Week 2 concept development 28/9/15

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.

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’.

Beecroft s inspiration s

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.

Raf Simmons,Helmut and Masion Margiela

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.

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 .

Concepts

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& 3I 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 & TreatmentIn 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.

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.

Ebony Williams solo performance from global

citizen

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

Testing the actress/ dancer out, and to determine if the movement would be

captured within the frame. The shadowing

did not work, hard for us to place her in movement and to get her into the frame.

Lighting ARR I 650 used for most scenes White gel diffuser boom pole 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.

CASTING / STYLING BOARDS Model

Treasure is a dancer she is 20 years old, She is trained in ballet & contemporary

FINAL STYLING BOARD /HAIR & MAKEUP

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 different element to the costume as it is very similar to the cut of the Yeezy

collection.

Makeup and hair

WEEK 7 /8 ROMA WORKSHOP , EVENT PLANNING

During Roma’s workshop we came up with the shooting schedule for

the film.

Day of 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

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.

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.

Shoot day hair & makeup

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.

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.  

PDP

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.