Fashion: New casting, Final Model & Fashion Choices

We were given the task by Sam Chick to find around 20 more castings for our fashion shoot in response to his concern that casting hadn't been considered enough in the unit. We, as a group, managed to cast a further 12 people focussing mainly on male models as we were very certain on our female model and we weren't very sure as to the sort of male character we wanted.

The following images are the new castings we have done:
 

 

 We travelled to Maidstone to do some further casting and found two more female models, although we liked both girls for different reasons for example Christine Apion suited a similar style clothing to that of the 60s as well as having quite an edgy hairstyle. However we are still very happy with our model, Estephenie Standen due to her very petite figure, distinguished facial features as well as her strong character and eagereness to model. We have contacted her and she is definitely available on the two days that we will need her to model.

After choosing and confirming Esteph as our female Asian model we took her to Bluewater to look for an outfit for the photo shoot. We want to create a glamorous 'wow' factor image that draws all of the attention to the model as the main focus of the shoot will be the female fashion inspired by the below images:

Audrey Hepburn, the iconic red dress

Valentino retrospective past and present red haute courture gowns shoot

Although we looked in most of the shops and tried on a variety of dresses we found the best dress was in the first shop we visited. It is a red strapless dress with a very long flowing train which will add a dramatic, effect with the train flowing out which could represent the idea of a pool of blood. Also due to the fact that Esteph is very petite due to her ethnicity and she will be smaller in size to the male model in the frame, we think that the dress will increase the space in which she will take up and therefore make her the centre of attention.

 I think the skin tone and dark hair goes really well with the colour and design of the dress which will give Esteph an edgy look adding tension in the scene which is the effect we want to create. 

It was a lot harder to cast for our male model however, due to the fact that we weren't sure what look we wanted to create, we began by looking at older male figures to possibly represent the idea that he could be an unsuspecting character such as the hotel caretaker or manager:    

 However we decided that we still wanted a younger model as the fashion image will be aimed at both female and male members of the public aged approximately 20-30. So we continued to cast male models in both Maidstone and Rochester:

 

 

 
We discussed height, hair colour and skin tone and decided we wanted a white male, however we weren't very clear on the other two elements as the man was always going to be taller than Esteph we weren't particularly bothered about that as we can use camera angles and compression to reduce the size difference. We wanted the model to be average in build so as not to take up too much of the frame and not look too young; in the end we decided to go for Ollie Gapper who also studies Photography. We feel his short hair cut would suit the era and his facial features are also quite distinct which will allow us to include as much or little of him as we want. We also were very keen in the end to have a very British look about our model which we feel Ollie has and he looks as if he could be a young British agent.
In terms of clothing, we discussed with Ollie his sizes and considered different 60s styles, we all really liked the idea of him wearing a tweed jacket, white shirt and possibly black cravat or tie to create a sleek, sophisticated look that is reminiscent of James Bond-esque fashion.

Belmondo in tweed jacket, Breathless, 1960

Fortunately for us, Ollie frequently wears suit jackets to uni so we know how he looks in jackets, which really suits him; this also provides us with his outfit for the shoot as he owns a tweed jacket among other jackets which he will bring in. This is also helpful as we willl not need to do fitting and try to rent out or buy a suitable jacket; he will also be bringing along shirts and possibly ties however Martin is also organising choices of cravats and ties.