Production dossierCharlotte neuwels & DIMITRIS FOLAS

Production dossier

Designer overview

Branding

Inspiration board

Mood 2

Acting Board

Shooting Board

Test shoot

Collection

Synopsys

Mood 1

Mood 3

Story Board

Lighting

Make up

Model Consideration

Logistics

Behind the scenes

Time Management

Hair

Fitting

Team

Post EditingFinal FilmStill images

Evaluation

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Uma Kangai graduated in 2012 after studying a degree in fashion Design with marketing at the University of East London.

Strong of her work experiences at marchesa in new York and Jenny packham, she quickly found her unique design identity.

Her first collection featured six looks, constructed around Kangai’s idea of feminine perfection with great references to the whimsical world of fairy tales.

Her custom-made pieces, which reflect an extreme sense of femininity, were designed for a customer who ‘aspires to have her feminine, classical and elegant attitude exuded quietly’. She pitches herself towards a high-end womenswear market and aims to attract a performer/ celebrity based clientele.

Tough not commercialized yet, Uma Kangai’s first collection was greatly praised by bloggers and member s of the press following its showing at Graduate fashion week indicating a high popularity in her refreshing approach on women’s fashion, therefore predicting her a bright future within the fashion industry.

OVERVIEW

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Spring | Summer 2013 collection

Showcased at

2012 GRADUATE FASHION WEEK

Inspired by the world of fairy tale and fantasies, Through Roses tinted glasses features six complete looks. To design this collection, Uma Kangai dug inspiration in the movement and shapes of ethereal looking elements - such as the movement of powder, and the softness of clouds - as well as mythical features - including fish tail fringing and goddess-like draping layers.

She self produced high quality garments, many of them greatly embellished by Swarovski - her personal sponsor- crystals and heavy beadings.

The presented collection featured harmonious floating lines and architecturally draped shapes. Mainly displaying a pink palette colour as well as a dip dying technique also used to introduce dynamic to the clothes. The final collection particularly showcased Uma Kangai professional design technique and focused on the sense of flow in the materials used, which included chiffons, crepes and tulles.

Through roses tinted glasses

COLLECTION

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GRADUATE FASHION WEEK 2012

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BRANDINGSince the showing her first collection, Uma Kangai has slowly build up her label identityThe branding has remained constitant troughout ever platform used by the label. It succesfully communicates each of the following brand values :

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Minimalist layout communicate refinement of the brand

Use of blured imagery

Feminine and soft coloursTranslate the SS13 collection identity

Romantic logo

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STORY DEVELOPMENT

SYNOPSYS

Through roses tinted glasses is a 2 minute long fashion film depicting the story of a mentaly unstable ballerina stuck i a world of perfection.

Her, routine, dacing away beautifully to the sound of a charming jewellery box has slowly led her to the loss of sanity.

Slowly, she looses consciousness and embarks the viewer into a fantasy world where her alter ego takes over. Sometimes sensual and others aggressive, she is free to be the person she wants to be. but as she retains consciousness, a question aroused; what this only a dream ?

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To help us communicate our visual ideas and inspiration as a pair, it was decided to set up a pinterest board. For the first few weeks of the project, the board was constantly edited with new visuals that were being considered for the direction of the video project.

When the concept became more precise, new boards were created in order to support the editing down of our ideas to each of the mood we were looking to create.

Both of us being visual oriented individuals as well as non English speakers, such a technique helped us communicate efficiently our thoughts.

These boards were made accessible to Uma Kangai who was given the access to follow our progression of thoughts during the project. The make up and hair artist were also able to visit the page to elabo-rate primary look ideas for the final shoot.

INSPIRATION BOARD

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NICK KNIGHT unique photography style has greatly inspired us to develop our video concept. His par-ticular ground breaking approach on digital post editing, particularly led us to investigate some ef-fects such as slow and fast motion for our final outcome. Even tough entitle to his image of mod-ern fashion photographer, Nick Knight restlessly aim to break aesthetic and fashion boundaries has largely enable us to further investigate the various possibilities of producing our fashion film.

POWDER being a key inspirational element to Uma Kangai first collection, it was im-portant to introduce it in the fashion film. Its particular slow motion movement led us to create surreal shapes that directly related to the shaped of her design.

Various FASHION FILMS and music videos inspired our fashion film concept. 1+1 by Beyoncé Knowles led us to in-vestigate types of lightings and post editing effects while Fade into you by Pierre Debusschere largely inspired the overall mood of our video. The sleek Femme Bleu by Fabien Baron also awakened our curiosity of involving the movement of fabric within our fashion film, an element also shared within many Nick Knight fashion films

BLACK SWAN was one of the leading references for our final video concept as it not only great-ly referenced the world of Ballet but also debated the theme of dementia. We found this mental dis-ability to be a great starting point to the construction of our film as it would enable us to investi-gate different types of mood and acting and therefore introduce element of surprise in the video

Many elements of Uma Kangai first collection reminded us of stage performance costumes. Some element of the dresses particularly recalled the worl of BALLET and we therefore wanted to reference it with-in the element of our videos. It aslo refers to the Black Swan movie, another of our main inspiration.

NICK KNIGHT

BALLET

FASHION FILMS

BLACK SWAN

Feathers

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The first mood represents the innocent aspect of the character by largely referencing ballet, one of our main inspirations.

• Use of feather rain and slow motion to emphasize visual softness of the overall mood

• Acting direction aimed to represent the purity of the character who will be dancing to the sound of a dissolution music box

• Minimal styling approach to focus on eccentric detailing of the dress

• Minimal and soft bright lighting

• Jewellery box tune

MOOD 1

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The second mood marks the transition between the innocent (first mood) and the last mood.

• Highest number of frames in the overall video

• Features two outfits in order to bring dynamic and keep the viewer interested

• Use of different effect such as the use of floating fabrics to emphasize the designer’s delicate aesthetic

• Use of talk powder and paint pink powder

• Investigate the movement of powder through slow and fast motion

• Ambience tune

• Wind machine on set

• Medium pink shaded lighting

MOOD 2

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As the character develops the third mood will become aggressive and alienated.

• Dark and moody ambiance

• Confident acting

• representation of psychologic insanity

• Styled with a structured edgy peplum jacket to support character’s aggressive attitude

• Darker shade of pink lighting

• Shattered aggresive tune

MOOD 3

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ACTING

For the first part of the video, the acting is directed to reflect the purity and innocence of the character. The aim is to express the authenticity of the character by projecting a ballet dance routine featuring soft, slow and elegant move-ments performed to the sound of a dissolutional music box. While the character is dancing she suddenly cannot manage to balance herself and soon hits the ground dramatically.

This mood represents the element of movement that inspired Uma Kangai for this collection. The character will reflect dynamism and hyper femininity, in order to represent the phase of change and highlight the transition between the two different mental conditions.The acting will feature sensual and ethereal movements and it will be complemented with the use of powder and float-ing fabrics, elements of interaction with the character.

As the story unravels, the character is more confident and represents alienation. The acting becomes more aggressive, evil-possessed and her movements start to reflect a more edgy and combative attitude. This mood aims to introduce a metaphoric, insane self-fight that relates to self-destruction and mortality.

MOOD 1

MOOD 2

MOOD 3

Acting direction for MOOD 1Innocent -

Soft -Melancholic -

lost -Pure -

Ballet movements -

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Acting direction for MOOD 2- Transitional- Emotionless- Seducing- Sensual- Hyper feminine- Elegant- Represent the phase of change of the character

Acting direction for MOOD 3Dramatic -

Bold -Aggresive -

Sexual -Edgy -

Insane - Represent the final state of the -

character’s transfomation

Driven by the wish to represent the evolution of a character into mental disorder, we divided our story into three scenes. This decision allowed us to create different visual dynamics as well as make Uma Kangai colour palette more exciting through the use of more audacious pink shades.Each scene, represented by a certain lighting and ambiance is directed to represent a specific mental state of the char-acter.

MOOD 1The film, greatly inspired by Black Swan and the world of ballet, opens to a ballerina dancing to the sound of a delu-sional music box. Emotionless, she performs a dance routine robotically until she looses her balance and fall to the floor slowly loosing consciousness.

MOOD 3Following the violent music beat, the next scene opens on the same yet unrecognizable character. Fierce and alienated, she now performs an aggressive dance routine for the camera. She sports a structured jacket which emphasize her bold attitude.

MOOD 2The transition scene opens, soon after, on the same character acting provocatively with the camera, slowly seducing the viewer. She is a living fantasy and will intoxicate anyone who will fall for her beauty. This scene being the longest in the overall film is constructed of different elements that bring dynamic to film. Float-ing fabrics are introduced to emphasize the transitional aspect of the scene and powder also starts to appear. As the transition track intensify, the character begins to act more aggressively. The scene is often interrupted by the highly aggressive scene ( see mood 3) as an element of surprise.

MOOD 1Finally the first scene and music reappears with the character laying on the floor, visibly distraught by what she just lived. But as she opens her eyes, a question arouse, was it only a dream ?

STORYBOARD

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TECHNICAL FILMING ORDERFull length shot from above of model lying in a bunch of feath-ers. Eyes are closed. Full frame. LOOK 3

Waist up frame from above. Model lying in a bunch of feathers. Eyes are closed. LOOK 3

Face close up on model face - sud-denly opening her eyes to the cam-era. LOOK 3

Knee up frame of the model danc-ing to delusional music box. LOOK 3

Waist up frame of the model danc-ing to delusional music box. LOOK 3

Shoulder up frame of model danc-ing to delusional music box – focus on facial expression . LOOK 3Looks innocent,melancholic, sad

Torso close up. Focus on clothes detailing. LOOK 3

Waist close up. Focus on skirt de-tailing. LOOK 3

Knee up frame of model fall-ing from the side.

Waist up frame of model fall-ing from the side.

Feet close up. Focus on steps

Feet close up + feathers – Loos-ing balance Need of 2 persons to help the model standing + 1 person spraying feathers.

Knee up frame of model + feath-er rain – Need of 2 persons to help spray the feathers

Torso up frame of model + feath-er rain Need of 2 persons to help spray the feathers Looking sad and bumped

Breast up frame - model land-ing on floor - Feathers flying over her face - wind intensify-ing.

Feather rain without model

Floating fabrics without mod-el

Knee up frame of model danc-ing with bag . LOOK 5

Close up of model dancing with bag. LOOK 5

Waist up frame of model spraying talk powder around her. LOOK 5

Hand close up on model spray-ing talk powder . LOOK 5

Knee up frame + floating fabric. Model eyes looking straight to camera. LOOK 5

Waist up frame + floating fabric. Model eyes looking straight to camera. LOOK 5

Face close up+floating fabric.Model eyes looking straight to camera. Seductive + focus on microbeads. LOOK 5

Waist up frame + floating fabric on one side only. Mod-el eyes looking straight to camera . LOOK 5

Knee up frame holding fab-rics and trowing it in the aire. LOOK 5

Knee up frame trowing pow-der in the air. lOOK 5

Waist close up of model hands caressing body with powder . LOOK 5

Face close up of model hands caressing face with powder . LOOK 5

Pink powder in movement with-out model . LOOK 5

Knee up frame of model per-forming awkward posing and acting aggressive. LOOK 6

waist up frame of model per-forming awkward posing and acting aggressive. LOOK 6

face close up of model per-forming awkward posing and acting aggressive.

waist up frame of model per-forming awkward posing and acting aggressive with pow-der on body

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Lighting was extensively tested during our test shoot. Several aspects of our primary ideas had to be rethink tough as some of it were not achievable in the studio. We also came across some restrictions such as: the full framing initially intended, use of smoke machine due to the fire alarm, the restricted use of powder, for the lighting safety. However, after meeting and largely discussing our issues, we finally settle on three different type of lighting respectively for each of the mood created.

The first is with a white background and light reflector on the side to emphasize the brightness of the light. 2 light boxes will be placed above the model to balance the shadow issues. Knee framing is the largest frame possible with this lighting type.

The second lighting will see the background remove. The white wall in the room will be use as primary background. A light box decorated with a pink light filter will be placed facing the wall to create a pinkish lighting style. There will also be a light box above the model to lighten the frame. This light box will potentially be tuned down at some point to create darker shots.

The third lighting will also use the white wall as background. The pink filter will be replaced with a dark red light filter to create a more dramatic lighting style. The light box will be removed and only a spotlight from one side will be used.There will be a blue filter on that spot to help balancing the overall temperature of the frame.

LIGHTING

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TEST SHOOT Test shoot took place on moday 29th of October. With an allowance of two hours of studio time, we extensively tested ou lighting ideas.

We quickly realized that some of our ideas would not be achievable and new decisions therefore had to be made includ-ing the size of framing.

During the test , we particularly tested and adjusted the lighting for mood 2 and 3 as well as experimented with differ-ent elements of the video such as powder and floating fabrics.

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1st LOOKOverall minimal look with emphasize on silky skin and outlining the purity of character.Featuring natural/skin coloured lips. Light eye shadow and matte foundation.

2nd LOOKEvolution from the first style into a slightly more dramatic look featuring saturated pink eye shadows, pink lips and sultry eyelashes. For the second part of the look, micro beading application added to the model’s lips.

3rd LOOKDramatic final look evolving into darker shades of pink. The look features darker eye shadows and lip tone as well as dramatic eyelashes. + bright neon paint powder for final film frame.

The make up is set to evolve gradually through each of the three moods each time using a darker pink shade to mark the change.

The attached make up board was sent before hand to make up artist Laura Maxwell Stamp who did a run through the look ahead of the shooting day.

Some adjustments were done after the run through to make sure that each of the look would look right.

MAKe UP

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To keep the film interesting and surprising it was important that each of the moods would have not only its own make up

style but also hairstyle. Our research led us to select three distinctive looks relevant to each of our mood while re-

maining consistent to the storyline. Each style follows and support the character psychological development through

the film.

Picture of our inspirational images were sent to the hairstylist who recreated them on herself before the shooting day

to first evaluate the time needed for each of the look as well as practice them ahead of the shooting day.

1st look Messy ballerina-style oversized bun..

2nd look Straightened long hair down - messy styling

3rd lookOversized volume and fishtail in reference to Kangai’s inspiration

HAIR

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Selection Criteria

• Preferably brunette

• White/caucasian

• Height 170cm or more

• Size 6-8

• Previous modelling experienced

• Confident with acting

• Ideally comfortable with dancing

After unsuccesfully contacting model angencies, We decided to publish a public online listing using the entertaine-ment website Stranow.co.uk. the correspondence was satisfactory as we received more than 60 applications to the pro-ject. After analyzing many profiles that fitted our criterias, Lois Folkard turned out to be our first choise. Unfortu-natly for timing reasons, Lois was forced to cancel her participation and we finally worked with Stephanie Silva - who was our second choice- for the final filming

MODEL CONSIDERATIOn

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FITTINGThe final fitting took place on Saturday 17th November in Startford London. The entire collection was tried on the model and helped us deciding on which looks to pick for the final filming. Look 1 and 4 were cancelled as discribed irrelevant to the story concept. Some garments turned out to need adjustment to the model’s body.Fitting also enabled us to get to know our model and largely discuss our hopes and expectations on set. posing and acting ideas were also rehearsed.

X X X X X X

LOOK 1 LOOK 2 LOOK 3 LOOK 4 LOOK 5 LOOK 6

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LOGISTICS

RECORDING EQUIPMENTJVD EVERIO GZHD7 3CCD HDTripodCamera BatteryHard drive

TEST SHOOT

FINAL FILMING

FITTING

29th October 2012 2 - 4 PM | Location : UCA ROCHESTER

17th November 20125 - 7 PM | Location : STRATFORD , LONDON

19th November 2012 1 - 5 PM | Location : UCA ROCHESTER

POST EDITING 20 - 28 th November 2012Location : London

CREATING  NARRATIVES  EXPENSES

Feathers   5.65 ordered  30/10 CHARLOTTEfeathers 3.6 received  14/11 CHARLOTTEPink  powder   3.00 ordered  4/11 DIMITRISFabric 37.5 CHARLOTTEpink  filter 7.03 ordered  4/11 DIMITRISeyelashes 7.70 ordered  14.11 CHARLOTTEtaxi 3.8 DIMITRISnipple  kit 4.00 CHARLOTTEBing  bags   1.00 CHARLOTTEtissues 1.00 DIMITRISsafety  pin 1.00 DIMITRIScorset 5.00 CHARLOTTEModel  expense 8.6 DIMITRISMake  up  expenses 8.6 DIMITRISHair  expenses 8.6 DIMITRIS

Marketing  printing  expenses NADossier  printin  expenses NA

TOTAL  SPENT   CHARLOTTE 65.45DIMITRIS 39.6

GRAND  TOTAL 105.05

BUDGET

SET & STYLING EQUIPMENT

Fabrics ,Talk powder,pink neon powder, pink light filters, Safety pins, Nipple

covers, Sheer underwear, double sided tapes, Soft pink corset, Ballerina pointe

shoes, Soft pink heels, Bing bags

Music Marina and the diamonds- LiesMusic box sound effet Drake - Crew love

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CREATIVE TEAM

CHARLOTTE NEUWELS DIMITRIS FOLAS LAURA MAXWELL STAMP

FILMING DIRECTOR SET DIRECTOR MAKE UP ARTIST

LIIVIE LIVE

HAIR ARTIST

SANDY GRABOWSKA

SET PHOTOGRAPHER

JULIE SCHUTZ

MUSIC MIX

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Photographed by Sandy Grabowska ( BA photography | year 3 ) - Post edited by Charlotte Neuwels

BEHIND THE SCENEs

Post editing tasks were equally divided evenly between both member of the pair.

Charlotte was assigned to complete the post editing part of the first mood which appears at the beginning and the end of the video as well as to produce the credits.

Dimitris, on the other hand, was left to post edit the transition mood in which the third mood constantly errups as element of surpirse.

While undertaking the process of post editing largely familiarized us with Final cut pro it also enabled us to explore possibilities of post editing. The effetcs used included:

MirroringMirroring is introduce during the transition part of the video to bring energy to some frames.

Reversing reversing was largely used at the end of the transition part of the video and allowed to play on the movement of fabric, powder as well as the wind largely used during the shoot.

slow and fast motionSlow and fast motion has been constantly used as well as blend together to create new dynamic to the film

Coloring To make the final outcome more exciting we researched different colouring options and finaly settle on 4 dif-ferent ones.

POST EDITING

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FINAL FILMLenght : 1.56 (2.33 including credits)

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STILL IMAGES

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Time Management

september 2012

Lundi Mardi Mercredi Jeudi Vendredi Samedi Dimanche

1 2

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Back to UCA Briefing Day Forming Pairs

october 2012

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Charlotte work placement

UCA Contacting designers

Charlotte work placement

UCA Contacting designers

UCA Designer final decision

Research : Watching fashion films

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Charlotte work placement

UCA PR & campaigns project

Charlotte work placement Research of Uma Kangai

UCA Uma Kangai meeting 7pm Baker street

UCA Research

Research video concept + set up Pinterest board

Research video concept

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Charlotte work placement

UCA PR & campaigns project

Charlotte work placement

UCA Meeting to discuss inspiration

UCA Collaborators research

Concept development

Concept development 1st model advert on star now.co.uk

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Charlotte work placement

UCA PR & campaigns project

Lighting research UCA

UCA Make up research + lighting research

29 30 31 Meeting to start production dossier Storyboard + moodboards

UCA Test shoot 2pm

music researching music researching

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In order to succesfully meet the final deadline and reach the best level of work possible, a great orgnization of the pair time had to be achieved.Here is a calendar of our progression through the months, from briefing day to the final deadline:

november 2012

MONAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

1 2 3 4 UCA

- Make up artist meeting 6pm- Liverpool street - Cancelation of Lois participation as model

UCA Posting of 2nd Model advert online – starnow.co.uk

- Music mix with Julie Schutz - Storyboarding - Dossier development

Music mix editing

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 - Model meeting with Steph Silva 6pm - Covent Garden

UCA PR & campaigns project

Cha work placement

UCA Charlotte at press day

UCA Charlotte away Charlotte away

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Charlotte away UCA

PR & campaigns project

Preparation of Review presentation At charlotte’s

UCA Hair and make up final decisions Rehearsing of review presentation

UCA - Formative presentation 10AM - Victoria tutorial

- Collection pick up 1PM - Final shopping - Fitting 5PM-7Pm At Dimitri’s

- Finalization of shooting organization - Order of filming frames - Allocation of tasks At Dimitris’s

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 FINAL FILMING 1pm – 5 pm

UCA Footages transfer Categorization & selection of frames

Post editing At Charlotte’s place

UCA

Post editing (DIM) Dossier (CHA) At Dimitris’s

Charlotte away Charlotte away

26 27 28 29 30 Charlotte away Post editing meeting

At Charlotte’s

Personal edited research + Dossier finalisation

UCA Film feedback from Kate & Dennis Post editing final + Dossier finalisation

December 2012

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

1 2 Individual market

context research Individual market context research

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Meeting on Market context as pair At Dimitri’s

Writing of marketing context individually

Meeting to continue write marketing context At Charlotte’s place

Exchange of work between each other to read proof and correct the other person’s work

Marketing context + Tutorial with Victoria

Layout for marketing context + finalisation of video At charlotte’s

Essay Drafting + Dossier finalization

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Essay writing + finalisation of market layout

UCA Printing of Marketing report and dossier + exportation of video

Essay Finalization + summary writing INDUSTRY AWARNESS DEADLINE

HAND IN 11AM

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EVALUATIONReaching the final stage of the fashion narrative project and witnessing our achievements has had us realize the long way that we have gone over the last three months. From briefing day, until the week before hand-in, it has been a journey of hard work, arguments, accomplishments and stress but we cer-tainly enjoyed every moment of it.

Since week one, we both shared the same ambition to take the opportunity of creating a fashion film and bring it to the level of a live project that would enable use to first; collaborate with an existing designer and consequently extend our industry network, second; start promoting our skills and lastly; test our professionals abilities.

The process began with researching potential designers to collaborate with. It became evident that this project would lead us to work with an emerging designer or a graduate fashion student. We therefore contacted about thirty carefully selected designers to express our interest to collaborate.

Our aim was to work for a designer that would have already gained press coverage. We finally chose to collaborate with Uma Kangai whose collection we were fond of and who already had gained recognition following her showcase during Graduate Fashion Week. Getting in touch with the designer enabled us to gain a clear insight on her ethos and acquire further knowledge about the collection. After meeting with Uma Kangai and debating our original thoughts in mid-October, the direction of the video became clearer.

The aesthetic and the quality of Uma’s collection impressed us. The movement of powder had been one of her main inspirations, interpreting this by creating dramatic feminine draped and structured shapes and it became an element of great importance to the video concept. The sophisticated femininity that was reflected by the dip dyed pink colour palette paired with the heavy embellishment of her collection also reminded us elements of ballet costumes. Our research led us to consider the “Black Swan” movie as one our main inspirations and we soon directed our concept towards discovering ways to represent mental disorder, while highlighting the designer’s identity.

We first started researching songs that would inspire us to build a story according to its tune. Our intension was to use a song that would consist of dif-ferent rhythms, as we wanted to take the opportunity to experiment with framing that would represent the different stage of bipolarity, avoiding the mo-notonous play and keep the viewer interested. This choice of direction rose conflit of opinion amongst the pair as it was debated that sticking to a specific music would disable our freedom of acting direction afterwards. However, we managed to negotiate and finally agreed. Once we decided on the melody, we started forming the project by listening to the tune while designing the storyboard accordingly. Looking back to the final film, it now seems obvious that the images are clearly linked to the music, as the sequences are synchronized to the beat of the song. We now believe it was a good decision to build a video on a music as it enabled us to construct the concept in great depth and accordingly.

We wanted to represent mental disorder in reference to the Black Swan film; we followed the direction of creating a physiological thriller, which would extend viewer’s excitement. We experimented by playing on the emotion of suspense by giving little information to the audience in the beginning of the film. However as the story unravels, it develops in a mysterious and darker direction to support the twisted unstable side of the character. We utilized powder, fabrics and feathers as fundamental elements to support the storyline and creative direction and to promote Kangai’s brand identity.

To bring the filming alive, extra collaborators were needed. We reached to different make up and hair artists but most importantly, we needed a model that would be the face of our concept. After unsuccessfully contacting model agencies, we decided to publish an online advertising on Starnow.co.uk, an en-tertainment industry network. The response surpassed our expectations and a model was initially chosen. However, a few weeks after confirming her par-ticipation, she backed up from the project and we were forced to republish the advert. The second time was as successful and our model, Stephanie Silva, was finally picked and her participation was confirmed after a meeting in central London back in November.

The make up and hair artists were also confirmed after a meeting regarding the aesthetic direction in the movie. They both undertook a run through the looks we had picked, which helped us visualizing realistically the final outcomes and also enabled us to edit some of our ideas ahead of the shoot after realizing that some may not be so suitable.

Lighting being a very strong element of the film, we also undertook a test shoot to extensively test our possibilities. While in the studio we quickly real-ized that a few of our primary ideas were not going to be realizable (full size framing, use of smoke). However with the help or Robbie, we managed to find alternative options and finally settled on three distinctive lighting styles that would be used to emphasize and support the mood of each of the scene.

Fitting was scheduled to run on the 14th of November, however, the initial event had to be rescheduled as we faced one of our main threats a week before the shoot. In fact, we were contacted by Uma Kangai, who shared her fear that the collection might not be returned from an overseas shoot in time for the filming. Luckily, it arrived on time for the shooting date but the final fitting had to be pushed back to the 17th of November.

The review presentation took place a week previous to the final shooting, if the professionalism of the project was outlined, concerns were also raised regarding the interpretation of our mental condition concept. We were advised to rehearse and be carefully successful at communicating with our mod-el the acting direction we were aiming to represent. To answer those concerns, we created three acting boards (for each of the mood) aimed for the mod-el to understand our ideas.

The final shooting took place on the 19th of November. Each member of the team traveled from London. Sandy Grabowska who was assigned the task of documenting the process of filming with still images joined us on set. We additionally benefited the help from two assistants who came very handy to support us trough the filming process. Specific times were initially allocated to each scene but it seemed we had underestimated the preparation time be-fore each scene, which consisted of changing the lighting, hair, make up and looks. As a consequence, we happened to run over time and handed up rush-ing to film the last frames at the end of the day.

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Furthermore, a significant threat of the duo was the lack of any filming and directing knowledge. To help organizing the direction of the movie, an addi-tional filming board was designed to help us follow a specific order of filming accordingly to the lighting, make up and hair and this in the aim of making the most out of studio time. It was also decided that the on-set tasks would be equally divided and not mixed-up; Charlotte would be directing the film-ing, while Dimitris would direct the model. This enabled us to have the best possible control of every aspect of the shooting (camera angles, framing, acting) in the most efficient way.

Moreover, it has to be mentioned that we came across unexpected difficulties during the process of filming. What we actually realized was the differ-ence with which the model reacted during the process of still and moving image. In spite of her familiarity with the shooting environment, she was quite hesitant during the filming process, which seemed obvious in the raw videos. We were able to ameliorate the model’s acting by editing down the captions and selecting the best moments of the shooting.

The post editing process was divided between the pair and Charlotte was allocated the editing of the ‘innocent’ ballet scene while Dimitris was assigned the ‘transition’ and ‘bad’ scenes, allowing each of us to experiment with the software. Meetings were often scheduled to work together and fix the consistency of the final video. Finally, we managed to balance any recording issues, while editing the film. With the use of Final Cut Pro X we enhanced the aesthetic of the film, by correcting the colour, conforming the speed to get the optimum projection of movement and by cropping the image to achieve the best framing.

The final outcome meets our initial aspirations as it successfully communicates the designer’s aesthetics, highlights the collection’s details and trans-lates our inspirations. The feedbacks from tutors and peers had us realizing that the storytelling was communicated effectively; as viewers were able to successfully understand the concept behind the film.

Working together as a pair was initially an opportunity as much as a threat, as we had never collaborated together. Being unfamiliar with each other ena-bled us to work efficiently, integrally, showing high professionalism throughout the project. Being both London-based enabled us to attend meetings two to three times a week to work together. Those meetings, scheduled on a regular basis, strongly helped the communication throughout the project. Growing through the unit had us realized that one of our fundamental strengths was that we had similar inspirations, which helped us to understand each other’s ideas. As a well-balanced pair, we worked hard, learned new skills from each other and remain professional even during difficult times. While the project has been developing, there were some moments of full tension and rare conflicts that were inevitable but finally were left apart to concentrate on the well advancement of the assignment. We are proud to have always managed to turn the threats we faced into new opportunities.

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