Publication Focused

So from 'Our Betty' to the dictionary. This came about because 'Our Betty' and Liz Smith herself is such a tradional woman, her generation is completely different to mine and to those who GILIL project want to attract to the library: the massive shift in traditions, society and behaviours interests me greatly.

I'm planning on doing a still life based/collage photoshoot focusing on stereotypes by examining these new words that have been added to the dictionary over recent years, words such as chav, twitter, cheeseball, simples etc. I want to use the new vocabulary to come up with my final 6 words/themes/stereotypes. I want to pick 6 words to focus on and then look into stereotypes and associations with each word (showing that a variety of different people visit the library) then source objects/fabric/accessories/shoes/clothing that reflects that stereotype to the word.

For instance if I look at the word chav, I will take photos of things that are associated with chavs (burberry, knuckle dusters etc) I will literally take photos of these found objects then use the photos to create a collage, I will create 6 of these to 6 different words/stereotypes. These collages will become my final 6 different fashion images looking at stereotypes with the influence of words.

Each image I do will literally have the word for the stereotype on the image, each image will have the photographs I have taken of the sourced objects, these photographs will help aid the story and show each stereotype.

And my, oh my, how many new, unusual words have been added to the latest Oxford. Some include; Chav, Simples, Chindonesia, LBD, Chillax, microblogging, social media, silver surfer, Nurdle, Screenager, staycation, geek chic, Chill Pill, technophobes, Credit Crunch, gal pal, Lipstick Lesbian, twitter, facebook, Newbie, mwah, toxic debt, Cheeseball.....the list could go on and on, every year there's a tonne of new words added to the dictionary, some really unusual and some very current. For instance, the rise in use of social media sites, including Twitter and facebook, all these words are part of our society at the minute and seem to be key to the youth culture.

The dictionary is a publication that is always in the process and is never and will never be finished, this is something I find really interesting because I'm interested in people and their behaviour and like it states on the BBC's website, the dictionary is something that ,

'Aims to reflect current trends in the usage of English Words',
BBC.co.uk, 19/08/2010

Quick thinking....fashion ideas

Get It Loud in Libraries....

-take photographs of landscapes- work on top of these with illustrations, for instance take photographs of a wood, draw characters on top of the image (alice in wonderland maybe)



(top 2 images taken by myself from a previous sketchbook)


-like the idea of creating images with layers- almost like a story

-a character story??? create 6 images say from the 40's up until the 00's. From the 40's to 00's focus on portrait shots so the styling will be shown from the shoulder up, (challenging) could put a book that that character would read infront of their face to further the character base, then the rest of the styling shown through hats, glasses, scarfs, tattoos?? etc I could use the same model throughout to highlight styling ideas




I want it to be;

-imaginative
-show my personality
-include the idea of collage
-character based story- looking at whats left behind?-creating an idea of their lfestyle
-aiming at customer base- 14-25 year olds

Libraries 2????

I began to think more in-depth about the library as a whole and how it has changed over the years and the ideas surrounding libraries have changed over time. Here's my findings and notes on the library...


-clothing libraries- able to rent/borrow clothing- this is massive at the minute- also borrowing clothing from archives that may have been worn by celebrities in movies- this again is very popular with stylists.

wisegeek.com states that

'A clothes library is a collection of clothes which are loaned to members of a community, just like books at a conventional library. All sorts of garments can be found at a clothes library, from suits for job interviews to prom dresses for low-income teens. Many clothes libraries pick a particular community to serve, such as the unemployed or expectant mothers. A good resource for information about clothes libraries in your area is a local service organization, as clothes libraries often go by obscure names which makes Internet searches for a local clothes library challenging.'


There's a website that sells clothing worn by actors whether that be in films, advertisments or red carpets, reelclothes.com, this is a site where you can actually wear the clothing that has been worn by the celebrity. You can shop by actor, movie or for the actual product, it's incredible. This movement of seen on screen and wanting to buy into this is big at the minute- maybe we want to escape from reality?


-libraries nowadays are much more modern- even just something as simple as having a library catalogue online, and a library card rather than using the library pockets from the books to lend the book, is incredibly modern for the library- I could look at this for my shoot the extreme from tradition--->modern

- on the library,

'...essential part of the future of communities', said by the Government, taken from telegraph.co.uk, written by Robert Winnett, february 2010.

-informative place

-old fashioned/traditional

-full of vocabulary/words/text/font

-dictionary over the years changes always- new words are added all the time eg. OMG, LOL- could look into the dictionary as something that epitomises trends at the moment/in history- shows subcultures through new words added eg.social networking




-community orientated

-give library a shake up- modernise

Quick Thinking...

-when thinking about 'Our Betty' inspired by the front cover of the book - do a granny chic shoot/geek chic shoot-looking at the traditional customer that the library has- the new silver surfer?- modernised?

-character based shoot- iconic actors/stereotypes/different tribes that visit the library- maybe look at portraits for this- styling the neck upwards- hats, spectacles, make-up?



-escapism- extremities- placing something incredible in a usually dull, mundane place to enhance the idea of GILIL project

-for the final imagery, show the whole process for the fashion image- so the final image out of 6 will be the fashion image I have wanted to create and the first 5 images will be photographs of the process of the shoot and the development of ideas- almost literally like I'm telling my own story- this links to the literal need of a library- to research, read, develope, think.





(4IMAGES ABOVE TAKEN FROM 125 MAGAZINE)



-go back to the extreme taste brief- looking at paper fashion- hanging garments- put these beautiful pieces in a dull looking library- contrast to library- I could remake the pieces and the actual paper for the pieces I could use from the book-literally scan in pages from the book, print these onto paper and remake the garments.

Visuals

As mentioned when I picked up 'Our Betty' I was excited by the cover, Liz looks great: my immediate thought for this brief was to do a tongue in cheek, granny chic shoot, something that's quite fun, playful and humourous.

Visuals taken from the publication...





These are some visuals that could reflect this granny chic theme the styling with the JLS guys I could interpret with a model, also I love the image of the elderly lady. I love the fact that yes she may be a little older than the next style icon, but she is quite glamourous and you can see she has considered her outfit.





I love the images of the women who have been behind the bar in Coronation Street, just the use of the photoframes is really fun and for 'Our Betty' very fitting. This is something I feel Liz would have set up in her home- lots of photographs of grandchildren, performances, family etc. So when I consider my presentation for this brief I could replicate this.

'Our Betty'...the book

So I've finished the book, and really enjoyed it.

Liz is such a character, pardon the pun, she's a real northern lass which is quite fitting for the brief. The book is filled with a huge amount of memories and ideas, I think it's a fab starting point for this project. The small illustrations that run throughout the book are fab too I might consider bringing illustration into this project I think it would be appealing to the wanted GILIL customer.

Here's my final notes of the book...

-pg 93, there's a fab and funny reference to the future

'One day', he said, 'there'll be a whole opera, a whole symphony, on one thing, not eight heavy records.' ...

here JT, Liz's husband at the time, was walking down the street carrying a load of vinyls and like JT said there will be something one day holding the whole lot- the IPOD. This made me laugh because the contrast of that time back then to now is massive- for this I could do a very futuristic shoot in the library to emphasise this point??

-how Liz writes although quick is to the point- not obvious and literal- Liz leaves you to fill in parts of the story

-her early family life is explored and discussed always- in her own early family life with her children, the idea of survival came to mind because although she was working and acting she still had the children in second hand clothing because this is all that was affordable for Liz at that time- could do a shoot around the idea of survival, make do and mend idea, reuse?

-when she was a younger woman and even now actually she really is the 'catwoman' no, I'm not talking about the fab superhero, I'm talking the stereotypical catwoman- Liz fostered cats and took a lot into her home and cared for them. I could do a shoot based on stereotypes?

-traditions is a key theme in 'Our Betty'- look at traditions of the library?

-Liz almost had two personalities- actress then mum etc..I could do a shoot based on this idea

-acting is partly escapism- through acting you get to become someone else- it's all about fantasy, story telling- could do a shoot around this idea

-extreme change in Liz's life is apparent- high's and lows aplenty

-the idea of necessity is had in Liz's life, certainly her earlier life- this is something that's very apparent in todays society- research this?

Obvious Narrative & Abstract Narrative.

When thinking about photoshoot editorials and what makes a fashion image, a narrative is something that crops up every time, specifically when I'm doing a project, and when I'm thinking of a photoshoot my immediate thought is what narrative i want to have for the shoot. Whether this be abstract or obvious, you can really understand the differences when looking at editorials.

For me and my personal preference I like to play with both, but I must say I am drawn more towards an abstract story rather than something that is too obvious: I like to make the viewer question and wonder.

Here's a couple of examples I have seen during my research for this project and a couple i have admired in the past.

This is a fab reference to look at obvious narrative. The gorgeous Peter Lindbergh shoot for American Vogue back in July of last year. Now I absolutely love film and I love fashion and this photoshoot really complimented my two loves. The editorial of the shoot specifically is very obvious in terms of narrative.

I love the opening page, depicting an almost movie-poster-esque vibe with the text of the story and the fashion image really reflects the 1950's american mom, living in a bedroom community. You realise that the mom has her mind on other things. Each image, one after another, unfolds the story more so and aids in the explanation of what is happening in and after each image.

Magnificent Obsession, Peter Lindbergh for American Vogue (obvious)













Extreme Taste, by Myself (abstract)

This is a great example of an abstract narrative. You don't really see a story flowing through, you just see incredible fashion imagery.