Project Brief 2: Collaborative Reflection

Finishing the first project which asked us to create a 30 second to 1 minute fashion film trial video, I discovered many things, including how important it is who you work with, where your ideas come from and how different your ideas can be when it is no longer just in your mind.

My partner for this project was Blair and it was good because we had the same aesthetic and interests when it came to fashion and the overall concept. We both wanted to follow a theme of bright, upbeat and cheery “look-book style” video for this project.

I saw the wall that was used to film the video from photos on Instagram and was immediately drawn to it because of its vivid colours. The full wall has a large Sailor Moon painting on it, but that was not used in the video because we thought it would make the background too busy, when we wanted the focus to be on the outfits. The pink kimono already had colourful prints on it so to have it infront of a blank blue wall was the perfect contrast to the pink.

This was a fun shoot and was fun to edit because I greatly enjoy editing videos and music together, but for our future fashion film, my partner and I have both agreed on wanting to make one that has more emotion, storyline and can draw the audience in with how memorable and creative it was. This short fashion film was just to try out different camera angles and edits but the future one we hope to broaden our horizons more and make one that is much more unique.

I really liked the videos that were shown at the end of last Friday’s class, where at first look the short films were focused on the actors, the emotions and what will happen in the story; rather than being an obvious and cliche video showcasing only the clothing. I also thought the use of sound enhancement to emphasise the diegetic sounds such as typing on a computer, breathing, placing a cup down on a table to create more drama in the scenes.

I have been editing my movies on iMovie and although it is good for basic edits, it has some restrictions on more complicated ones that will be needed for when we want to make a more complex and professional fashion film. My partner has Premier Pro which we can use and I have a Nikon 3D400 which we used to film the 1 minute fashion film, so together we have the essentials. At this stage, we are continuously sharing with each other inspirations and ideas that we have for the final project and making sure that both parties are happy with any decisions and compromises that needs to be done in order to ensure smooth team work and collaboration.

silky and sentimental second week

The five fashion images I have chosen below represent my sense of style and what I find aesthetically pleasing.

They are the colours and textures that I find both nice and pleasant to look at and to wear.
I am interested in clothing that are “feminine” and effortless but still turns heads.

My favourite fabrics are silk/satin and velvet, with favourite colours being burgundy and pink. Silk is expensive and difficult to make; with one thread of silk requiring thousands of silk worms.

This difficulty in production is a contrast to the effortless and light feeling when worn.
For example, a simple silk slip dress is just “slipped” on yet it looks luxurious and sexy.

Burgundy can be seen as the more mysterious cousin of red – both bold and seductive yet red is more “free of doubt”, whereas burgundy has a more alluring sense to it.

Pink is flirtatious, fun and soft; mixed with a silk/satin or velvet fabric brings forth these themes because of how nice it feels on the skin and how it can drape upon the body, allowing the wearer to achieve an effortless sense of style; though giving off this idea of easy and simple, cannot be achieved by anyone.

This certain aesthetic and theme will definitely be explored further with my future projects in the semester, because I want to experiment with fashion films that give viewers senses of sentimental, romantic, nostalgic emotions. Hard to put down into words but these are the kind of feelings I get when I see or wear clothes that resemble those in the images presented. With the right song and directing, I think I can successfully turn my thoughts into visuals.

As said in my previous blog post, what I want to get out of this semester is to be able to finally give myself a chance to explore the ideas and interests I have had with fashion films, and turn them into actual work.
I want to make musical fashion films that act as both a short film showcasing the clothes I like, and also the songs I like. Both will go hand-in-hand in expressing the emotions I want the audience to feel and have them be completely engaged in the film, fashion and music even if they had no interest in any of it before.

I want to be much more experimental and playful with my projects in this studio because it is not all the time you get to be creative, whilst being surrounded by creative people who can boost you and inspire you.

more than fabric first week

For a person who enjoys both fashion and media, but did not want to commit to the high pressure, late nights, expensive fabric buying and intense, demanding environment that is the fashion design degree (things my dear friend, a fashion student has told me) (I’m sure it is much better than described and is very much worth the hard work), More Than Fabric: Fashion Films in the Modern Age seemed the perfect studio to do. A course that blends everything you have learnt about media, including theories, technical or practical, with everything you love and are interested in fashion.

In the past, I have wanted to create a short fashion film, showing clothes that I liked with music that I liked. Similar to a music video that not only showcased the song, but the models and the fashion. Just like what the course guide describes this studio to be, this idea will definitely explore fashion as both an art and an advertisement.

One video that stands out most to me is Kanye West’s music video for his song ‘Wolves’, which also acted as a Balmain Campaign. A sensational song with stunning visuals.

Watch the amazingly chilling video here:


What I want to get out of this studio is to be more knowledgable in how fashion and music go hand in hand, how to be more creative when it comes to photography and videography, and to create a fashion film to be proud of.

I want to find different ways to express my sense of style and aesthetic, but also by being exposed to people with various creative ideas in this class will also expand my way of thinking and help inspire me to step out of my comfort zone.