Planning a fashion shoot

Question 1

In your own words, describe the procedure of planning a fashion shoot. You don’t need to go into too much detail, a short outline will do.

1. Inspiration
2. Find a concept
3. Create moodboards
4. Create a storyboard
5. Go location scouting
6. Find the right model – meet the model
7. Find hair & make up artist and stylist
8. “Last minute prep”

 

What are the stylist’s duties? 

To make sure the props and costumes are ok and are on location on time and that everything fits. They have to make sure the right accessories are used to the right cloths.

List your duties as photographer

Permission to shoot on the location. Make sure the lighting is ok and have all the equipment on site. And off course, make sure the model feels good about themselves.

What equipment would you take along on the Alice in Wonderland shoot that was featured in this module? 

Camera, 35mm lens, reflector and diffuser, spare battery, light set

Find an editorial fashion spread in a fashion magazine. Explain what you think the concept was, what equipment they used and how the location affected the concept. Scan or photograph the shoot and hand it in along with your answer.

 

Question 2                                                                  

Practical assignment

1. Watch the tutorial on Lynda.com: Douglas Kirkland on Photography: Editorial Assignment

• Plan a Snow White themed fashion shoot.
• Create a mood board for hair, make-up and fashion.
• Create a storyboard
• Create a shot list
• Create a timeline for the shoot day

Preparing for Brand Development

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A Personal Survey

Step 1

1. I am in the professional personalised fitness and health industry.
2. My mission with all my clients is to provide them with customised, personalized, and effective education on fitness techniques and training, as well as day to day basics that can drastically increase an individual’s overall health. My three most important goals are a) to tailor a workout regime to the individual client’s needs and desires b) to provide individual attention and personalised programs that go beyond simply “in the gym time” and c) to do both A and B in ways that to not unreasonably restrict the clients’ lifestyle, time, and happiness.
3. This company was created because of the pervasive and chronic illness that has come to plague the average American. So much of our pain, suffering, and lack of self worth can be remedied with such simple fixes; i.e. nutritional and physical education, more movement, and more water. I want to bring my foundational principles to a wide market in order to provide the benefits of my company to as many people as possible.
4. We offer 24 hour motivation and reachability to all our clients. We provide them with the skills and techniques necessary for them to build a healthy foundation which will set them up for success, whether they remain in our program or not. I want our clients to be able to walk away from a training session feeling confident that they could go and do that same session on their own or better yet, instruct another on how to perform it. We are not trying to create a culture of dependents but rather attempting to liberate our clients from whatever it is that has been holding them back.
5. This company is only beholden to our clients. If they see progress, mental or physical, then we are doing our jobs. I want this company to be seen by those that are not yet searching for health and fitness as a viable option that welcomes everyone, regardless of their level of experience. By offering a wide array of disciplines and techniques we hope to reach those that do not find mainstream or traditional fitness appealing. While at the same time utilising traditional practices in order to achieve results.
6. They are many different fitness programs that are being hyped on TV or in magazines that promise extreme results in 90,50, or even 28 days. While they are great things about these products, health and fitness go beyond a commitment of 3 months or 3 weeks. We provide customised programs that will enable are clients to lead health and active lives, not simply look good at the end of 3 weeks.
7. The fitness and health industry is a billion dollar machine in the United States, and yet we have some of the highest rates of obesity, heart disease, and early onset degenerative diseases. So yes, this company has a lot of competition, but a lot of that competition is not providing the appropriate level of services and attention that are required. I am a big admirer of programs that help children make better nutritional choices and encourage them to be physically active. Starting these things at an early age has been shown to have tremendous positive outcomes later on in life.
8. We market our company via health magazines and by word of mouth of our clients, we are a small niche fitness and health company and are looking to grow a little but not so much that our core values and attention to detail become compromised.
9. It seems every week there is a new Xtreme Workout that promises quick results with minimum effort. These appeal to people because most live busy lives and seeing exercise as a luxury that they cannot afford. Mainly people see the time and effort as prohibitive and of course trends are seasonal as well. New years resolutions, swimsuit season are both big time boosts for the fitness industry but unfortunately when you sign up for those reasons very few maintain the discipline for long.
10. In 5 and 10 years I hope to be maintaining my business with active clients and new clients as well. Maintaining true to our core foundational principles, and maybe see some positive health aspects in our clients.
11. That we are all in this together. And by working together we are bettering peoples’ lives. Integrity and a commitment to the company’s high standard of attention to detail and compassion.
12. Marketing and getting our name out there is a struggle, especially when competing against corporatised and institutionalised fitness companies.
13. It would be the cure for the degeneration of American health.
14. That we are here to help, and we will; but you have to take the first step.

Step 2

The Components of Visual Identity

1. Logo, color and typography

2. A logotype is a word (or words) in a determined font, which may be standard, modified, or entirely redrawn. Frequently, a logotype is juxtaposed with a symbol in a formal relationship called the signature. Logotypes need to be not only distinctive, but durable and sustainable.

A signature is the specific and nonnegotiable designed combination of the brandmark           and the logotype. The best signatures have specific isolation zones to protect their                 presence.

A company may have numerous signatures, for various business lines or with and                   without a tagline.

3. Using Kuler create a colour scheme (using only three colours in each set) for the following products:
A rich chocolate cake that is made from real chocolate. The keyword here is “quality”.

A courier company that delivers internationally by air, land and sea – their main focus is fast delivery.

An international insurance company that focuses on family values.

4. Write your name in four different typefaces, according to the following criteria. Use a typeface that:
expresses a unique quality about you

is inspired by your favourite food

makes your name look sophisticated

is drawn by hand

A Knack for Names

Latin: Glacies Delight

Colors: Icy Blue

Metaphors: Chill Out

Science: Freezing Point

Myths: Little Ice Age

Having fun with brand identity

Do you think the movie provides insight or detail into what drives product placement in entertainment?
If so, what have you learnt from that? If not, how would you change aspects of the movie to reflect insight on this?
Yes. Pursuit of increased revenue in a competitive market drives product placement in entertainment. We’re so bombarded by advertising in our everyday lives, so if companies can subtly manipulate the targeted audience they’re more likely to make an impact on the audience. Overt marketing is taken for granted and mostly ignored; but if you can incept an idea into an individual that they want something, i.e. a product, it becomes that individuals belief that the idea or desire was their own rather than a clever manipulation by a corporation.

What have you observed about presentations of visual strategies/brand identity?
Who’s the presentation for?

Let’s consider this movie as a form of research. In other words, it was done to see what the effect of branded entertainment would be, a case study of sorts. What are your findings? What have you learnt? What has changed your pre-conceived ideas? Do you think there’s relevance in this case study? How could you apply your observations in real life?
It’s a rather unorthodox approach of making a movie and funding it. He had trouble finding any well established companies as sponsors. Those sponsors that were open to the idea were less well known and/or more alternative in their corporate style. Companies like Coca-cola, Nike, and Volkswagen do not need to risk negative exposure on an unorthodox or potentially unbecoming portrayal in a movie, because the market is already saturated with their well established logos, slogans, and products. The companies that were willing to be in the movie were Jet Blue, a more alternative and trendy airline; Ban deodorant, a deodorant brand that is very small and who’s own PR people could not define their own brand identity; and POM Wonderful, though already well known does not have the same market recognition as Minute Maid, and seems to be a bit more quirky than your average corporation. Unorthodox, alternative, and guerrilla marketing are often times more powerful forms of advertising because they elicit and emotional or physical response from the public and act on a more subliminal or subconscious level.

From the findings above (question 3) imagine that the international coffee brand, Starbucks, is your client. Give one complete strategy for a small activation campaign to advertise Starbucks on aeroplanes. Give one idea of how you would do this, by following the 5 steps of the work process. To guide you, follow the points below and do a write-up of your idea as well as the steps you followed:

Acquainting yourself with the work process

Consider the different steps in th eowrk process and awnser the following questions in writing:

• Conduct research

Different means of conducting research could be: online searches, surveys or interviews that can be done online and in person

• Clarify the strategy

What should be included in a creative brief should be:  The objective: what is the goal of the ad/campaign/logo? Who the target audience is. And what our message is.

• Design the identity

After collecting the findings, I would move on to visualisation(sketching and planning the visuals). By using feedback as guidance, I would develop the brand identity in a visual form together with the brand hierarchy.

• Create the touchpoints

Touchpoints are the areas and moments that the consumer comes in contact with the service or brand. It is also the areas where the consumer interacts with the brand (such as business advertising material and even the employees themselves).

• Manage the assets

I would nurture and grow the brand I’ve created by continually revisit the guidelines set out in this phase and determine their relevance. I would also make sure that the internal brand identity stays alive, as it sparks the external communication. By reminding everyone involved  of our goal, purpose and integrity of the brand identity, we would continue to grow the brand.

 

Shooting in Low-Light Conditions

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Fun With Slow Shutter Speeds

1. Wait until it’s almost dark outside. Take your camera and go and sit in a busy tourist area. Choose a building or statye to photograph. Place your camera on a tripod and set the shutter speed to 30 seconds or more.
2. Wait until it’s dark. Go and stand on a bridge over a busy street.Place your camera on a tripod and set the shutter speed to 30 seconds or more.

Mastering the Art of Product Photography

Question 1

The most important aspects of a product photograph would be: 

•  Lighting,  by providing soft and even lighting.
• Light placement
• Focus. The entire product has to be in focus
• Have little to no shadows (exception: soft edges)
• Correct exposure – use an ISO value of 100 or less
• Clean and even background 

Question 2

Something fluffy: I used this stuffed hedgehog for something fluffy. I had my main light source coming from the right, and a smaller lamp as a filler on the left. I edited the picture in lightroom, where I pushed up the highlights and whites so the background would become completely white and seemless.

Something shiny: I photographed a Klean Kanteen bottle. As I had pretty good lighting in the room, having sunshine coming in too. I only used one lamp from above. I had some problems having me in the reflection, but my light tent had a front part with a thin hole in the middle. So I ended up just sticking my camera in there at an angle to get this result.

Something hard: I grabbed an old hand granade that my boyfriend had lying around. For this one I had the lamp coming in from the right side. I really liked how it hit the shapes/pattern around it. It’s edited like the others in light room, blowing up the whites and highlights as I had some wrinkles on the background, this seemed to smooth it out the best.