Fashion: Constructed Image: Initial Ideas

My groups (Lucie Nakach, Sacha Stevenson, Martin Wilby, Ian Wisbey & Callum Wilson) initial ideas and research for this unit has led us to look at the theme '1960s thriller/action films'.

We first created a series of mood boards:

We first inspired by bond particularly the image of Shirley Eaton's character painted in gold lying dead on the bed, as it is very dramatic and eye catching.

We began looking into more bond films of this era but found it too limiting the idea was not very unique and could not, on its own be taken very far; the only thing an audience thinks of when watching a Bond film is suave, sophistication, tuxedos, glamour etc.

Therefore we started to spread out into the thriller/action genre in general looking at films and how they were interpretated in different societies- English, European & American. We looked at the following films:

English- Bond, Get Carter, Alfie, The Avengers, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

European-  Breathless, Persona

American- Bonnie & Clyde, North by Northwest, Chinatown, Mad Men

This led us to explore the characters in the films and how they were portrayed by very prominent actors of the time, looking particularly at the fashion & characterisation in the 1960s.

Strong male characters:

English- Sean Connery, Michael Caine

European- Jean Paul Belmondo

American- Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Steve McQueen, Cary Grant 

 

Strong female characters:

English- Honor Blackman, Tania Mallet

European- Jean Seberg, Monica Vitti

American- Faye Dunaway, Eva Marie Saint

As a group we began to look at fashion shoots inspired by these films, Callum found a fashion shoot inspired by Bonnie & Clyde which has thrown up some interesting ideas for set design, props, use of colour & casting.

  

I also found a Bond inspired fashion shoot- Joop FW 2010 campaign which focusses on the sophisticated side of our research, also throwing up ideas for our set design, fashion & casting.  

We wanted to look at the history & background of spies to explore how they really looked and what sort of things they did. Lucie found the majority of real spies werer actually female rather than male contrary to the portrayal of spies in films including Bond. Women in Bond films are often glamorous and are working for the 'bad guys' and entice Bond but then turn on him which reflects this idea that more spies are women. Some of the spies are quite glamorous such as Mata Hari, who was a stripper who toured European cities becoming courtesan of powerful men in government & the military; this has a similar feel to Bond films.

As an agent of Britain’s Special Operations Executive, Virginia Hall executed countless missions in support of the French Resistance, earning a reputation for being able to elude even the tightest Nazi dragnets. Again giving the feel of 60s espionage films where the women often get the upper-hand over men. Hall was even more impressive by the fact that she’d lost part of her leg in the 1930s, and walked on a wooden prosthesis.

Klaus Fuchs was a German-born theoretical physicist who worked in Los Alamos on the atom bomb project.Whilst attending university in Germany, Fuchs became involved with the Communist Party of Germany. After a run-in with the newly installed Nazi government, he fled to England where he earned his PhD in physics. For a short time he worked on the British atomic bomb project. While he was working for the British he began to give information to the Soviets. He reasoned that they had the right to know what the British and the Americans were developing.

Aldrich Ames is a former CIA Counter-intelligence Officer who was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union, on his first assignment as a case officer, he was stationed in Ankara, Turkey, where his job was to target Soviet intelligence officers for recruitment. Due to financial problems in his personal life as a result of alcohol abuse and high spending, Ames began spying for the Soviet Union in 1985, when he walked into the Soviet Embassy in Washington to offer secrets for money.
 

I was given the main task of exploring different film sets that were filmed or set in the 1960s; it was interesting exploring the different aspects such as the wallpaper and different living areas eg. bedroom, front room etc. It was interesting to explore the different styling in films such as Austin Powers, Bond, Mad Men & Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. 

 

When looking at particular ideas we finalised on a couple of different scenes from movies that we found interesting; the first image was from 'The Ipcress File' where Michael Caine stands in a doorway with light casting shadows in the hallway behind.

We also really liked the use of guns in this next scene taken from the episode 'The Charmers' from the series 'The avengers'; it's very eye-catching and gives the feeling of strength & power. The scenario has also intrigued us the way that the roles of powerful men and weak women has been reversed with the woman stood physically higher up and having the upper hand to the male figure.

A still from the film 'The Christine Keeler Affair' depicts a woman framed by a window which we as a group really liked; although quite simple it is very effective and gives this feel of voyeurism. The simplicity of the flat wall with wallpaper & a framed image  really sets the scene in the 1960s.

At the moment we have two ideas of lighting we are interested in; an interrogation scene from a film is often very underlit possibly from a window or dim lighting which creates atmosphere. 

Another idea is the use of artifical lighting as films set & based in the 60s are often dimly lit & colour is often washed out mainly due to quality of filming in that era however this is the view of this time and therefore I feel this should be portrayed through our final image.  

Through research we were really intrigued by the idea of role reversal, as before the 60s the male character was seen as the strong leading figure, while during this era the female figure begins to take over or becomes an equal role. 

For example Bonnie & Clyde, The Avengers, Chinatown, Breathless where the main female character rather than the sex symbol is portrayed as the strong, independent figure rather than the glamorous assistant as portrayed in the Bond films & The Italian Job.