Future Fashions (Manchester)

Our Final Film ....

Reflection

In reflection, when considering our completed film, the success of our collaborative work is evident.   We initally aimed to create a concept that 'represented' and 'celebrated' the diverse culture in Manchester, adopting the idea of a 'patchwork culture' we hoped to digitally explore the idea of  temporary clothing through the use of projection, echoing the rapid changes in culture and fashion, and tackling the problems of capatlaism and 'the need for more clothes' ; that lead to environmental problems.
Personally and collectively we researched a particular cultural area of Manchester. I searched Canal St focusing on the 'gay' aspect of manchesters culture and continued to create oppertunites to feed into our team through the exploration of colour, form and texture and the use of drawing.  As a group we continued to share such drawings, discussing the potenial for development continuously.  Attending the proposed lectures given by 'guests' gave us an insight into alternative ways of researching, marginal culture in Manchester and several existing design archives.
In response to our agreed theme, the 'aims' proved difficult for me to visualise as outcomes, the digital format and submission was daunting and I struggled to understand how to adapt my working metohod to explore this practice.  However the support from team members meant that as we progressed such digital aims became more clear, I began to visualise my personal developments in relation to our concept, and future outcomes, I became confident grasping new practices and continued to learn from my peers.  It is clear being creative collectively was key to the success of our film.
We  were initally aware the outcome of our video was dependant on the standard of filming ,editing and delivery, we therefore continued to explore relevant technology throughout development, this proved the most time consuming and involved aspect of production, however did prove vital when reflecting on our achievments.  The use of colour also proved significant, high saturation, contrast and colour levels needed to be maintained for the projection to project well.  The biggest problem arose when attepmting to 'map' our projections exactly to the dancers body, with his increasing movements this took alot of practice, however experimenting with camera angles, lighting and editing techniques (I am now aware of these practices, and can tranfer my learning for future tasks) allowed us to successfully achieve what we origanlly planned.
It is clear from the 'stills' taken from the final shoot that the idea of 'cultural patchworks' was portrayed effectively, the designs clearly depict colours, patterns and textures that are evident in original research, and the amalgamation of our collective ideas appear convincing.
 I contiune to be inspired by colour, an aspect of our collective designs that proved vital when projecting successfully.  My extensive exploration of colour throughout the unit allowed to me to envision our ideas effectively.  Within Unit X I have challanged myself by approaching aims in a way that is new to me.  I had to visulise my ideas with the awareness that the outcome would be fully digitalised, which proved difficult however proved rewarding.  In reflection, if developing this task futher I would have liked to develop skills to enable me to use Final Cut Pro, I hope to use film in future projects and still do not feel overly confident with editing techniques, this therefore being something I hope to improve on.

Collaborative Designs

Below are examples of our group designs that influenced our final outcome, my personal drawings are evident within each.  The images are evidence of a definate working method as they illustrate how drawing and intial research, both form the basis for development and the evolution of an outcome; the success of our collaboration was dependant on such methods.

Colour .... exploring tone

Projection Stills

The following images illustrate the final stages of development.  As a group we spent monday completing our final film, and are currently in the process of editing.  In reflection the stills portray our 'patchwork culture' effectively; the designs evident in each projection depict colour, pattern and texture we initially discovered from our searches.  The amalgamation of designs are fluent, complimentary and convincing and we believe such stills will compliment our digital outcome well in the form of large scale prints.  To date, taking part in the group task has allowed me to develop knowledge in relation to digital design; I am now more aware of this pratice as a concept, and will transfer such skills for future tasks.  Such knowledge has influenced my own working method from inital research through to outcome and has significantly effected my development.

 

 

( The collection above focuses on the significance of individual drawing, each still highlights the layering and integration of a range of themes, fullfilling our inital aims; creating designs that interpret a 'clashing of cultures'.)

Found Colour

Continuing colour references relating to my starting point, here collections of fabric with vibrant tones and soft texture. Colour continues to inspire me and influence development as we begin to finalise our outcomes.

Colour

   

Love the subtle use of colour in the following two images, from World of Interiors June 2012, 'La Vie en Rose' a graceful pink stucco villa in the old French outpost of Pondicherry, uses colour that relates to my starting point, however the use of tone in relation to such colours creates a stark contrast to my developing 'gay pride theme' .

Artist Research .... Projection

I decided to do some digging, as we are at the later stages of our project, and after successfully learning how to project the way we want to for our final video, I thought it would help to find some examples of still images; artists that use projection, as we may decide to produce a collection of stills to present at MOSI.

'Austin, Texas-based artist Davis Ayer shows off light projection art at its finest.In each shot, Davis masterfully blends projections with a woman's body, turning them into intriguing pieces of art. Stunningly beautiful and almost like tattoos.' These seem effective as they appear as pieces of art rather than just photographs of the projections, maybe we could use this idea to compliment our final video, our digital prints could be tailored to produce abstract imagery ......

(http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/light-projection-body-art)

Video Development

After several failing attempts to master our projection concept successfully, we booked a large room with black out curtains for another attempt.  Frazer had produced some mock layered prints from our growing collection of drawings, that we could use to test our theory.  It soon became clear the prints that were more saturated, and that contained stronger colours, gave a more effective projection, this is evident in the proceeding images, even from stills the success of colour is evident.  We continued to experiment filming the projection from several angles, and eventually managed to position the model close enough to the projector and the camera, however at a very difficult angle to ensure the projection(that does actually appear on the floor to the right of the model) is not evident for filming. The process proved time consuming, the images and video below illustrate how much improvement has occurred from last week, however in our opinion does not reflect the amount of work involved in reaching this breakthrough!  This we hope will be evident in our final video!It proved really difficult to avoid the projection 'projecting onto things behind the model', I feel the results below are extremely successful the projection is almost exact in terms of following the shape of the body!
      In terms of our images we aim to produce more in the next few days, continuing with the layered idea, however will convert the stills into some form of moving sequence to enhance the quality of our final outcome.  We have agreed all digital prints need to be replicated, each replicated version should have increased saturation, contrast levels, and reduced exposure levels to achieve the best projection results when filming.  We hope to print large scale examples of our most successful prints to exhibit at MOSI,  this is why we will replicate all prints so the originals can be kept for this.

AIMS FOR WEEK BEGINNING MON 7TH MAY .....

. Contact dance department, circulate email to secure 4 dancers for filming end of this week/beginning of next.

. Buy all in one white suits for dancers to wear.

. Complete/edit all final digital prints.

. Meet with Mary to discuss editing of final video.

. ........ FILM FINAL VIDEO!

(Projection 1 )

(Projection 2)

Curriculum Vitae

HOLLIE DAVIES

                                                                                                  Nationality:  British      

                                                                                                  20 years old

                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                  Email:  holliedavies20@hotmail.co.uk

                                                                                   

Career Focus:

I am a highly motivated, versatile and detail focused future Textiles professional who recognizes

From her academic studies and relevant work experience that high productivity and excellent results

are only achieved through a knowledgeable and motivated team. Currently studying towards a BA

(hons) degree Textiles in Practice, I am very keen to progress my career in the textiles industry.

My feedback from working within the industry at several work experience opportunities and from

present employment, has suggested that I am extremely efficient at building harmonies, productive

working relationships with customers and colleagues.  I regularly practice transferable skills such as

negotiation , facilitation and influencing among other team members.

I am now looking for a new opportunity that will enable me to demonstrate my aptitude and knowledge with customers, in parallel with developing my skills in the field. I see this as a career progression that will allow me to express my enthusiasm and interest in relation to the textiles industry and make a significant contribution to such a successful and recognised organisation.

                               

               

Qualifications:     GCSE                  (Deyes High School)

                               

(July  08)              English Language                                              A*

                               English Literature                                            A

                                History                                                            A*

                                Religious Education                                        A

                                Science                                                            A                            

                                Geography                                                       A            

                                Art                                                                    A

                                French                                                              B

                                Mathematics                                                    B

                                               

                                               

A Level                 (Deyes High School)

(July  10)              English Language                                              A

                                Art and Design                                               A*

     Foundation Degree – Art and Design                                 Merit

Computer Skills:             

Good working knowledge of Microsoft  Office applications, Photoshop, as well as the Internet

and Email.

Achievements:                

An educational record, work experience, and outside interests that indicate motivation, enthusiasm and performance of a high level. A proven ability to perform under pressure with consistent delivery of quality customer service,  reliability and determination when working individually as well as

being an outgoing and understanding  team member. A range of communication skills with successful demonstration of behavior skills that can be transferred to any business environment.

                                               

                                               

                                               

Experience:

(July 11 – to date)            Retail Assistant                                                               Vivienne Westwood

Since starting in 2011 I have I exceeded all expectations at Vivienne Westwood,  my primary responsibilities include, outfit building to customer needs, visual merchandising, campaigning for events, styling internal and external shoots, developing Vivienne Westwood Manchester blog, one to one customer appointment meetings, stock taking and stock replenishment.  I am extremely comfortable in working towards targets and goals and have to prove this on a weekly basis in my current position.  I believe that leading by example brings increased standards and profit.  Working with this current organisation I place great importance on customer satisfaction and believe I have impeccable skills in this area, which I see as the perfect tool to transfer to a position in the textiles industry, where I believe my efforts will be best placed.

Voluntary Work:              Intern                                                                   Matt Ford Photography

( September  10 –

 to date)

To gain experience in the industry I opted to work with Ford Photography. Here I helped with the organisation of an exhibition, Fashion Outside the Capital.  I was responsible for the positioning of his artwork,  and clothing from a selection of designers including Kirsty Doyle and Phillip Armstrong.  I also worked at Kirsty Doyle, preparing clothing for the product shots of her Limited Edition Chirstmas Line.  I then went on to work on a photo shoot for an up and coming girl band in relation to their album cover, here I was solely responsible for the girls’ styling. Working with Ford photography gave me an insight into the promotional aspect of the industry and allowed me to prove my capabilities.

Interests:                           

In my spare time I like to follow fashion blogs, I admire the style of Fashion Toasts’. Rumi Neely and

follow hers and Scott Schumans’ work religiously.  I am also solely in charge of Vivienne Westwood

Manchester Blogspot, which I continue to develop on a weekly basis.                                                                                   

References:                       Matt Ford                                                            Matt Ford Photography

                                           Kaleem  Yaqub                                                 Vivienne Westwood

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Tuesday 24th... Printing.

Pigment printing (puff) using four layers.

Hand painting directly onto screen.

( silk, cotton, paper)

 

Colour ...

Colour Referencing, inspiration; Vogue May 2012, Photographs by Mario Testino. 'Layering Cultural Richness'.

Drawing... Inspiration...Developemt

We are beginning to produce a collection of drawings to compliment our visual research, by collecting them together in our studio space we can all continue to evaluate our progress and make links within cultures, aiding us to consider ideas for our final design. We have agreed to each have a set of ten drawings/developments by Friday 27h when we meet as a group.....

Walter Van Beirendonck - ' Dream the World Awake'

After a recent tutorial with Julie, we discovered the work of fashion maverick Walter Van Beirendonck.  We were particualry drawn to his recent retrospective at the Antwerp Fashion Muesuem, exhibiting his finest pieces of photography and film.  The following video provided great inspriration for our developing ideas. It immediatly entises its audience and bears a simple yet quirky and effective structure.  We all agree we hope to try and emulate the idea of models approaching on some sort of moving treadmill with a stark white background, however we would have the outfits appearing as a projections rather than actual garments.  The bold use of colour is also significant, should we consider this for our film? ......

http://showstudio.com/project/dream_the_world_awake#fashion_film

Early print ideas....painting....drawing....

Colour references

Developing Pride inspiration and ideas, colours that reference my theme.....

Highlighting Culture in Manchester; Canal Street Area

In response to our group discussion, I was given the area surrounding Canal St to visit and collect imagery that represented 'culture'. This however proved difficult as at 11.00am, the street lacked vibrancy.  In reflection I chose to focus more on the areas connections with Gay Pride (A extremely colourful and significant aspect of Manchesters metroplolitan culture) rather than the buildings and grounds themselves.
The collection of visuals below, highlight the bold declarations of unity, strong use of colour and passion for overwhelming apparel providing inspriation for our 'patchwork culture projection'.