V I M E O F I L M R E S E A R C H . . .

13th February

Though my end product will be a photography book, I have tried looking into different forms of inspiration to help me gain an understanding of lighting and the different effects this can create for the focal points of the face and body. To help me I have been looking into various Vimeo’s by searching key words such as ‘dark lighting’, ‘colour lighting’, ‘make-up lighting’ to see what other artists have created.

This film called, ‘Light up the dark’ from the Loyal Family Studio demonstrates how a combination of different lighting effects can emphasize the body and draw the attention onto the important features of the body all with a black backdrop, this is something that I am to do. After my dissertation, my first idea for my FMP was to create a fashion film linked in with my dissertation but as I had never made a film before, I thought it would be best to stick with something that I had more confidence in which was photography, although some of the films that I have looked at are stunning!!

https://vimeo.com/61366486

The 2^nd film, which has inspired me is from SHOWstudio called ‘Gareth Pugh for M.A.C by Ruth Hogben which is incredible! Half way through the film it shows the combination of lighting and projected images onto the skin, which merge into one another, which is something that I love. Once again the lighting is dark, quite sinister in a way, which brings a brilliant concept to the film.

https://vimeo.com/32711548

To try and expand my knowledge, I have looking into different forms of art to gain inspiration for my project. Searching through Vimeo I came across this next video by searching ‘colour lighting fashion’, called Burble London. This is a massive carbon-fibre structure reaching up towards the sky, composed of approximately 1000 extra-large helium balloons each of which contain LED lights that create incredible patterns of light across the surface of the structure. The reason why I have decided to include this video as part of my research considering it has no reference to fashion or make-up, is simply the way the combination of lighting and movement work together to create something visually stunning. This has inspired me to experiment with lighting for my final shoots and to see the different effects when projecting altered coloured lighting onto the face, and how this works with the make-up.

https://vimeo.com/662988 

T E S T S H O O T #1

4th February

Following on from my first meeting with Flavia, I decided to start experimenting with visuals so I organised a test shoot. With my shoot, I wanted to focus on the lighting to highlight and define the structure of the face and body, i.e. cheek/collar bone/brow/jaw, to define the human form through colour and lighting. I did two different make-up looks on my model and I feel that this was a good practise for me as I learnt about the different lighting settings and the effects they have.

Look 1

For the first look I wanted to concentrate on practising with lighting to create highlight and shadow on the body. With the application of Illamasqua's Gleam and heavy contouring, I created a hollow/gaunt look which showed up well on camera I feel. By bringing my models hair back as well, I feel this accentuated the neck and brought more attention to the flawless skin. By making note of all the settings on the camera and the lighting, I am able to recreate similar lighting for my future shoots. 

Look 2

For look 2, I simply added on from my first look with a combination of powders and pure pigments in a variation of shimmer dark tones to create this dark, earthly-like look. This for my was to practise with product to see what would show up best on camera, still using the similar light set up. Collecting the images from my photographer, I soon realised that with the black backdrop the images came out quite dark which I like, in future I think I will use a grey backdrop to outline my model more instead of her completely blending in. Although with the black, the features of her face are emphasised more which is an interesting factor which I will work upon in the future I think. One thing that I have learnt for when/if I do this shoot again in the future is that instead of using just dark colours in pure pigments, to use lighter colours and to let them simply blot on the skin instead of blending them in. By blending them in this has taken away the effect and created more of a layer of shimmer with the light reflecting more off the skin which is something I didnt want to happen as now you lose the key features of the face and nothing really stands out. It now looks like I have painted Laura in one dark block colour which is what I didnt want to happen so this is something that I shall definitely develop and practise more for the future.