Photos for Print

I felt the photoshoot went well, I was really pleased with the results, but it was hard to be in front of the camera & not be directing the shots - I ended with a lot of very similar poses & I didn't get the chance to play with different angles in the same way I would have done if I was behind the camera.

I took over 350 photos in the studio.  These are some of the final images for each outfit (most of which I selected for my magazine):

I tried to project an image of the Bear Ravine on to the scoop, but it was difficult to get the lighting right - too much flash & it bleached out the projection.  A longer exposure worked better, but still left the model quite dark.  I liked the idea, but did not get chance to experiment further with it in the photoshoot due to time and not being behind the camera to direct further.
I did not select these photographs for my magazine as they had a completely different feel/atmosphere to the rest of the photos - I only used this projection for 2 of the outfits so did not have enough to make a small collection.   

The Modern Twist

I liked the idea from the tutorial of mixing the old with the new.  I took with me 4 'modern' items to go with each outfit - iPad, smartphone, DSLR & latest edition of Vogue magazine.  I thought these images would make the central 4 photos in my magazine - the focal point almost of the collection, bringing it to the 21st Century.  

I found this wonderful photo of my Nan in the 1930s, and thought I could incorporate the pose into my magazine - instead of holding roses, hold an iPad.

Print development

Unfortunately we were restricted with visiting times at the zoo, so I could not go at the weekend & with other project deadlines I was unable to get the help I needed in the week from from fellow colleagues.  On the plus side, it meant modelling myself that I would have continuity between the video & print aspects of the module.  Unfortunately this meant that I had to get someone to help me with the photography as I would struggle to take shots of myself.

Instead of taking a new set of photographs in the Bear Ravine/Tecton settings, I decided to take some elegant, beautiful photographs in the scoop to show the clothes in a more 1930s style - hair & model poses, which I could then somehow use alongside screen shots from my video.

I found this wonderful book/magazine printed by the Daily Mail -

' What Every Woman Should Know.  Lifestyle lessons from the 1930s.'

Filled with pictures and facsimile pages from the Daily Mail this gave me a real insight into the lifestyle from this era - Cookery, Household, Fashion, Beauty & Living.  In particular, this gave me inspiration for my photoshoot - poses & photography angles, as well as ideas for layout for my magazine.

Sample of the images inside

Ideas for poses

Sample of the newspaper articles inside

I prepared the photoshoot as much as possible.  I wanted the photographs to compliment the video I had already made but also make them different - a more 1930s style of hair & makeup, rather than the 1930s/bear fashion which was in the video.  I took away the wild hair, makeup & extra fur/wool accessories that I used in the video.

I went to the photoshoot with the dailymail book, a book on vintage style, and other photographs of how I wanted the poses, and lighting to look.

Print

For the print aspect of the module I wanted to continue on the same theme as my video.  I wanted continuity between the two projects rather than having two separate pieces.

With my video being based on 1930s clothing, I thought the print aspect lent itself well to a fashion publication/magazine.  I didn't think the clothes were abstract enough to be large scale prints on their own, and having several items would work well as a collection.  

Vintage Fashion

1930s Fashion

Fashion Zine/catalogue

1930s clothing vs modern day clothing  

I looked into the style of the photographs and adverts in magazines in the 1930s.

Feedback from my tutorial was to take a new collection of photographs of the clothing I had made for the video.  We also talked about the idea of a giving the photo shoot modern twist - 1930s fashion with a hint of 2012.

- Standing in the bear ravine wearing an outfit and Beats headphones

- Outside the zoo entrance in the new style Mini car

- Holding a ipad

I came across the latest COS (clothing store) magazine, and it was very similar to what I had in mind for the magazine which I wanted to create.  

They have interviews with artists/journalists/photgraphers etc as well as displaying the latest collection of clothing.  There were several sets of photographs inside the magazine to showcase the different collections of clothing.

I really liked the style of print for the magazine - a glossy cover, with matt paper inside.

Ironically, one of the clothing collections inside this issue was photographed at Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation!  These photos in particular inspired the style of my magazine - a mixture of colour & black and white photos.

Workshops

We had several workshops to help us prepare for the print aspect of the module.  These included:

Silk Screen Printing:
This is quite a lengthy process, but can be used to print on to most types of material/surfaces including paper, fabric, plastic & wood.  The most famous use of this process is the work of Andy Warhol.

1st silk screen - Did not work.  Results not clear, not enough detail in picture

results of 1st screen print

2nd silk screen different exposure - Did work

result of 2nd screen print

Digital Photographic Printing:
This was to learn the process of printing from the university's Epson printer.
When taking photos it is preferable to take them in RAW format so that they can be easily adjusted to achieve the correct results - changing the white balance/exposure etc.  RAW file format gives the most flexibility of manipulating photographs compared to JPEG/TIFF files where the results are not as successful.

Once the photos have been adjusted in 'Camera RAW', open in Photoshop & zoom to 100% - adjust small blemishes etc using the healing tool.
Select a section to test print - aprox 1/3 of the photograph, copy into a new file & print.
Check that the colours etc have printed correctly, and blemishes hidden.  If required add 'adjustment layers' to the file, and repeat the test print section again.
Once happy with results of test print - print it out for real.

This test print process should be done with each photograph, and with each different type of paper that you are using, as different papers achieve different results.

Test Print 1

Test Print 2
(Black background
area made 100% black

Scanned image of final print

InDesign:
Having never used Adobe InDesign before this workshop was really interesting.  Learning the process to produce publications, how to layout/put pages together correctly to print!  I made a small 12 page print using photos from my work so far - some photos from making my 1930s clothing, the film making at Dudley Zoo, and also screen shots from my video.

Screen-shot of Indesign - page layout for my mini sample publication

Final Video

My Final Video:

I imagine that this is the sort of video which would be picked up & spread through the internet through fashion websites, fashion bloggers, youtube etc.

Editing

From the research I did, I knew that in making a fashion film the music would be a huge part in the success of the final video.

I took me hours of searching to find the right track.  I knew I wanted an instrumental piece, and something that was quite fast paced, to add a different dynamic.  It's very difficult trying to pick a piece from thin air almost, and knowing where to start!  

Music from the 1930s would have been ideal, however I felt that it was a bit too 'swing' for the style of video I wanted - Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman & Glenn Miller being big names of the time.  

In the end, I started looking through film soundtracks.

The 2 songs it came down to were:

- Emancipation by The Chamber Orchestra Of London (Music from the TV series Downton Abbey)

This felt a bit too much like a TV theme tune, and a bit too slow at times.

- Briony by Dario Marianelli  (Music from the film Atonement)

At first I still had a few reservations with this track, but really needed to decide so I could make a start with the editing.  It fits in well with the project, as the film is actually set in the 1930s which is the time which the Tectons were made & the era that I have based my clothing on.  

In the end I think it worked quite well, and I used the clicking sound (which is actually a typewriter in the scene) to flick between images and I used this sound to base the timing of the video, giving it quite a fast pace and building up atmosphere.

Edit 1

I tried putting a flicker effect over the video, to give the illusion of watching an old video.

However the flickering was a bit too intense, and a distraction from the content.

Edit 2

In this video you can see i tried how it looked without the flicker effect, and I tried to time the 'clicks' at the start with images/stills.

Edit 3

This was the working progress video I took to the group tutorial session - I tried to fade the contrast & brightness in an attempt to colour match the different clips as close as possible, but also still give it that old effect which I think suits the clothing and era I based the collection on.  I was worried that I has used the mirror effect too much, but general feedback from the group was that they liked it & didnt think it had been over used.
They also suggested trying to tweak & match up the scenes even closer where I was trying to mirror different films together on the same shot - this was what I had most difficulty with & spent hours trying to adjust things ever so slightly.  I should have kept the camera in the same position & changed outfits for each angle, rather than moving the camera for each outfit.  

Filming

Recruiting models proved to be unsuccessful, I had in mind 4 different models for the 4 outfits.  I had several people from my course who I had hoped would be able to help, but with the short deadline & other commitments outside of university getting a day at such short notice was proved very difficult.  I tried to contact a foundation course tutor in the hope of being able to use their students, but the response - due to technical reasons - was too late.  I really needed to get the filming done whilst I knew there was a short window of 'good' weather, and also allowing myself a week or so to edit the film & any opportunity for re-shooting.  Hiring models from outside of our course was going to be too expensive as I would have to pay zoo entrance for each of them, and unfortunately not an option.  I could not guarantee a place for them to get ready or store their belongings either.

In the end, knowing the clothes fitted, I could see no other option but to use myself as a model.  I hired the Canon 7D camera from the university, and taught my sister how to operate it.  I prepared everything as much as possible & did a few practice shots to get her used to filming using the equipment.

I had notes of what I wanted the footage to look like, and we went around the structure several times to plan each shot & mark out on the floor where the tripod would be etc.  I decided not to use any zoom features on the camera in the hope that all angles/positioning of the camera matched up as much as possible.  

Setting up the shots

Marking the tripod position

 

Ideally I would have kept the camera in each position and kept changing outfits, to ensure that the camera never moved & each shot lined up exactly.  However as I had to be sewn into some outfits, and the amount of time this would have taken, this was not an option - I had to move the camera for each outfit & try and realign it.  I had a total of 8 camera positions to film, 1 of which had to be cut as the light meant that I was always in shadow - trying to preserve the battery was also a major factor as there was nowhere near to charge it, so I did not have much opportunity to check the footage on sight.  

Creating my collection

Trying to create a collection of 1930s & bear inspired clothing was the next step.

I wanted to create a small collection of clothing, but finding clothing from the 1930s was rather difficult.  Clothing from this era is not readily available to buy & vintage stock is expensive and hard to come across when looking for something specific.

I looked into hiring from local theatre companies:
- The Criterion Theatre, Earlsdon, Coventry.  Having called & emailed several times, no-one replied or passed on the message so this was a dead end.
- The Priory Theatre, Kenilworth.  This company was very helpful, but did take a while to respond to my email, and unfortunately what they were offering was not suitable.  I could look at their wardrobe, but it was only open once a week & at the rate of £20 per costume, it was going to get quite expensive if I wanted several items.

Earlier in the year I worked on a project with the PDSA, using their vintage stock to style & create a collection for selling online.  I contacted the organiser from the project & asked if it would be possible to come and view their vintage stock in the hope of borrowing some items that would fit the theme.
At the warehouse, I found lots of fur coats & accessories (very 1930s & bear inspired!) which I borrowed, but unfortunately not the 1930s clothing I was hoping for  - day wear or evening wear.  There were a few possible items other than the coats which I borrowed with the hope I might be able to adapt them to the theme, but I did not use them in the end as I felt that they were not really suitable.

Clothing borrowed from Vintage stick at PDSA

I then started to look at dress patterns with the idea that I could make some clothing - I came across a dress pattern at home that seemed to fit the 1930s trademark of halterneck & backless floor length gown, and searched the internet for further patterns.

I came across several 'Vogue Vintage' patterns which were actual 1930s design.  I got them ordered on next day delivery, and went to purchase fabric the next day.

I was on a very tight turn around, I wanted to get the clothing sorted quickly so that I could find models and get filming - incase I needed to re-shoot anything, and also because I was dependant on the weather - as the Bear Ravine is very mossy, I needed a day where it had not rained previously to make the ground as safe as possible to walk on, and also a day where it was not actually raining - clothing and equipment being a major issue in the wet weather.

Making the outfits

Dress 1:

Dress 2:

 Dress 3:

Skirt: 

(I used the skirt section from the pattern of dress 3)

Blouse:

After completing my mini collection of 1930s clothing, to add the 'bear' influence I am going to team the items with the fur coats which I have borrowed from the PDSA, and also try and find chunky knitted or fur accessories such as gloves/leg warmers (as influenced by the Topshop Unique Collection Autumn/Winter 2011).