More Than Fabric – Project Brief #4

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.

MOOD BOARD – Fashion in 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!

Public Equity Diagnosis

CHANNEL 9

vs

ABC

The purpose of this assignment is to compare the two brand narratives expressed by Channel 9 and the ABC, two popular Australian television networks. Channel 9 is privately owned, and therefore has its own personal agenda set by its owners, whilst the ABC is publicly owned by taxpayers and the Australian Government, and therefore serves to represent the people of Australia’s public and best interests.

CHANNEL 9:

Swot analysis.

Strengths: Privately owned. Commercially funded. High ratings.

Weaknesses: Corporate ownership/control. Ratings = less money.

Opportunities: Growth. Ability to expand in other media and commercial areas.

Threats: Potential to be sold as a commodity. Business and ratings are susceptible to public perception of the network.

CBBE model – Channel 9.

ABC:

Swot analysis.

Strengths: Government owned, mostly unbiased, can hold the Government accountable, less corporate pressure

Weaknesses: Government owned = government controlled

Opportunities: Unique content due to no corporate investment

Threats: Funding cuts from the government

CBBE model – ABC

 

According to the CBBE model, Channel 9 and the ABC are viewed by the Australian people as being on opposite sides of the media spectrum. The ABC is viewed upon more favourably, in terms of trustworthiness and credibility, possibly due to its foundations as being appointed as a public service to the Australian people by the Federal Government. Channel 9 on the other hand, could be seen as being viewed by the Australian audience as superficial and ratings driven, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Channel 9 operate as a commercial channel, where corporate interests drive the way that they sell themselves and the programs that they invest in, in turn, the way that they market themselves.

Cross culturally, within the Australian media industry, its quite obvious that the ABC and Channel 9 are both self aware of the fact that they are on opposite extremes of what it means to be a network within this country. Just by examining the relevant websites of both Channel 9 and ABC, its strikingly obvious that both networks are incredibly conscious of their own brand identities. Channel 9’s website is purely focused on the entertainment aspect of the media, which in turn reflects into ratings and this bombastic idea that drama sells. This is okay, as Channel 9 does not brand themselves as being anything other than a marketing and entertainment giant. The ABC’s website, on the other hand, is inundated with news articles tackling the big issues here in Australia and international. This could be interpreted as the ABC marketing themselves as being more mature, yet also stepping up to their role as a government funded national broadcaster.

Project Brief 2 – Trashy fashion

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…

 

Fashion in films.

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.

Fashion and everything in between

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.

 

ASSESSMENT ITEM 5

Research question: To explore the idea of performance in film through the use of the long take.

This semester in my media studio has been an incredibly interesting one. To be honest, six weeks ago, I really didn’t think that I would be able to figure out a research question that would allow me to push myself mentally and creatively. I finally came to the conclusion that I wanted to explore the nature of performance through the use of long takes in cinema. This came about after I became conciously aware of a number of scenes that I found to be incredibly inspiring and captivating to look at. Scenes that, in their perfect execution of the long take, allow the audience to focus their undivided attention on these bits of cinema magic.

In the class presentation that we had earlier on in the semester, the scenes that I used as examples that would help to shape my research project were the following:

Somewhere (Sofia Coppola, 2015)

Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)

Initially, I chose these scenes as inspiration for my project as I thought that the way that they execute the long shot to convey information and aesthetics was something that satiated the creative drive within me. After my presentation in front of Robin and our panel of guest creatives, I was made aware that all of my chosen scenes were performances. It hit me that what I was subconciously attracted to within these scenes was the performance aspect: the relationship between the performer and the viewer, through the use of the long take. This relates back to my initial idea of the audience interpreting information through long takes. Film is a performance. A film’s audience, like the audience watching a performer, interprets an individual sense of meaning from the performance at hand. I wanted to explore this by crafting my own performances and recording them. The results were a bit skewed. I’m a bit disappointed because I genuinely wanted to create a perfect harmony between my ideas and the execution of my project, but my creative motivation peaked a bit too early. The evolution of my ideas stopped dead in its tracks and I think I recorded some rather sloppy and safe little pieces of film.

My first draft was a performance piece of my friend Joe dancing. I wanted to convey a performance that was jubilant in nature. I did it all on my iPhone so i’m well aware of its technical shortcomings. The auto-focus is so bad on the iPhone, especially in low light situations and it really shows in the draft. I worked on remedying this for future drafts.

My second little piece was a recording of my friend Angie air-drumming to Evanescence’s ‘Bring Me To Life’. I wanted to create something that was still a bit rough and a progression of ideas, but something that was a little bit more ‘perfected’ in the way of technicalities such as focus and something that really conveyed the idea of the long take a bit more definitively. By this stage, I was starting to pay a bit more attention to the coverage within my shot. I wanted the scene to look mildly pleasing in terms of framing.

My final performance piece is of my friend Tess playing her piano accordion. I hired a semi-professional video camera from the tech guys at RMIT for this one, as I wanted it to have a nice mastered sheen to it, in terms of video quality as well as sound quality. This one proved to be a bit difficult as Tess was a bit rusty in terms of her piano accordion playing, so to get a long take of her playing it for longer than 40 seconds was really tough. Anyway – she still did great. I liked the way that I covered this piece, I really gave it a crack in trying to frame her well and in ways that really encapsulated the dark, resonating performance that accompanies the sound of a piano accordion. My editing definitely let this shot down. There different cuts of Tess’ playing are SO poorly edited… I tried to the sound to sync between all the shots as smoothly but it was so hard because we couldn’t get a shot with continuous music for longer than 45 seconds. It’s a bit frustrating but I feel like I definitely worked with what I had.

All in all, the thing about this project that shatters me is my lack of enthusiasm for it. When i’m one hundred percent invested in a creative project, I give it my all. I think my problem with this was that I just wasn’t confident enough to really feel what I was doing. It’s a shame because it’s such a good idea for a project, I just wish I gave it a lot more thought and put more hard work into it.

I’ve recut my project to give y’all an idea of what I set out to create:

 

 

COLLABORATION – 27/5/2016

Throughout the semester, my relationship with the idea of collaboration has been quite an interesting one. There have definitely been ups and downs throughout the semester. Any problems that i’ve ever had with working as a group, throughout my whole life and especially at uni, has been centered around the idea of creativity.

The group exercises that we undertook as a group were ones that I feel like I got lost in a bit. I find it hard to voice my own ideas and concerns within a group of like-minded individuals all working on the same project. I also kind of let my ideas slide in these sort of exercises as I prioritised them in relation to my own personal projects. The final research assignment is a good example, as these were the types of assignments where my own personal ideas were the driving force for the completion of these projects. Everyone that I worked with on this assignment were willing to help me strive for success and were great in working me into their busy schedules. As my project was performance based, I know that I had to outsource my friends from outside of uni to help me out, as I was familiar with their talents and how that would help with what I was achieving.

I think in hindsight, the only thing that I wish I did more was offer myself to help other people. I think as my stress levels rose to complete my own assignment, I kind of went into my own shell and reserved my energy for myself and my subjects, as opposed to my peers.

All in all, I think collaboration is a double edged sword. It works well in some cases, depending on who you’re working with, but at the same time it can also be detrimental to your own creative vision and workload.

#18 – 25/5/2016

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5UHNyK5k4QhdmYwaXJYaDJYU1E

This link here is the final clip that I will be filming for my research assignment based off the long shot in relation to performance. The video depicts my friend Tess, in a state of boredom who stands, picks up her piano accordion and begins to play it.

The whole point of this project was to convey the performance whilst utilising long shots to portray a sense of emotion oozing from within my subject. I think that in this clip I have portrayed that. I was able capture the essence of Tess’ performative abilities whilst also covering it in a way that I sourced from the films that inspire me (save for the part where Tess stands up from the couch and walks to the desk with the lamp, I think that shot sucks).

The thing that I think differentiates this piece of work from my other shoots is the equipment used and the amount of effort and thought that I put into it. I think it really shows. I used a professional movie camera to film this (forgive me, i’ve forgotten what it is called but its the smaller version of the cameras that we use in class). All in all, i’ve really enjoyed filming all of the clips for this project. A fun and thought provoking studio indeed.

#17 – 23/5/2016 – RESEARCH PROJECT

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5UHNyK5k4QhT0VRdU9ObVFpRFk

Here is the link to my second little clip that I made to support my idea of the long shot in relation to performance within cinema. Compared to my first little piece of film that I created for this project, I think this one really encompasses the notion of the long shot a lot more. The shot of Angie drumming away while Evanescence’s ‘Bring Me To Life’ plays is all shot in one take which, I think, allows the audience to absorb the performance a lot more thoroughly than if it was all shot in different successions. This is one of the highlights of this portion of my project. The long shot is quite daunting to film as it needs to be inviting enough so that the audience feels compelled to watch it without losing interest.

I purposely didn’t really focus too much on the framing or general decoupage for this clip as I really wanted to save that for my final piece of filming, which i’m planning on getting done tomorrow! I’m really gonna think of framing and general placement of my subject to really encapsulate the crescendo of my project. It will be along the same vein as my first two videos but will really feel a lot more ‘complete’ and less of a draft. I’m going to go into uni and hire a camera to make it view a lot more professionally and to really put the technical skills that I learnt this semester to good use.