In this blog entry I will analyse and evaluate the different roles I took on in the Fashion: Constructed Image unit and how I got on with each of the roles and the issues that it entailed.
My first role is props master alongside Sacha as we decided to would be best if we shared the role to be able to support one another through the decision process. It was also very fortunate that I shared the role with Sacha as she had a lot of contacts who could provide us with the necessary props; and luckily she could drive us both round to look for props as well as providing transport for them.
We worked together to research 1960s decor in living spaces but particularly in hotel locations both in the 60s and recreations of the era in contemporary fashion photoshoots. We looked at both the decor eg. wallpaper & skirting etc. & the furnishings eg. TV, side table etc.; this included considering colour shades, design & style as well as layout. We not only thought about what fitted in with the era but also how the furniture would work with the other props and colours as well as creating a realistic down market hotel scene.
After researching different places we could begin searching for furnishings, Sacha got in contact with her local Operatic & Drama Society in Cranbrook as well as a large charity shop run by people she knows. As we decided that most of our props would be coming from these two locations we organised a group visit on a Saturday; this was very helpful as we were able to visualise props with one another and in turn found the majority of our large props that day.
Once we had got these items sorted and transport organised courtesy of Sacha's boyfriend, Sacha and I then made most of the final touch decisions. For example, due to Sacha working in a hotel, she was able to provide a lot of the small touches including, glasses, bottled water, biscuits, bed sheets, a towel & ashtray which added to the authenticity of the scene. I also continued to research 1960s products and purchased a teasmade which I found was a very popular items found in many homes and hotels at the time. Sacha and I spent much of our free time driving aorund looking for extra props to enhance our set including a corner table to sit our lamp, telephone and bottles & glasses on; after a lot of searching we finally found one that fitted in with the decade and our set.
Overall all of our props fitted in well with the era we were trying to portray; they fill the space well without being too overcrowding and yet not too empty. I feel by designing a deep set this helped with the placing of the props. It did take us a while to get all of the props for certain such as the door and bed however we managed to figure it all out well in advance of the shoot week.
We have chosen to give a £50 donation to both the charity shop and the Drama society as they did not ask for any money for the props we borrowed; however due to the careful budgetting we were able to use some of the saved money that we had prepared to spend on furnishings.
I was also given the casting lead with Lucie, but this was quite a group thing as we spent most of the day everyday around university looking for potential models. If someone spotted the 'perfect' model in their eyes we would go and photograph them and get their details if they were willing. While most of the group took turns interviewing each possible model, I took charge of organising the information and images we collected properly into a casting folder; this made it very easy to flick through the models and make our final decisions.
Although we quite easily chose and agreed on a female model we found it harder to find the perfect male model because for a while weren't sure what we were looking for, whether it be young, old, tall, short etc. However after doing further research into this character and doing the casting task we became clear in all of our minds what direction we wanted to go down. We decided we wanted a young, British-looking light hair & skinned figure who could look like a 'Bond' spy, this led us straight to Ollie who dresses smartly daily which helped us to be sure of our choice.
This also helped with the fashion side of our shoot, I also took quite a big role in this decision making; due to Ollie's wardrobe we asked him to bring in a selected of jackets, shirts & ties which we chose from on the shoot day. For Esteph we were unsure how to style her, but after much research into Western colours & fashion as well as general 60s fashion we decided on a glamorous red dress which emphised her Asian background as well as the idea of danger. We also wanted to exaggerate Esteph's already present confidence & enthusiasm through the styling and posture; I also provided the jewellery, being authentic 1960s Asian jewellery which wasn't too dramatic or overstated which I think complimented the dress well.
I am particularly pleased with our final decisions as they were perfect in representing our theme of East vs. West while in no way jeopardising the fashion. By using young models with also defined our target audience as well as the dominance of the female figure highlighting a more female orientated audience. We found Ollie very easy to direct and position mainly because of his relatively small role in the shoot; however Esteph was harder to direct more due to the angle of the camera and positioning of props surrounding her rather than what she was doing. We were very careful to eliminate any distracting shapes behind both models as well as considering carefully their facial expressions and in particular, Esteph's arm holding the gun which we found to be quite tricky due to teh weight of the gun.
In the end they both created the perfect atmosphere with an obvious tension between the two characters who seem to play off each other as well as the obscure third character, the Chinese lady in the painting watching over our Asian character.
Last week I was named post production lead which was done so that we had someone heading the actual editing while other input their ideas and directed me rather than us all trying to get to the computer. I was one of the people most skilled at photoshop therefore it seemed best that I took co-charge and I took the clearest noted from Bjorn's editing & printing tutorial. To choose our final image we look mainly at the two characters- positioning, facial expressions etc. as we were not too bothered about issues such as reflections as I knew we could edit these out afterwards.
Following Bjorn's guidelines of how to edit the final image, we carefully searched through the image and made a list of elements to edit both on phocus and photoshop. I feel the editing process has been very succesful despite it taking a whole day to do the main editing however I think it was necessary to take our time to make the final image as perfect to our ideal as possible.
Although I was in charge of the actual editing I felt I got the most support and feedback from Ian as he was equally as a strong a 'photoshopper' as I within our group; it was also very helpful particularly for Martin as he learnt from watching us due to his lack of experience.
Throughout the whole process I also helped out with some of the other areas of the set build. I alongside Sacha built one of the two scale models to help with visualising our ideas, we also roughly figured out the amount of flats we would need as well as the estimated size of set despite this not being part of our roles.
I also helped Lucie a lot with the fashion alongside the rest of the group, mainly reseraching the styles of the era in terms of fashion as well as hair & make-up. I reserached in magazine old & new as well as online for photoshoots inspired by the era and specific inspiration such as Bond films. We all went as a collective to Bluewater where we searched for and chose a dress together which perfectly matched the style we were looking for; this was helped by our female model, Esteph being very helpful and accompanying us to Bluewater and trying on clothing.
Although I feel I took on a lot of work throughout this unit, I think the final product was very successful and the whole unit has helped me to learn how to work well in a group as it was not my strong point. It has also helped me to understand my own and other people's strengths and weaknesses which had to be worked around and catered to by giving out well suited roles.
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