This is my final product for the More Than Fabric: Fashion films in the digital age media studio. I am incredibly happy with how it turned out, considering the tumultuous twists and turns that came with getting this project into fruition.

My project is an observational documentary focusing on my friend, Emily Nolan’s fashion label, Unemployed. The documentary focuses on the designs that make up the Unemployed collection so far, the designs which are modeled by the incredible Corey Worthington. Apart from the designs, I really wanted to capture Emily’s hilarious personality, whilst also conveying to the audience how truly brilliant and intellectual she is. More than anything, I wanted the video to be fun to watch. I wanted the audience to laugh but to also indulge in her designs and feel immersed in her creative process.

I met Emily earlier this year at a house party and thought she was absolutely hilarious, with the right amount of wild to her whilst still being a 100% angel. I knew that I wanted to make a little film about her when I saw her accidentally fall down a full flight of stairs, holding a beer, only for her to get straight back up to laugh her head off. I approached Emily maybe a month or two ago and gauged her interest in allowing me to follow her around for a day to document her life. I was thrilled when she said yes, but what truly elated me was at how excited she was at the prospect, and I think this truly comes across in the final product.

In true Justin Palmieri style, I didn’t really give the project a huge amount of thought until the due date was approaching, which actually works to my advantage. The stress really kicks me into overdrive and motivates me to CREATE, which is essentially what happened here. I appreciate Emily’s patience so much as I gave her about a weeks notice to get all of her things together for us to collaborate and create this piece. In this regard, I believe that it actually worked to our advantage! The lack of planning (which makes it sound like I did no work or preparation – I assure you I did!) translated into a video that was spontaneous, fun, and didn’t come across as too contrived. I believe that true art or creativity can’t be forced, and in this instance it definitely wasn’t and hopefully that is conveyed in our film project!

In terms of this studio as a whole, I have nothing but endless praise for it! As it was the last traditional studio that i’ll be partaking of its kind at RMIT, I must say that although it didn’t benefit me in terms of technical knowledge (I learnt a lot of what I know now, in terms of editing and filming, from past studios), it definitely helped me refine my study methods and the way that I look at fashion from certain perspectives. I can honestly say that its one of the first studios that i’ve completed where i’ve felt totally confident and comfortable to go into the “real world” and start creating content. I don’t know whether thats because i’m nearing the end of my final year or whether its because I enjoyed the studio heaps, but thats the reality. I loved learning about the practical aspect of the fashion industry whilst also studying different forms of multimedia that were not only fun and culturally relevant, but were employed during this studio to further our own understanding of the way that fashion films were made and marketed to create some sort of hype. Before I started this studio, I never really paid much attention to how fashion documentaries were made, or rather, never really appreciated the hard work that went behind the scenes.. but after making my own, it became so easy to understand how complex this form of media is. You’re never guaranteed to get that winning shot and even then if you do get a great shot, you still need to put it through post production and editing, which is a whole other ball game. This studio definitely gave me the skills and frame of mind to understand what was needed to make a great fashion film.

PITCH FEEDBACK

Essentially, I pitched the idea for my final project as one that i’ve been talking about since the start of the semester. I want to create a fashion film that follows my friend, Emily Nolan, at the start of her day to the end of her day. She’s a unique and outstanding individual who knows how to have fun, that’s for sure. Fun follows her and I would love to capture that on film. I tend to have word vomit whenever I have to present something to the class and this was no different. Pretty sure I described my film as “Lower East Side New York meets Studio 54, meets The Kardashians, meets John Waters meets Madonna”. How cringe worthy but its true.

As for the feedback presented by Nick, Robin and Christina, I agreed with everything they said and intend to take it all on board. Nick probably raised the main issue that I was concerned with from the beginning and that was how I was going to capture everything that I wanted to capture, especially if I was going to responsible for filming a whole party. He suggested I go in knowing exactly what shots I want and this is something that I seriously have to start thinking about! Other things that I have to think about are what camera I plan on using and also how I will go about tackling the issue of sound, again, as it will be filmed during a party and it might be a bit hectic if I have techno layered over the top! All interesting and viable issues that i’m sure will become a lot clearer in the coming days and hopefully not weeks!

Project Brief 2 had us make a 30 second to 1 minute long fashion film on a subject of our choice. I’m really into the idea of these project briefs that give us the freedom to pursue a topic that interests us, especially because the umbrella of fashion is so expansive, it truly allows me to be as creative as I possibly can at that certain moment in time.

I thought it would be wise for me to use this project brief as a good precursor for my final project brief. I love the trashy side of life and the uniqueness that comes with individuals and their own wardrobe. My friend Harriet is an incredibly unique and creative individual and i’ve always loved her sense of style. She has the keenest eye for found, unique pieces and surrounds herself with young, emerging designers. I thought it would be great to use her in this project brief.

I loved the way it came out! I love the joyful, spontaneous nature of the video all thanks to Harriet and her incredible collection of clothing. Rob and I played the song during the shoot with Harriet so she was able to dance along to it, which made it a lot easier to edit in post-production as her natural rhythm and groove matched up with the song already.

Whilst editing the video, I really took on board Robin and Christina’s advice about framing the video in a consistent matter, and as a result, made the choice to omit the shots of Harriet’s feet and legs from the finished result. I think this ultimately gives the video more direction and stylistically makes more sense then mixing shots of her upper body with her lower body.

In saying all of this, I can’t ignore the fact that I have two personal qualms with the video in terms of technicalities. Whilst I initially believed that a lower quality video would suffice and promote the idea of trash better than something high quality (I still believe this), I just wish we’d filmed it on a bit more of a ‘capable’ camera with some adjustable settings. I think the overall texture of the video is a tad unpolished where it could have come across as a bit more reassured had it been filmed on a more technical camera. Finally, I think that a camera with a bit more manual settings could’ve fixed the auto-exposure issue that you can see sometimes throughout the video. At times the wall is a tad warmer, and in other scenes its a bit cooler in temperature. Whilst these are problems that I find annoying, I do not believe that they take away from the overall aesthetic of the project.

This project brief contains the party vibe that I want to bring to the rest of my projects. This was a good place to start to get myself hyped for future assignments and to get me truly thinking about how I want to approach my final video and how i’m going to execute it to fully put forward this trash/party culture vibe that I want to convey…

 

I’ve always had a keen interest in fashion, the industry and everything in between. After engaging myself in practical film studios for the past 2 years at RMIT, this fashion studio seemed like a breath of fresh air whilst still offered me the chance to dive head first into a topic that interests me. As a huge fan of pop culture and the world of celebrity, this studio seemed like a great way for me to study academically whilst also unpacking issues that I love.

Self admittedly, I don’t really know what I want to do in the future. Being in my final year, I have to admit that i’m a bit unsure of where i’m headed in the future and what I want to do as a career choice. Fashion is so inspiring and invigorating, and that paired with the seemingly endless possibilities of the media industry, truly excites me I think. I think that fashion is an industry that challenges your creativity whilst also at the same time, makes you work your butt off! I’m into that. The thought of working hard for something that you love is how I would want to spend the rest of my working career.

Throughout this class, I think my main goal by the end of it is to come out with a piece of film that I am truly proud of. After our talk on Thursday, I definitely want to create a fashion piece in a nightclub setting surrounded by inspiration, unique and a little bit crazy, just like the people who frequented the famous Studio 54 in the 70’s.

MADONNA FOR VERSACE

I’ve always been fascinated by the spirit of the Versace fashion house and think that they constantly pull off the best advertising campaigns. I love when celebrity and fashion collide and you can’t really get any bigger than fusing Versace with Madonna. I’m not a huge fan of the whole desaturated, cool temperature look but I think it works perfectly for this shot. The obvious “similarities” between Madonna and the poodle make for great parallelism.

TOM FORD FOR GUCCI

I love this shot due to how provocative it is! The cinematic nature of the shot paired with the moody lighting make this instantly iconic in my eyes. Tom Ford has never been one to shy away from controversy and this just proves it. As Creative Director of Gucci during this period, he definitely steered it away from that European vibe it always had to something that was more marketable towards the Western world.

DEBBIE HARRY FOR WONDERLAND

This shot of Debbie Harry for the March 2017 issue of Wonderland magazine blows my mind. Photographed by Pierre-Ange Carlotti, it signifies everything that Debbie Harry represents. I love celebrity culture and the club-kids of the 70’s and no one does this better than Debbie. She embodies youth and self-expression, even at 72 years of age.

VANESSA PARADIS FOR CHANEL

This is probably in my top 3 favourite shots of all time. Shot by Jean-Paul Goude, this is Vanessa Paradis promoting Chanel’s iconic Coco fragrance in 1991. Flanked in birds feathers, it gives the advertisement a bit of a supernatural twist.

PARIS IS BURNING (1990)

This film is so incredible and important. It gives queer people a voice to express themselves in a time when they were pretty much voiceless in the mid-to-late 80’s. The level of self-love these people have for themselves is inspiring. The New York queers in the 70’s and 80’s were responsible for a lot of iconic looks throughout those time periods and i’m sure influenced a huge number of artists. They don’t get enough credit.