#Willow Smith says she had to do her own hair at a 'high fashion photo shoot' because the stylist didn't know how

[cpfmp-blog]

EVALUATION

REF PAGES: 103

I have really enjoyed this project as it allowed me to think up an idea, going from concept to showcase. From quite early on I knew I wanted to incorporate the grunge trend that has made another appearance since it was in fashion in the 80s. I also knew that I wanted to translate my idea through film and photography, as those are the mediums that I have really enjoyed previously creating. Creating the various mood boards helped me to narrow down my ideas and have me the thought of combining the grunge/punk idea and the feminist idea. I loved the fact that we got to write our own project proposal, because it gave me a chance to write down all of my initial ideas about what I want to research and where I want to take my inspiration from.

Once I had decided on my FMP I, coincidentally, found ASOS’ spring issue of their magazine featuring Yara Shahidi and Adwoah Aboah. It linked really well as it was talking about dressing for yourself and self love – Shahadi reappeared on my makeup and hair mood board. In terms of researching brands; Saint Laurent, All Saints and Missguided show a nod to the grunge/punk trend that has been reappearing. I liked seeing brands lookbooks/campaigns as it gives me inspiration for photography as well as styling options. I also wanted to look into magazine editorials that could inspire my theme of grunge, punk and feminism. I researched Willow and Jaden Smith’s editorial for ‘Interview’ magazine (shot by Steven Klein) and several ‘Teeth’ magazine editorials. In terms of historic research I found that the pages on punk & grunge culture, International Women’s Day and the Women’s March very interesting because it sparked ideas around styling and the meaning behind my final photo shoot. I knew of the punk/grunge aesthetic, but I didn’t really know their morals or way of life before I had researched it. I took most of my styling inspiration from my punk research as I learnt about the personalisation of their clothes using household items like safety pins and decorating things with paint and destroying them with scissors. I took a lot of inspiration for poses from the feminism side of my theme, the idea that women are powerful and stand together, this is also present in the mini video interviews that I made alongside my photography. For primary research I created two polls on Twitter and two forum posts online, both of which I received interesting results. The ‘are you a feminist’ Twitter poll was almost 50/50, which I was surprised about and most of the comments on my forums were anti-feminist. This primary research helped me to see different opinions and inspired me when thinking about how to represent feminism in an un-obvious way (that would make people read the article – that would be paired with my editorial in a magazine – and learn about feminism. My main aim, after completing all of my research, was to create a series of photos that captured all three of my ideas (punk, grunge and feminism) in a way that would appeal to my customer (Meghan Weber, 19, from Hamburg Germany).

Since I had a lot of ideas about what I wanted to create I needed to do a lot of experimentation before I committed to one idea, as I wanted my final outcome to be as best as it could be. I made sure to experiment with lighting, camera angles and editing both photos and videos. I started off with trying scratch vectors on some photos that I had taken previously to see how I liked the effect, from this I learnt that I wanted my photos to be a lot more natural and effortless, which is why I decided against using Adobe Photoshop. For my lighting workshop I knew that it was more about sorting the lighting for my video interviews as I had always pictured my final photo shoot being outside and therefore the lighting being semi-uncontrollable. I really liked the look of the natural lighting with artificial lighting in the background as that reflected the set up of the interviews – natural answers, but more professional than a video diary style. After using the app ‘Afterlight’ to edit some pictures that were also taken before this project I found that it was much more subtle and there was a variety of scratch filters and they also had lense flare filters, which I experimented with to see how they would look. I think this experimental process really helped me to gage an idea of exactly what I wanted my series of photos to look like and how I wanted my video interviews to come across. In terms of styling experimentation I made a mood board of distressed denim and created mini samples of how to achieve those effects. I found that paint splatting the denim was the most effective and best for my outcome. I also experimented with possible outfit ideas and developed the six original looks I created and edited it down to two looks for each of my models.

I knew that I wanted to create video interviews, because I wanted to see how normal people (around the age of my target customer) felt about feminism and if they could spot links (in the questions I asked) between feminism and punk/grunge subculture. Originally I had planned to have the videos as part of my final outcome, however after editing them and seeing how they could be integrated with my photos at the showcase I decided to use them more as a primary research source. I wanted the videos that I created to be relatable to my target market as well as educational (in a fun way). I picture these videos being posted on a magazine’s accompanying YouTube channel, which allows readers frequent, maybe even daily, updates instead of waiting for the month’s issue to come out. I knew that I wanted three videos and that I wanted them all to have a slightly different topic, so everyone can relate to at least one of them, however they were all on the topic of feminism as I knew that would be the most difficult one to portray through photography. I really enjoyed the filming and editing process of making my videos, which is something that I have enjoyed doing previously, however I’ve never filmed videos in this format before. It was fun to have a more professional set up and to ask the interviewees questions, because I didn’t know what they were going to say even though I had asked them to briefly prepare. Once I had filmed all of the footage I needed (the interviewees answers as well as cutaways and close ups) I imported it into iMovie and started editing. From researching other YouTubers and how they have filmed & edited Q&A style videos I knew I didn’t just want it to be the interviewee sat there answering questions I wanted to break it up with other shots so it was more of a visual experience. Once I had got the video edit done I added music that I thought supported the theme of feminism, but would also appeal to my target audience. I am very happy with how the videos turned out, as I think they look very professional and well thought out (due to my storyboards), however there are a few improvements that I would make. The main thing I would change with these videos is the sudden contrast in audio from the montage introduction to the answer of the first question, this could be resolved by creating more of a gradient between the levels of sound rather than just dropping completely. Another issue is the sound in Kirsty’s video. Because she was the first to film I think she was quite nervous, which is understandable, so sometimes her voice became shaky and a bit quiet. I could have fixed this by re-filming some of her answers to get that confident look that the other videos have. I also don’t have an ending to Ellie’s video like the other two have, however it ended with a cutaway so it was less obvious, but if I were to re-film I would have got her to sign off the video just so there was a bit more consistency.

For my styling workshop I took a heavy influence from the punk and grunge way of dressing, but I also wanted to include some feminine pieces to portray my feminist theme. I really wanted to use some of the vintage pieces that I found in my parents’ wardrobe, as they aren’t necessarily garments that I would have chosen myself so I liked the challenge of styling them. I started by creating six looks, using some of the vintage pieces and some other pieces that I found on ‘Polyvore’ (the website that I used to make the collages). My favourite outfits from my initial six are numbers one, two, four and six. These are actually the four that I ended up using in my photos, however I developed them quite a lot before I got to the final looks that I used. Through the process of developing I changed the sweatshirt in look six and I re-arranged some of the pieces so that the layering of the garments would be better. In the end I made a page displaying the exact garments that I would be using so that when I was packing for the shoot I knew I wouldn’t miss anything. To finish off some of my looks I needed to make some things myself, as I couldn’t find something specific enough to what I wanted; I also wanted to keep costs down. For the fourth look, which Ellie wore for the second half of the shoot I bought a pair of size fourteen straight leg jeans from a charity shop (for £3.50) and splatted them with paint. This was part of my critical path, because I decided on colours of paints and took pictures during the process of making them. I used a paintbrush and splatted lots of paint onto the jeans, the front had white, mustard yellow, rust orange and black and I decided to just put mustard yellow and black on the back as a contrast to the front. I think this is a real focus piece in my editorial, because they’re so different from anything that you would be able to buy on the high street, which gives the feel of a high fashion editorial. The paint splats link to how punk people customised their clothing and how people who associated themselves with grunge bought things from thrift/charity shops and embraced it as their own individual look. In addition to the jeans I also made some safety pin accessories as a way to make some of the looks more high fashion and more obviously punk. For Hayley to wear with look six I made a safety pin crown using various sized safety pins arranged pointing at different angles. I used a thin hair band as the base for the crown and stuck each safety pin on using hot glue, this is something I would change as it is very delicate and after the shoot the safety pins started to fall off. I think using super glue what have held the pins on for longer and therefore created a more reliable accessory, which can be used again if I ever need to. For Ellie to wear with look four I made a set of stud earrings using basic studs and attaching smaller safety pins using hot glue. Similar to the headband, when putting the earrings in on the day I had to re-glue the pins on, because they kept coming off. Again I think that using super glue instead of hot glue they would have been more secure.

To compliment my styling choices I paid close attention to the hair and makeup that I wanted on my models for the shoot. From my grunge research I learnt that they are in to keeping their hair untouched, messy and sometimes dirty, so for Hayley’s second look and Ellie’s first I wanted their hair undone and just natural, which meant there was a bit of a wave to the hair. I especially wanted Hayley’s hair messy when she was wearing the crown, because I wanted to make sure the base hairband was covered. I also loved the idea of strong plaits, because I think it symbolises femininity, but also shows power. I love the image of Yara Shahidi with the safety pins in her braid, this is something that we trialled and then ended up using on Ellie when she was wearing look four. In terms of makeup I wanted the first half (when the models were wearing looks one and two) to be very matte and grunge-y. I didn’t want anything too heavy, because grunge style wasn’t about being over the top and taking too much time on their appearance. After the trial I decided that I wanted to take away the lip colour, because it was too prominent and I felt like it clashed with the clothes and the eye makeup. For the second look I wanted red/cranberry coloured glossy eyes to add a bit of interest especially in headshots. Due to the weather on the day you couldn’t really see the gloss effect and in the end I didn’t include any headshots in my final editorial.

I think the preparation from my sketchbook, makeup and hair trial with Kirsty and my schedule really helped my photo shoot to be efficient and get all of the shots that I wanted. I ended up taking three hundred and fifteen photos, which is more than I imagined I would, however in some of the photos the models are squinting due to the bright sun on the day; these are the images that I crossed out on the contact sheet. On the initial contact sheet I circled the images that I then went on to use in the editing stages. With the selected images I did a basic edit on the app ‘Afterlight’ where I changed the saturation, temperature, contrast, clarity and I added a filter. This made the colours of the images fit more with my grunge theme, which made me love them even more, from that I then starred images that I really liked and wanted to keep editing. This process took a while, but it was definitely worth it as I narrowed down from all of my images just to the final eight that I want in my editorial. I then went on to adding ‘Afterlight’ scratch effects to the starred images and then saw how that went. I found that most of the images didn’t look right with the scratches, because it overpowered the outfits, which is what I wanted to be the main focus. After that I took the favourite scratched images (which had been edited before that) and put them in black and white using the ‘Noir’ filter on iPhoto. This gave a real sense of what some of the images would look like in the final editorial. I then created a code for how I selected which images I wanted in black and white. As all of the photos on the black and white contact sheets were my favourite of all the ones I had taken I knew my final images were on these pages, so it was just choosing how many, which ones and how I wanted them edited. I decided on having eight pictures in my editorial and it just so happened that there were four black and white and four in colour. After I collected all of the final images that I liked I realised that because they had been edited and saved so many times, separately, the quality wasn’t very good. This meant that I got all of the original versions and only added the effects that I wanted, for example black and white images wouldn’t have been pre-edited like the other ones were (which I edited in ‘Afterlight’ and then added the black & white filter). This really made a difference to the professional feel of my photos, especially for the showcase, because they would’ve been printed even bigger and therefore the quality would have deteriorated even more. I think the first image really sets the tone for the whole editorial, it’s powerful, has a grunge feel and you feel the connection between the models that they have each other’s backs. I really like the combination of textures in this image the rusting fence behind is a real juxtaposition to the satin of Hayley’s trousers. I’m really glad that the skies were blue on the day of my photo shoot, because it really compliments the ‘Italia’ jumper that Ellie is wearing. The next image has a slightly different feel, because the dark filter really makes the safety pin crown stand out against the dark sky. The model’s position is really powerful and really embodies the theme that I wanted. I think this photo also shows off the sweatshirt that Callum made, which I am really pleased that he let me use, because it was exactly what I was looking for and I think it fits with the high-end feel of the shoot. The next shot also shows the community feel that I wanted within my images and it gives the viewer a chance to see the detail of the jeans and the safety pins in Ellie’s hair. This close up of Hayley’s shoe was really inspired by the close ups of the fishnets from the Teeth magazine research. I love how clearly you can see the detail of the fishnet sock and the studs on Hayley’s boots. I think it’s quite nice to have some shots like this just to break it up from the others and to give the viewer a closer look at the styling. I really like how the shadows feature in this image; it’s nice to have places of light and places of shade, because it adds a bit of interest to the image. This picture is also a chance to see the full outfit that I have styled, I really like how the paint splats compliment the colours I have used elsewhere in the outfit like the red bomber jacket, yellow vest and mustard yellow leather belt. I think the wind in all of the images, but this one in particular really adds a special effect, because it gives a bit of movement to the image. I think this scratched; black and white image is my favourite out of all of them. I like how you can only really see the scratch effect in the sky and the dark filter really adds to the moody, grunge atmosphere that I wanted to create. I think that this would possibly be the cover if my editorial were being featured in a magazine. As I have decided to call my editorial ‘Gateway to Grunge’ having an image with the wire gate in it is important and feel that this image has captured the vibe that all of my pictures have. All of my images have a European feel, however I feel like I could see these images in Vogue Germany. This worked out really well, because my target customer (Meghan Weber) is from Hamburg and therefore I feel like I’ve done a good job at aiming my editorial towards my ideal customer. This photo especially gives me German editorial vibes, because the pose is very professional and, again, I really like the way the shadows and the wind add movement and an atmosphere to the photo. The model shows a real power in her facial expression and the way she is sat shows that she’s relaxed and comfortable in what she’s wearing. This is very appealing to my target audience, which would therefore make them want the clothes that she is wearing, which is the main purpose of fashion photography. All through the planning of my photo shoot I knew I wanted a few close up shots to display the safety pin accessories that I have made. I love how moody this image is and how the delicate fencing and barbed wire is a contrast from the bulky black sweatshirt that Hayley is wearing. The way her hair is blowing into her face really encapsulates the grunge idea of unkempt hair, which is perfect for giving this image interest.

My thoughts for the showcase have been fairly consistent, as I know that I have always wanted a sensory experience. I always wanted my photos enlarged to A3 size on the walls in a booth style layout, however originally I wanted my videos to be projected onto the wall so people could listen to the videos and look at the pictures. I went off of this idea, because I didn’t ask the questions in the videos so you would have to read the question and listen to the answer, which I thought would distract from my photos. Now I want to have my photos displayed in the same way, but I want music playing in the background (the playlist that I have created) and something quite feminine – like flowers – hanging from fishing wire on the ceiling.