#9 - 12 Days of Christmas

Posted 27/12/14

#8 - 12 Days of Christmas

Posted 27/12/14

#7 - 12 Days of Christmas

Posted 25/12/14

Link to video

#6 - 12 Days of Christmas

Posted 23/12/15

#5 - 12 Days of Christmas

Posted 22/12/14

[XMAS] - Film #1

Shots from film #1 - Caroline Wong, Dec 2014

As mentioned in my final post before the holidays, I knew I was aiming to get back into the swing of things regarding film photography. Whilst it's tricky for me to experiment with darkroom techniques in the same way as I did at my secondary school (as we had access to a number of different chemicals etc), I still wanted to at least take a break from the digital side and refresh my eyes.

Above are two shots from the roll, both very different in subject but these are the subjects I enjoy photographing most. As with my work for briefs, I always enjoy working when there's a personal element present and above is a photo of a friend taken on the night of another friend's birthday celebration. The first photo is another interest of mine- architecture and landscape. With architecture, I've always been interested in seeing the things that others wouldn't see. I consider myself to be observant of my surrounding more so than others and I like to capture scenes that usually get walked past. Through my fine art pieces and external photography, this is a theme that I've always indulged in exploring.

Shooting with film after such a long time was turbulent however. I am extremely happy with the results of the first roll as there was a lot of work put into it. My camera of choice is the Konica Minolta C35 AF which is known to be the first autofocus camera. Whilst I have a lot less control over the camera given it's autofocus feature, I've unfortunately not been able to get my hands on a Canon AE-1 which I'd love the opportunity to shoot with. The Konica I have is rather old and the battery compartment has the tendency to corrode easily meaning that whenever I retire the camera for a few months, I have to do a clean up before using it when I next pick it up. On top of this, being rusty with the process of film photography, I managed to forget to press the release button on the camera before rewinding the film. This resulted in the film inside the camera snagging and ripping through a good ten or so shots. Because of this, a chunk of the mini shoot I shot was lost but I plan on reshooting it at a later date. I wasn't able to rescue the film there and then as I was without a changing bag and a canister but took it to a photo shop who were kind enough to help me out, distraught and all.

The fiasco with my first roll has been helpful though, I now know that the world will not end if the film rips and that not pressing the film release button on a camera is simply asking for trouble. I'm looking forward to the next roll's results!

#4 - 12 Days Of Christmas

Posted 21/12/14

#3 - 12 Days Of Christmas

Posted 20/12/14

#2 - 12 Days Of Christmas

Posted 14/12/14

#1 - 12 Days Of Christmas

Posted 07/12/14

09/12/14 - GUY BOURDIN PROJ. (Final Editorial)

One of the final images - Caroline Wong

During the shoot, we had to work rather quickly as although the weather was sunny, the air was still cold and my models were required to dress in summer attire (as the shoot is for SS15). We had few problems thankfully during the shooting process but there were a number of tasks needed to be done in post-production editing. 

Firstly in the shot above, in order to capture the shoe, I had my model hold a piece of string with the shoe attached to it. This was done because whenever I tried to capture the shoe falling in momentum, the images always came out blurred due to the weight of the shoe. The speed of the shoe falling was too fast for my camera to accurately capture and so I remedied this by using string and then later photoshopping it out.

Another problem faced was that the shoe I used for the shoot was white and therefore didn't stand out well against the white windows. Whilst I was extremely happy with the composition of the shot, there was little vibrancy in the photo and so I ended up choosing a mint green colour that had been forecast in WGSN's colour palette and photoshopping the shoe to be this colour. The end result was much more preferable and as I'd done the research into the predicted colour trends, I was able to accurately make a decision as to which colour to pick.

I was happy with my series of four images that showed a trainer flying out of a window and whilst Ian preferred the shots to not have a hand it them, I decided to stick by my decision and chose not to photoshop them out. In our final critique, the other tutors also agreed with me and said that they too liked the hand so I am happy I decided to stand my ground. Since all forms of art is subjective anyway, I figured that it was each to their own and I was essentially staying true to my own style of photography.

This project has been a fun and rather lovely way to end the first term. I'm looking forward to the upcoming projects as well as being let loose with a camera over Christmas. One drawback of how fast-paced everything has been is that I feel I haven't been able to explore and utilise my love of analogue photography. As a self-proclaimed perfectionist, it can often take me up to a year to finish one roll of 36 exposures as I usually wait for the perfect occasion to take photographs on film. Because of this habit of mine, it hasn't been possible to shoot in film as I know I wouldn't be able to finish a roll fast enough. However, to try and curb this habit as well as refresh my photography skills, I've decided to make sure I shoot consistently over the Christmas holidays. 

02/12/14 - GUY BOURDIN PROJ. (Concept Board)

Images from concept board - Caroline Wong

The photograph I chose evoked feelings of summer, be it in California or the south of France. With the blue background and red painted toenails coming into the shot, the atmosphere of the photograph was relaxed and easy, much like one would be on vacation. Because of this summer feel-good vibe, I began coming up with a concept and narrative that would suit such inspiration.

The concept for my shoot has come from looking into 1950's America as the post-war era is known to be the period that birthed the 'teenager'. With kids no longer wanting to be carbon copies of their parents as they hit sixteen, there was a real emphasis on breaking away and having your own individual personality and I decided that I wanted to channel this in my narrative for the editorial.

The images used in my concept board consist of photographs I've found and sought out as well as photographs that I have taken myself. I always try to use some of my own photography in my concept boards as I like to work with a personal aspect to a project. This usually results in a much better and thought out idea.

01/12/14 - GUY BOURDIN PROJ. (Ligature Magazine)

Ligature Magazine

My chosen magazine for this project is Ligature, a publication based in London, and I chose them based on their editorial style and content. With few features, the main bulk of the rather thin A4 magazine is editorial. Images are often soft and slightly grainy, sometimes giving the feeling as though they've been shot with film. They're never overly sharp and crisp like images for fashion titles such as Vogue and W and this style of photography fits my aesthetic well.

The layout of the pages are also to my liking- images are rarely printed to fill an entire page and instead are strategically placed in a sort of minimalist and geometric fashion (much like my sketchbook). More than once has there been a spread where 4 similar cuts of the same pose have been used in a grid and I particularly liked the way this had been laid out on the page. The font used for editorial titles in the magazine isn't my favourite, I would have preferred to see something with capital letters that are sharper to contrast with the soft imagery instead of the rounded script used.

01/12/14 - GUY BOURDIN PROJ. (Exhibition Review + Chosen Image)

Charles Jourdan Spring 1978 - Guy Bourdin 

In order to fully understand Bourdin's work, we went to the exhibition at Somerset House which showed a collection of photographs and films as well as a number of technical drawings and Polaroids that were used in his image-making process. When going around the exhibition, I noticed some common themes within Bourdin's work and whilst I was captivated by a number of his images, a small number of them were also disturbing and uncomfortable, which in itself is not a bad thing.

With a glamorous and sometimes objectifying portrayal of women, Bourdin's work seemed at times a little too risqué, bordering erotic. Whilst I usually wouldn't have a problem with that (especially given the era these photographs were taken in), there was still something uncomfortable about a few of the photographs. 

Aside from that, his images spoke to me mostly for their somewhat abstract and simple nature. As an avid lover of simplicity in everything from the way I dress to the way I lay out my sketchbook, I was drawn to the composition of the photographs and choosing a favourite to use as inspiration for an editorial proved to be a difficult decision. Bourdin's images are often either in black and white or heavily saturated in colour and whilst I liked the use of brights to highlight the product he was endorsing, the high saturation of colour is something that, as a creative myself, I tend not to replicate.

My final chosen image is from the Spring 1978 campaign for Charles Jourdan. The feelings I've gathered from the photograph tie in well for a SS15 editorial and on top of that, I didn't want to produce anything dark in colour similar to my last project. By choosing this photo, I'm able to return to my roots and have fun with my favourite colour palette too- blue.  

27/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Critique)

The critique today proved to be a useful experience as I was not only able to look at other people's work but have my observed and commented on. The comments I received were positive about my work and the majority of people I passed mentioned that they had liked my editorial or film. When walking around, I tried my best to comment on others' work and give them ideas or magazines and publications that I thought their work could work great in.

It was tricky to comment on the design students' work as I found that, as with some of the other promotion students, we weren't as interested nor comfortable in critiquing their work. As a promotion student, I'm always half in awe of the design students and whilst I love looking through their sketchbooks to gain insight into how a designer goes from concept to final garment, I don't feel as though I am capable of really critiquing their work. Rather than that, I admired it and commented on things such as the layout of their book and how I thought they had really grasped the idea of deconstruct and reconstruct in their designs.

25/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Dazed Digital)

Feature on front page of Dazed Digital - Caroline Wong 

Feature on my film in the Arts + Culture section - Caroline Wong

26/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Final Film)

An art film exploring the deconstruction of a mind through mental health disorders whilst guiding and retelling a personal journey.

Model: Ina KoFilm: Caroline WongWords: Caroline Wong, Ina Ko

With thanks to: 

Lisa Dunt, Christele Mbosso, Loredana Pozzuto, Phoebe Smith, 

Maymana Arefin, Philippe Barbaroussis, Blanc Kim

26/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Final Editorial)

Front Cover - Caroline Wong

Opening editorial page - Caroline Wong

Model: Ina Ko

Photography: Caroline Wong

Garments: Lisa Dunt, Loredana Pozzuto, 

Christele Mbosso, Phoebe Smith

Lighting assistants: Lisa Dunt, Christele Mbosso

Maymana Arefin, Philippe Barbaroussis

25/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Editing Process)

Final stage of editing in Premiere Pro - Caroline Wong

To edit the photos, I wanted to retain the dark look to the images without losing the garment or the model. It was tricky editing to get the best of both worlds as changing the brightness and contrast both gave displeasing results. In the end, for most of the photos, I toyed around with the hue of the images as well as the shadowing and highlights. Again, the graininess of the images was something I enjoyed as I felt they worked well for my target audience (Dazed & Confused readers).

Editing the film was a long process. First, I had to detach all the audio from the clips and render them in black and white. After the initial piecing together, I then recorded the speaking soundtrack in time to the film as it played. There was a few times where I had to rerecord as I either spoke too fast or too slow but all in all, it was plain sailing up until this point as I had planned everything out from the shots to the script of the film. I had also previously recorded additional audio that I knew I wanted to use in the run up to shooting day and these included sounds such as shoes clacking on the floor and boiling water as it bubbles. The aim of this inclusion of everyday and mundane noises was to symbolise that depression could happen to anybody. Everybody walks on the pavement. Everybody has to cook. Everybody is susceptible to a mental health disorder.

I then exported the movie from iMovie into Premiere Pro as there is a lot more freedom when customising text in the Adobe programme. The longest part of the editing process was adding in subtitles as I wanted to subtitle my voice as it played in the background of the film. As it took a long time, I learnt that subtitling is time consuming especially when you're not using a specific programme designed for subtitling. Either way, now that I've done it, I know that I'm capable of doing it again and I'll be much faster in the future.

24/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Shooting)

Contact Sheet I - Caroline Wong

As shooting took place in the evening when it was dark and cold, we faced a number of problems. The first was that the lighting was near impossible to get right for the first 30 minutes or so. As I was having to use makeshift lighting such as car headlights and torches, I employed the use of reflectors to try and make the light go further but they didn't prove useful in the end. Eventually however, I managed to capture a number of shots that I thought could be used.

Another problem I encountered was with my camera as it was becoming increasingly temperamental. As we were running on a tight schedule, I was forced to quickly think of another means of photographing the photoshoot and ended up having to film and photograph on an iPhone 6. Whilst this obviously meant that the resolution of the images would be compromised, I liked the grainy effect that was left in some of the images and for the film footage, the darker clips tied in remarkably well with my vision for it.

Were I to do the shoot again, I think I would try to shoot in a similar location but with enough space to set up studio lighting (I would have also used studio lighting had I been able to take it out to a location). I would also try to document the shoot using film photography and had I had more time and the facilities to do so, I would have liked to have converted the images into black and white photograms to experiment with placing colour on the images manually through hand-painting. I think that hand-painted photos that are originally black and white have a romantic and somewhat ominous feel to them which would have tied in nicely with the images I produced. 

23/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Location scouting)

Location polaroids - Caroline Wong 

To channel Jeff Bark, I have decided to shoot outdoors at night. I wanted the location to be woody and leafy but given the timings, any local woods would be closed and shut by the time we wanted to shoot. On top of this, as I don't drive, it would be extremely difficult to bring all the equipment needed to light the shoot. When explaining the dilemma to Lisa, one of the designers I'm collaborating with, she mentioned that I could use car headlights if there was somewhere close by to my house that wouldn't be locked up at a certain time. With that thought, I realised that the alleyway right by my front door would be perfect.

The alleyway is used as a through fare by everyone would lives on my street and the streets perpendicular to us to get to the main road. The alleyway is also entrance to a number of garages where people can park their cars. Because of this, it has a perfect balance of greenery and walkable space which would come in handy when setting up tripods. On top of this, I could use our car headlights by simply asking my mother to drive in a little.

The location seems perfect for the shoot and with my cousin's high pain tolerance, she's agreed that the nettles are neither a turn off nor a problem for her. Having checked the weather, it appears that it may rain and so this might result in problems but for the most part, we're going to take it as it comes since there's no way of rescheduling the shoot that will be taking place on Tuesday. Of course, if we had the choice, we would shoot on a different day but given the quick turnaround time, there simply isn't another choice.

22/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Interview process and article)

Editing the article on Word - Caroline Wong

In order to get information for my article, I decided I would interview my cousin and either offer a retrospective biography or the interview itself. When asking the questions, I tried to distract away from the fact that I knew many of the answers myself and instead ask questions that readers would be interested in. The interview process itself was comfortable and when writing up the article, I only needed to add in body movements and gestures and change around the order of some of the questions so that it would flow better.

A way that I could have taken this further would be to film the interview too. I think this could have been a nice touch to include in perhaps a Dazed Digital feature showing behind-the-scenes footage.

21/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Hair & Make-Up)

Images from hair and make-up concept board - Caroline Wong

For hair and make-up, I wanted to have a look that would suit my muse of a crazed maiden. My idea behind the look was that at a glance, the make up would look normal and beautiful. Nothing would stand out as being 'off' and she would look polished. However, if taking a longer glance, one would begin to notice that something isn't quite right with the model and this was a focal point in my research into the beauty side of things.

As make-up and hair is another one of my interests, I started by looking into recent trends. With models at Preen's SS15 sporting fake freckles, I decided that it would be interesting to give Ina freckles as this would emulate a more earthly appeal. On top of this, I wanted brows to be bushy but not quite natural and I plan on doing this by using mascara that will not only hold the hairs in place but also thicken and lengthen them too. The majority of the face make-up inspiration came from looking at Vivienne Westwood's looks on the runway as they are often considered to be crazy and out there. I noticed in one catwalk, models sported a 'bitten' lip where their lipstick appeared to have been smudged or smeared all over their face. I've decided to copy this in a more subtle way to connote the uncaring side to ones appearance when they are depressed.

For hair, I knew I wanted to have big, curly and frizzy hair. As my cousin has naturally straight hair, I first thought of looking into how possible it was to create an afro and then went on to try it on myself. Sure enough, it was doable. I collected photographs from the Marc Jacobs and Marc by Marc Jacobs 2011 shows which had models don frizzy hair and again, this suits the crazed maiden ideal I have in my mind.

The entire look together with my cousin's pale and scarred skin should hopefully photograph beautifully. Also, as Dazed tends to use their main feature model as their front page model, I will be taking photos to be used for the front cover of the magazine and so face make-up in this respect is extremely important. I'm really glad that I have the opportunity to try out a dramatic look as for the past two projects, I've worked in my usual minimalist style where natural or no make-up has been the go-to look. It's been fun being able to really get creative with the hair and make-up looks.

20/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Further concept research)

For my further research into my concept, I've looked into both Ina's and my own dealings with mental health. I looked retrospectively at the lowest periods and gathered Ina's poems, menus, section forms and sheets from group therapy to look at. For myself, I looked back into the archives of blogs and online diaries and plucked out most of those written when I felt down. The thoughts and feelings that I've collected for my research will go towards the script for the art film I'm planning.

The following is a poem Ina wrote after her overdose at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. I believe it is a recent writing, dating to maybe a year ago. This will also be put in the script for the film.

This is the starting of my greatest fear,

Living the rest of my life.

Sitting up each morning,

to face all the little fears,

to muddle through this world.

This is the starting of a war,

To fight not for country or religion,

but for myself.

So many battles I've lost,

But perhaps I'll win one today.

This is the starting of my rise to grace.

My self-esteem lies shattered in the grass,

Waiting for glue and tape

To resurrect it once more,

So I may stand tall once again.

This is the starting of the rest of my life,

Filled with sadness and happiness,

Peppered with tears and laughter

And if I'm lucky,

Coloured in love.

This is the starting of a brand new day,

One that may lead to many more,

One that will take me to my future,

If I can find the strength,

To just survive today.

19/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Magazine Research)

Dazed & Confused May 2009 Cover

As I've chosen Dazed and Confused to be the publication I'm working for, I have set about looking into what market the magazine appeals to and what their ethos is. As their most recent Nicki Minaj issue is nowhere to be found, I've looked back into past issues that I have to gain this insight and try to better understand the magazine.

Dazed readers range from the ages of 18-30years and all have an interest in high fashion as well as music, arts, culture and photography. As so much of Dazed's content revolves around current affairs, I think my editorial and article would be perfect for the magazine. My film that I am creating is also something I believe would be seen on Dazeddigital, the magazine's website as they tend to highlight and arouse interest for new and upcoming artists.

Vocabulary used in articles and interviews for Dazed are usually serious when they need to be, but expletives and slang are still thrown in when appropriate. As the audience is relatively young and can be described as 'hipster', it makes sense for the magazine to use terms that they'd expect their audience to understand. Interviews are never censored- if a star swears, the magazine publishes it. It gives free reign to the contributors to say and do as they please.

I would describe Dazed and Confused as a magazine for what people consider 'arty' and maybe even somewhat 'pretentious'. I can see the girls walking around Brick Lane clutching their Holga cameras and snubbing the Ugg boot clad girls walking out of the nearby Mac store reading Dazed. I can also see the laid-back, smokes-weed-in-his-bathroom-with-his-friends-but-prefers-nights-in-with-a-round-of-beers-and-a-guitar-type guy flicking through his girlfriend's copy of Dazed and thoroughly enjoying it. What I can't see however is any old average Joe picking up a copy of Dazed and actually reading it.

19/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Model and designer scouting)

For this shoot, I've decided that I want to team up with a number of designers to create my editorial. As I want the garments to look somewhat haute couture and less high street, I figured that it would be better to seek out designs from the students in my class. After frolicking about and testing the water, I now have the 4 designers I'll be working with: Loredana, Christele, Phoebe and Lisa, all of which are womenswear apart from Lisa who is (as it stands) creating an accessory.

For my model, I originally thought about accessibility and asked Loredana if she would model for the shoot. I originally chose her for her long hair as I have a few ideas for hair and make-up and I figured her pale skin would also look great in the nighttime shots. However, due to previous plans, Loredana wasn't free and so I had to look elsewhere.

My next (and final) point of call was to call my cousin, Ina, who is younger than me by just over a year. Not only did she fit the bill of having long hair and pale skin, she also fit the concept of my project extremely well. Ina spent a year living in The Priory, a famous psychiatric hospital with numerous branches all over the UK. She was first admitted for self harm and was then transferred into the eating disorder unit where she remained for the rest of her time there. Towards the end of her time at The Priory however, she was becoming uncontrollable and it was around this time when she was finally diagnosed with having borderline personality disorder.

It's been over a year since her parents removed her from The Priory after they were beginning to feel unable to cope with her. She was transferred to the Maudsley Hospital, a renowned centre for their research into psychiatry and psychology and has been attending as an outpatient ever since. Whilst she hasn't been dismissed from CAMHS (the NHS's Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services), she's currently in Year 13 applying for a degree in Medicine and is living her life relatively normally save for the vast amounts of medication she's on.

Ina is one of the few people in my life that I feel entirely comfortable around and the feeling is mutual. Having been with her from the moment she was born through everything else, we're closer than how I perceive most cousins are with each other. I think that her partaking in the shoot will bring an interesting edge to the shoot and I plan on conducting an interview with her to use as my corresponding article. I admit that I was worried she wouldn't want to take part given the nature of the shoot but when I asked her and explained the concept, she laughed hysterically and said "so you only want me because I'm mad? Okay, I'm fine with that".

19/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Concept Board)

Image from Tumblr, Quote by Cesar A. Cruz

For this project which looks at deconstruction and reconstruction, I am intending to look into mental health and disorders as these relate to a mind that has been deconstructed and reconstructed wrongly. The subject matter is very personal to me and I've decided that I want to create an emotionally raw outcome as I think that my work is always better when there is an element of something personal in it. 

My initial research has come from looking at Millais' painted portrayal of Ophelia and Van Gogh's self portrait. Ophelia is a Shakespeare character who commits suicide through grief and remorse. Van Gogh is famously known to also have cut off his own ear in a moment of broken reality having suffered major depression throughout his life. I've taken inspiration from the movie 'A Beautiful Mind' which looks at the onset of schizophrenia in a university professor and Amy Winehouse, a singer who died battling a drug addiction and depression. 

A photographer I've been looking at is Jeff Bark who has worked with Dazed and Confused on many occasions. As my concept is on mental health, I also want my corresponding article to relate to this topic and I believe that Dazed is a publication that would be interested in publishing such material. In turn, I also like Bark's images as they tend to give off a woodland feel that is somewhat dark to them. I've been told that I should aim to do something different for this project in terms of the final outcome and I'm willing to go out of my comfort zone. As the editorials I tend to make and enjoy looking at most are usually quite simplistic, I want to create an editorial fit for haute couture wear and Jeff Bark's work is a good source of inspiration for me.

The final editorial as it stands will be shot digitally using an array of coloured lights. I want the feel of the shoot to be beautiful but somewhat eery, as though you can tell something is not quite right but cannot pinpoint exactly what it is. The muse for the shoot (and thus the persona the model will be taking on) will be similar to that of a crazed maiden and I'm planning on shooting outside at night so that I can really manipulate the use of lighting and movement in the shots. 

18/11/14 - DECON/RECON PROJ. (Collage Illustrations)

The Tears That You and I Know - Caroline Wong

For these collage illustrations, I cast aside my fear of ruining things and took to hacking away at an old Dazed and Confused issue. With the choice of working all day on 5 illustrations or using half the day to work on creating garments on the stand as well, I chose to focus entirely on the collages as not only do I not feel comfortable with the work I produce when working with fabric/clothes on mannequins but I also thoroughly dislike it. Collaging is also something I tend to dislike as I'm never a fan of the mishap feel the final product generally has. Saying that, I found this task rather difficult as I was never completely happy and struggled to make a start once I'd finished cutting out all the bits of clothing I could find.

The aim of my illustrations was to simply produce something that didn't look like it related entirely to fashion. I wanted my illustrations to have an element of fun or meaning to them and it wasn't until I'd finished all of them and looked at them in great detail that I realised they all shared a dark similarity. Once I'd found this common meaning to them, I began to appreciate the illustrations and went on to label them what I thought they all depicted.

The labels behind the images have now gone on to influence my research into my concept and I now have the idea of 'a deconstructed mind' in the sense of a torn apart reality relating to mental health disorders and psychiatry.

13/11/14 - INDUSTRY PROJ. (Final Presentation)

As a way of ending the project, it was rather enjoyable to sit and listen to the other groups talk about their concepts, designs and promotional tactics. Whilst it began to get catty and somewhat mean towards lunch break, there was an air of clarity and competitiveness among the audience as people laid into the presenting team in order to get ahead. 

Our presentation went pretty well. I was nervous before talking, nervous whilst talking and nervous even once I'd finished talking but the overall consensus was that although I went bright red (as I tend to do), my presenting skills weren't bad. Our team did awfully on the timing front given the sheer amount of things we had to present and talk about and I ended up cutting short a lot of the information I wanted to say to back up our decisions on why we decided to do things the way we did. 

That being said, it was most rewarding at the end to win in the presentation category and we celebrated the win afterwards with the girls from the Meadham Kirchoff group who won in the concept category. The overall experience of the group project was positive. Not only did I get on remarkably well with everyone in my group but we also managed to overcome the mishaps we had. One member left the course entirely, another was ill for the first week and in hospital on one occasion but we still managed to pull it out of the bag, work it out and swoop up a prize at the end. 

A job well done, I'd say.

12/11/14 - INDUSTRY PROJ. (Fashion Film)

Filmography/ Editing: Caroline Wong

Styling: Christele Mbosso, Beau Scarlett-Pitt

Models: Phoebe, Dieter

12/11/14 - INDUSTRY PROJ. (Video editing)

Editing process on iMovie - Caroline Wong

During editing, there was one minor problem. The first film that we finalised featured classical music as the backing track and it was decided that whilst the film showed modern designs, the music appeared to be too 'old-fashioned'. Because of this, we spent a good few hours then looking into different music before eventually settling on Jamie XX- My Girl.

Due to the music change and my style of editing where I edit to music (rather than edit and then find music), I had to quickly re-edit the film which luckily didn't take too long and only ended up shaving a second off of the original time. I did this by deleting clips and slowing down a few other ones so that just the clips of utmost importance were being shown. 

I really enjoyed making the film from both the filming aspect and the editing. As I make films in my free time anyway, it was nice to be able to use my abilities again and I was very happy when my group and the tutors said that they enjoyed it. 

One thing I would change were I to remake the film is to use the Glide Cam for stability. As I was filming by hand, some of the shots are a little too shaky for my liking but saying that, they are almost undetectable anyway. I've found it difficult to use the Glide Cam before but it would be a good idea for me to face the fear and come into my own with using it. I'm sure that with a bit of practice, I should be able to wield the Glide Cam in no time. 

11/11/14 - INDUSTRY PROJ. (Lookbook)

Photography: Caroline Wong

Assistant: Beau Scarlett-Pitt

Styling: Christele Mbosso

Models: Phoebe, Dieter

11/11/14 - INDUSTRY PROJ. (Fashion adverts)

10/11/14 - INDUSTRY PROJ. (Photoshoot)

Contact Sheet II - Caroline Wong

Photographs taken during the shoot from both Beau and I will be used in the lookbook and advert campaign. During the photo-shoot, our largest problem was getting lighting to work. The room we worked in had no working lights and so we ended up borrowing flash lights in order to light the room enough to shoot in. This worked to our advantage however as the lighting bouncing off of the white walls left an interesting green tint to everything that was captured by the cameras beautifully. 

Another funny problem we had was also caused by the flash lights we had up. As some shots required gusts of wind to blow the models' hair, Christele was assigned the role of acting as a human fan to create wind. However, on almost every occasion, the shadow of either Christele or the board she was using to generate the wind would be captured in the frame and whenever she moved away to be out of shot, the wind would not reach the model. To combat this problem, I decided when looking over the footage that I would simply crop into the model's face and therefore it was impossible to see the fan working in the corner. 

09/11/14 - INDUSTRY PROJ. (Hair and Make-up concept board)

Hair inspiration for catwalk - Caroline Wong

For hair and make-up, it was decided by Christele that due to the genderless concept we're going for, the male model would have wavy hair and the female model would have pin straight hair. On top of this, eyebrows would be unkept and bushy and the consensus was that there would be a 'no make-up' look that went along with no facial hair too. 

We also decided that for the catwalk, models would have shaggy updo's as this is a hairstyle that can fit both men and women. On the catwalk (irregardless of whether or not it's mens and womenswear), both sexes will walk and model the new collection.

08/11/14 - INDUSTRY PROJ. (Fashion Film concept board)

Sample of film concept board - Caroline Wong

For the film, I decided that I wanted the aesthetic of it to be clean and sleek in order to tie in with Jil Sander's ethos. The film is also to be filmed in black and white as I believe this will help achieve a cleaner cut and look to the final film. 

Whilst planning the film, I have decided not to do a storyboard due to two reasons. Firstly, I have made a note of the types of shots I want and I have a rough idea in my mind of what I want to create however I don't want this to be set in stone. I feel that if I have a rigid idea put down on a page I could end up overlooking a number of great shots and therefore one reason I have decided not to storyboard is so that I won't limit the footage I collect and therefore there is room for a happy accident. The second reason is that because there is no direct story to the film and it is being used solely to showcase the clothing for the collection and the atmosphere/concept for the collection, it is difficult to put down exactly what shots I want and how they will look in sequence. I wish to be free in the creation of this film from the concept and structure right down to the footage and editing. 

08/11/14 - INDUSTRY PROJ. (Fashion-shoot concept board)

Images from fashion shoot concept board - Caroline Wong

Above are some images I've used in the concept board for the shoot. As I am working with Christele for the shoot (Christele has the role of styling the shoot), I am leaving the most part to her as it was suggested to us by the tutors to keep roles and jobs separate so as to not cause confusion. The styling for the shoot is therefore not being determined by myself but the types of shots I want to capture are similar to that above.

The photographs will be shot in color (as mentioned before) as they are going to be used for promotional purposes and therefore must give an indication of the colors used in the collection.As the garments for our collection are minimal, I wish to photograph simple poses against a solid background in the same way that Jil Sander usually does their promotional advertisements. For this advert campaign, I want to ensure my work runs in line with Jil Sander's usual campaigns but still carries a touch of my own influence. 

In hindsight, I should have added more images that weren't fashion images to my concept board. These could have been images that revolve around the feel of the shoot or the coloring for the photographs I want to take.

07/11/14 - INDUSTRY PROJ. (teaser campaign)

Teaser campaign - Caroline Wong 

Shooting the teaser campaign proved to be semi-difficult but I was able to reap the rewards when I began post-production editing. As I shot the campaign myself, I had to use a tripod and a self timer as I was also the hand model in the photographs. I waited until the sun was beginning to set as I found that the photos I'd taken earlier in the day without flash were a bit lack lustre. When I tried photographing with flash, the resulting photos were a lot more interesting and felt like a new Jil Sander. There is a rawness to the images that wasn't seen in the photographs taken earlier in the day.

Were I to recreate the shoot again, I would have experimented with different hand models. As the print I used was that of the 'male' face, I thought that using a feminine hand could send a subliminal message that would have to be sought hard to find. I believe it would have been interesting to have been able to create a series of teaser campaign images that featured women holding the male print and men holding the female print because then the underlying concept to the collection may have appeared to be a little more obvious without being overbearing. 

07/11/14 - INDUSTRY PROJ. (Teaser Campaign concept)

Inspiration image - Caroline Wong

I decided to do a teaser ad as I wanted to create a hype surrounding the new collection. With the teaser campaign, our goal was to raise curiosity and arouse interest without giving anything away from the collection. I decided that a way of doing this was to feature the print Beau had designed as this is a way of highlighting a key element to the collection without making it obvious. The teaser campaign was also decided that it would be shot in black and white so as to not give away the colour way of the collection either.