Starting our concept research! (timeline)

So today we started on planning for one of our concepts which is based around our own personal timeline of our life. We started getting ideas together for our looks and we managed to come up with quite a few such as:

• Zodiac signs 
• Personal traits of our zodiac 
• Birthstone
• Events that happened on the day you were born
• Number one song on they day you were born
• Chinese year animal
• Newspaper articles from the day you were born

Image One.My zodiac! Scorpio (zodiac-astrology-readings.blogspot.co.uk, 2010)

One cool thing that I found out was that the number one for when I was born was gangsta's paradise by Coolio! I doubt I will take inspiration from that though!

One initial idea I have had is to create my image based on my zodiac, the scorpio. I will purchase a scorpio ornament which I would then attached to the hair of my model. Another idea I came up with is to take inspiration from the day I was born on which is bonfire night so I thought I could create colourful splatters on the face to recreate fireworks. This lesson has been a good start of my planning for this concept.

Bibiography - 

Image One.My zodiac! Scorpio (zodiac-astrology-readings.blogspot.co.uk, 2010)

zodiac-astrology-readings.blogspot.co.uk, (2010). Zodiac Characteristics, Zodiac Compatibility, Zodiac Signs. [image] Available at: http://zodiac-astrology-readings.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/scorpio-characteristics-scorpio.html [Accessed 8 Feb. 2017].

PRADA FALL/WINTER 2016 CAMPAIGN

When I was researching fashion campaigns one fashion campaign really stood out to me , it was the fall/ winter 2016 campaign from the Italian fashion brand Prada.It was filmed by iconic photographer Steven Meisel and includes colourful scenery and starry nights. The campaign also includes 27 models including actor Millia Jovovich and longtime Prada face Sasha Pivovarova it also captures the spirit of wanderlust and femininity.

The main thing I really liked about this campaign was the use of changing backgrounds in relevance to the clothing the models were wearing.The backgrounds included moving shots of different environmental factors such as; starry nights , lightening , dusk and dawn as well as the aurora borealis, this is relevant as during the campaign whenever the backgrounds changed the models outfits would change to a relevant style, for example in the scene ( approx. 1.04- 1.19) where the background is of the aurora borealis the model is wearing a colourful jacket which could be a representation of the aurora borealis ( Image One). Prada could have included this as an incite of the inspiration behind this collection. Another aspect of the campaign I really liked was the fact that the hair styling reminds the same throughout the 1.19 minute video , I thought this was a smart idea that Prada as it kept the focus being on the clothes , however the hair styling could also be a representation of the collection being for fall/winter as the styling of the hair included the hair being damp which could be a portrayal of the models' hair being wet as a result of the weather that is associated with fall/ winter.Another characteristic that could support my point about the hair design being a representation of fall/winter is that the hair would be moving which could be another representation of the weather that is associated with fall/winter as it created an effect that made it look like the model was out in the wind.The make up application throughout the whole campaign remains the same however throughout the campaign a few models would have a red lip, I really liked how Prada did this as it kept the focus being on the clothes which is the main purpose of the campaign but it also allowed the viewer to notice the slight changes to the make up application which kept the make up application looking fresh and it avoided the make up from staying the same for the whole campaign. I also really liked the use of movement in the video, the models start walking towards the camera however it creates an effect that when watched it makes it look like the models are appearing to be in 3D, I think this is a really smart way to shoot a campaign video as when I was doing my research of campaign videos this was the only one that created an illusion like that.Prada created this to make their campaign stand out from all the rest and I honestly think they did what they wanted. Have a look at the campaign here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7iD5R4n6aw .

Image One.

ALL AMERICAN FRAT PARTY FUNDRAISER!

Last night was our all american frat party at the SU, it was a real success and it was such a fun night! We managed to raise £381 !!! We all took turns working on the door where we would take payment from people to allow them into the event we also would offer them a fifth wristband if they wanted to go out after the fundraiser and then stamp them which allowed the SU staff to know that they had paid. Overall it was a brilliant night and was really effective in raising funds for showcase, we are all currently speaking about the next night we could do and we are going to see if we can carry on doing a night a month leading up to showcase!

Image One.Our fundraising poster for the event.(Atmosphere Kitchen and bar, 2017)

Image Two.Sheriff and deputy couple costume ( couple goals or what?!?)(Costello, 2017) 

Bibliography -
Image One.Our fundraising poster for the event.(Atmosphere Kitchen and bar, 2017)

Atmosphere Kitchen and bar, (2017).Our fundraising poster for the event. [image] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/salfordakb/?fref=ts [Accessed 8 Feb. 2017].

Image Two.Sheriff and deputy couple costume ( couple goals or what?!?)(Costello, 2017) 

Costello, A. (2017). Sheriff and deputy couple costume ( couple goals or what?!?). [image].

The conflict between the use of CGI and make up application within TV and Film.

So for my PPB( Personal Portfolio Building) module in university I had to come up with an idea based around a theme (such as ; Artistic paintings & movements, Sculpture , TV & cinema and performance arts.). My initial idea for this module was took from the TV series American horror story as that involves a lot of special effects make up which is the field I want to specialise in once I have graduated. I focused primarily on season four which is based on a freak show however I soon changed that idea as I realised that when it came to the research side of things I was limited in inspiration as there are only a few cast members.I changed my idea to season two of American horror story which is based around an asylum but yet again I found it very hard to get inspiration from there without me purely copying American Horror story. So I decided halfway through the module to change my idea to something completely new which I could create my own look and shoot based on it.

My final idea based on a theme.

My final idea which I then created my shoot from came from a conversation I had with my boyfriend where we were talking about our favourite horror films then I realised that in the more recent horror films they are using CGI ( which can also be known as computer generated imagery) instead of special effects make up. As soon as we finished the conversation I started pulling research together, I already had an idea of what I would be creating as when I was in college I had done a piece of special effects work which was based on the walkers from the walking dead and during this project I created some research from the walking dead, one point is that the creators of the walking dead pride themselves on using as little CGI as possible when it comes to their walkers, you can have a look at the zombie I created below ( photograph one) which was the main point of inspiration for my look. 

photograph One.(Pape, 2015)

Planning for my look.

I created a moodboard where I placed not only visual images but also written research which you can see in my PPB lookbook. The research shows the process of how I got to my final image which involved my model having half a face make up based from the walking dead and then the other half being based around how CGI is created. To help with my research for what people prefer I created a poll on twitter with the question "what do you prefer when it comes to tv and film" there was then two choices they could answer with CGI or special effect make up. You can look at the results on Photograph two.

 This poll really helped me get an understand of what other people feel, it was after this that I came up to make it more of a campaign where I would have my model holding up a sign that says "#makeupoverCGI" and then in the process of photoshop I would change it to say "#CGIovermakeup" this is only one idea that I decided to do for the photoshop side of the assessment. Another aspect that I wanted to change from the original photograph was the background, I felt like it would finish my look of if I was to have the CGI side with a green background therefore betraying a green screen whereas on the special effects side I would apply a image background of a deserted / abandoned area just like you would see on the walking dead. 

Photograph Two.(Pape, 2016)

Below is a timelapse I created on the day of the shoot along with the final images and video footage that was taken.

Video One.(Pape, 2016)

 Photograph Three. (Farnworth, 2016)

 Photograph Four.(Farnworth, 2016)

 Photograph Five.(Farnworth, 2016)

Photograph Six. (Farnworth, 2016)

Video Two. (Ianos, 2016)

And this is my final photoshopped image which I created all on my own.

Photograph Seven. (Farnworth, 2016)

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think! 

speak soon, 

Ella xoxo

Bibliography - 

Video One. 

in text citation.(Pape, 2016)

Pape, E. (2016). Timelapse of my final look for PPB.. [video].

Photograph One.

intext citation. (Pape, 2015) 

Pape, E. (2015). My special effect make up based on the walking dead from my time in college.. [image].

Photograph Two. 

In text citation . (Pape, 2016)

Pape, E. (2016). #vote what do you prefer when it comes to film/ TV?? #poll #assignment #uni. [image] Available at: https://twitter.com/EllaPape_/status/800676179430830080 [Accessed 13 Jan. 2017].

Photograph Three. 

In text citation. (Farnworth, 2016) 

Farnworth, A. (2016). CGI vs special effects make up photoshoot.. [image].

Photograph Four.

In text citation. (Farnworth, 2016)

Farnworth, A. (2016). CGI vs special effects make up photoshoot.. [image].

Photograph Five.

In text citation. (Farnworth, 2016)

Farnworth, A. (2016). CGI vs special effects make up photoshoot.. [image].

Photograph Six.

In text citation. (Farnworth, 2016)

Farnworth, A. (2016). CGI vs special effects make up photoshoot.. [image].

Video Two.

in text citation.(Ianos, 2016)

Ianos, N. (2016). Video footage from the CGI vs special effects make up photoshoot. [video].

Photograph Seven. 

in text citation. (Farnworth, 2016)

Farnworth, A. (2016). CGI vs special effects make up photoshoot photoshopped image. [image].

24th November 2016 - Meeting with the media students

After the success of our day of filming our post apocalyptic charity shop chic we decided that we should have a meeting with the media students who would be editing our footage of the catwalk.


Before we had our meeting we all sat down as a group and spoke about it so we would all be on the same page about how we think it should be edited and how the final clip should look. Our lecturer Tai gave us some amazing visual pictures which I have posted down below, which really helped everyone get on the same page which then allowed us to all be able to speak to the media students about what we wanted.

Image One. A visual look at how the footage of the catwalk will be edited. Drawings from Taibah Roberts.(Pape, 2016)

However the meeting with the media students was disappointing and I hope that our next one we will be able to start getting the footage edited.


Bibliography - 
Image One.A visual look at how the footage of the catwalk will be edited. Drawings from Taibah Roberts.(Pape, 2016) 

Pape, E. (2016).A visual look at how the footage of the catwalk will be edited. Drawings from Taibah Roberts.[image].

Ethical campaigns that infringe on the beauty and fashion industry.

With reports of links between make up and illnesses including cancer, fashion brands using fur and the use of child labour in the fashion supply chain , can the make up and fashion industry have any more ethical campaigns? I think so.

Microbeads.
'what are microbeads?'you may ask.Well they are tiny pieces of plastic that are added to everyday cosmetic products such as face wash and toothpaste. They are usually made out of polyethylene but they can be made out of other petrochemical plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene. Microbeads are small enough to go down your drain and to even pass through water filtering systems and this is what the problem is.(Thorogood, 2016)

As microbeads are so small and I guess could be seen as harmless, you could be surprised to know that in certain products that around 100,000 microbeads are washed down the drain in a single application. And as they are too small to be passed through water filtering systems, this means that they end up in the sea and also in the food chain for example sealife. Scientific research is continuing to investigate and research the effects of microbeads in wildlife . A recent study had the outcome that 90% of birds have plastic in their stomachs. The most frightening thing is that humans have plastic in their bodies as well, such as from toothpaste and eating seafood that has ingested microplastics and the toxins that come with them.Have a look at figure one to see the flow chart of the use of microbeads. (Thorogood, 2016)

Canada and America are going to be banning the use of microbeads in all products and brands such as; L'Oreal, Boots, Avon and The body shop have pledged that they will not be using them.But brands such as ; Dermalogica , the Estée Lauder companies , Elizabeth Arden and L'Occitane still using microbeads in their products.(Beatthemicrobead.org, n.d.)

I had never heard of the effects of microbeads until I saw on the news that America and Canada had banned the use of them, Scientists have no scientific proof what the effect of human consumption of  microbeads  is but I know one thing for sure that having plastic that can be toxic in your body isn't good. I have to question the beauty companies that are still allowing microbeads to be in their products especially when the alternatives such as rice, apricot seeds and walnut are safer and have better outcomes, if the beauty industry knows the effects that microbeads have on the environment why are they still choosing to use them, could it just be because of the customers knowing and loving the microbeads in their products or could to be that they have a product that sells and they are worried that changing the product could have an effect on sales.If you are as shocked as i am about this please sign the petition urging Thersea May to follow in Canada and Americas foot steps here : https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/page/s/ban-microbeads?source=wb&subsource=20160114ocwb01

                                      Figure One.(beadsnfashion.tumblr.com, 2015 A flow chart 
                                                        of the effect of the use of microbeads.)

                                              

                                          Figure Two.(www.beatthemicrobead.org, 2016 , Lets 
                                          ban the bead , Australia will have banned the use of 
                                          microbeads as early as 2017)

Bibliography -
Thorogood, I. (2016). What are microbeads and why should we ban them? | Greenpeace UK. [online] Greenpeace.org.uk. Available at: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/oceans/what-are-plastic-microbeads-and-why-should-we-ban-them-20160114 [Accessed 10 Nov. 2016].

Thorogood, I. (2016). What are microbeads and why should we ban them? | Greenpeace UK. [online] Greenpeace.org.uk. Available at: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/oceans/what-are-plastic-microbeads-and-why-should-we-ban-them-20160114 [Accessed 10 Nov. 2016].

Beatthemicrobead.org. (n.d.). These products contain plastic microbeads.. [online] Available at: http://www.beatthemicrobead.org/ProductTable.php?colour=2&country=GB&language=EN [Accessed 10 Nov. 2016].

Figure One.beadsnfashion.tumblr.com, (2015). The flow diagram of the use of microbeads in beauty products.. [image] Available at: http://beadsnfashion.tumblr.com/post/132659692427/microbeads-face-to-fish-httpbeadsnfashioncom [Accessed 10 Nov. 2016].

Figure Two.www.beatthemicrobead.org, (2016). Ban the Bead "Microbeads shall be ditched in Australia as early as in 2017" photograph. [image] Available at: https://www.beatthemicrobead.org/en/results [Accessed 10 Nov. 2016].

Middle Eastern ideologies of beauty and body image.

If you think of a middle eastern women what will come to mind?A covered up women due to the strict clothing orders from their husband or father? This stereotype may be apart of some areas but in fact middle eastern cultures have their own set of beauty standards. Within different aspects of cultures Arab women follow their traditions as well as modern beauty practices to help uphold social standards.The Arab woman that comes to mind when you think is ; dark haired , olive skinned ,dark brown eyed with full lips and a curvy body. Whereas most of these characteristics have remained the same throughout the years aspects such as body shape has varied throughout the times.

The Hijab:is it protection or a threat to body image ideologies?


The hijab is a head scarf that is wore by some Muslim women around the world, opposing some beliefs the rule of the hijab vary across family values as well as culture. There are many different types of hijab which are worn in each different culture based on how covered up the women must be. For example, in some cultures a women is only meant to wear the hijab when she is in public where as when she is in front of family she is not required to wear it. Another controversial point of the hijab is of which age a women should wear the hijab, Arab Americans believe that a woman should wear the hijab when married to avoid being looked at by other men whereas in some other cultures they believe a child as young as 10 should wear it.Some may say that the hijab is a way to objectify women by placing a stereotypical image as culturally suppressed with no dignity. Despite what people say the purpose of the hijab in almost all cultures is to remove women from sexual objectification , the definition of sexual objectification is "the act of treating a person as an instrument of sexual pleasure. Objectification more broadly means treating a person as a commodity or an object without regard to their personality or dignity". (En.wikipedia.org, n.d.) therefore by a women covering herself she is trying to avoid being given sexual comments, objectifying looks and even body evaluations.In reflection to a study linking self- objectification and the hijab there is in fact a correlation with the idea of women simply as sex objects for their husband which is then leading to self objectification , self objectification is described as "Self-objectification is the psychological phenomenon of seeing oneself from an outsider’s perspective, as an object to be viewed — like a painting on a wall ." (aloftyexistence, 2011) The study also pointed out that the pressure of self objectification in Arab women could be a result from the exposure of western cultures beauty standards which can then lead to eating disorders, low self esteem along with body issues in younger Arab women.(What is Beauty?, n.d.)


In the middle east women are typically built curvier than the western countries.The most attractive body type used to be a healthy body with "meat on the bones" but after exposure to the western cultures, women in the middle west started to embrace the unrealistic idealization of body image and beauty that the women in America have.This sadly led to a rise in eating disorders and low self esteem . Regarding the trend of women being skinny in Arab cultures it is actually considered that being heavier reflects in your wealth and beauty and there are reports of in some cultures of there being a rise in obesity in women simply as they prove that they are the richest and prettiest. Parents are even reported to force feed their daughters throughout the day and even waking them up throughout the night to feed them as they believe it would enhance their ability to bare children.
what do you think? do you think that everyone is just reaching for an unreachable body? should everyone just be comfortable in their own body? If everyone women is striving to look the same will the true beauty of each women having her own look/style be lost. As they say the best feature a women can have is confidence in her own skin.

Image one.(beautyundefined.weebly.com, n.d.)

Image Two.(Haworth, 2011) Force feeding in Mauritania.

Image Three.(www.phillyvoice.com, 2015) The body type everyone woman is trying to achieve. 

Image Four.(Halpin, n.d.)

Bibliography :-


En.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). 

Sexual objectification. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_objectification [Accessed 20 Oct. 2016].


aloftyexistence. (2011).
Self-Objectification. [online] Available at: https://aloftyexistence.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/self-objectification/ [Accessed 20 Oct. 2016].


What is Beauty?. (n.d.). 

Middle Eastern. [online] Available at: http://beautyundefined.weebly.com/middle-eastern.html [Accessed 21 Oct. 2016].


Image One.beautyundefined.weebly.com, (n.d.). 

Middle western women. [image] Available at: http://beautyundefined.weebly.com/middle-eastern.html [Accessed 21 Oct. 2016].


Image Two.Haworth, A. (2011).

 Forced to Be Fat/ in mauritania where mothers will force feed their child in order to get a better suiter. [image] Available at: http://www.marieclaire.com/politics/news/a3513/forcefeeding-in-mauritania/ [Accessed 21 Oct. 2016].


Image Three.www.phillyvoice.com, (2015).

 France bans super-skinny models in anorexia clampdown/ this is the type of body that everyone is trying to achieve. [image] Available at: http://www.phillyvoice.com/france-banning-super-skinny-models/ [Accessed 21 Oct. 2016].


Image Four.Halpin, A. (n.d.). 

The body "beautiful"/"THE MEDIA PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN THE CREATION OF THE IDEALISED BODY TYPES” a photograph adriana lima before photoshop. [image] Available at: http://themediafiedbody.weebly.com/student-articles.html [Accessed 21 Oct. 2016].