Fashion media blog.

Design Studio 

Aim: Complete storyboard, delegate tasks, present concept to class and set tasks for the week.

Brainstorming initial concepts was the most difficult task because each member had really different visions and perceptions of what they wanted from the film. Ideas ranged from Noir to Gareth Pugh-esque films. Therefore, we followed Sue's advice and attempted the '5 ideas in 5 minutes' strategy. This allowed us to each present our individual ideas, and therefore comment and build from these ideas. 

Inspiration: Zana Bayne's 2013 fashion film. 

What we liked: Warehouse sterile atmosphere | The idea of the omniscient viewer, that being the audience is looking in on a situation rather than interacting with the video as such | The glitch transitions | The long lengthy shots of the bare spaces | Off centred subjects within the frames

Inspiration:  Hussein Chalayan 2009 fashion film.

What we liked: Subtle narrative | Covert advertising | The use of music to create suspense | Long lingering moving shots | The contrast of the washed out colour palette against the fluorescent yellow nails | The use of 2 narratives, the female subject in the bath tub, and the two female subjects on the couch | The use of didactic sounds to increase suspense when she is biting her nails of 

Developing our storyboard

What we want to advertise: A unisex collection. Therefore by catering to both sexes, the target demographic is doubled, and consequently there is a larger sales potential.
Genre of film: Horror-esque aesthetic that is quite eerie and confronting. Appealing to the alternative buyer. 
Narrative: The film will feature two subjects walking towards each other. One subject will be of female sex who satisfies a more masculine essentialism and the other will be a male who is more feminine. A tension between these subjects will be created through: alternating close-ups, lingering shots, use of music and didactic sounds. A second narrative will to run through the film. The purpose of this second narrative will be to maintain the viewers attention and to further showcase the fashion detailing. 

Commencing Storyboarding was really difficult because of our little experience in film and our lack of confidence with our individual creative ideas. Below is our first draft. Personally I found presenting our concept to our class really helped us to figure out what we needed to work on and refine. That being what we are selling and how are we convincing our audience to buy our product. 

Things to do:
Bring potential outfits tomorrow to style | Organise location | Refine storyboard | Decide on make up | Bring potential lights to use when filming | Do practice filming | Bring Tripod | 


Essay Progress:
In my essay I will like to focus on Cinema as the medium for developing, producing and circulating ideas of masculinity. I have decided to focus on portrayals of masculinity in terms of representations of violence. I plan to focus on the 1950s film A Streetcar Named Desire and 1970s film A Clockwork Orange. In terms of contrasting I will use the heteronormative styling of Marlon Brando as a physically strong and macho character to illustrate the post war context and how men within this period searched for a masculine identity. I will then contrast this to Kubrick's feminised costuming of protagonist Alex to illustrate the change in societal context as gender essentialism became fluid. The aspect of violence creates a continuity within these two differing contexts, in other words, despite changes in visual characteristics of masculinity, the man in cinema internally still satisfies the normative over powering and violence male attribute.