Month: April 2018

GUCCI KIND: THE SPRING SUMMER 2020 CAMPAIGN FILM

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As soon as we were briefed on this project, I knew I wanted to do a Fashion Film. It is something that I have always wanted to do and have been passionate about experimenting with.

I started off with studying many of Gucci’s existing Campaign Film’s such as Gucci Bloom, and Gucci Guilty and so on. I love the style and the ambience they have and whilst studying them, I particularly found there were some key aspects that ‘make’ a Gucci campaign film that I loved, and felt were needed to be in keeping with the brand. 

First of all, a lot of the recent campaign films are done by Glen Luchford and I fell in love with his style and the way in which he brought Alessandro Michele’s vision to life. There was also a campaign film done by Petra Collins, who is an artist I have always admired and been influenced by. Together and apart, they make up the aesthetic and mood of what is means to be ‘Gucci’. Therefore, I felt as though it would not have been right, to completely take the feeling and meaning of my Fashion Film in a completely strange and new direction, however I do feel as though, in hind sight, what I created is definitely all mine. 

I love the romantic and calm feeling that Gucci’s campaign films evoke, and they particularly have enticed me into the brand, which is obviously a great thing. I did find however, that although each recent campaign film eludes romance, there hasn’t particularly been a real ‘love story’.

I am someone, that always likes to give a narrative to my work, and whether that is obvious, or hidden beneath the surface I think it is vital when creating something like a campaign film that customers want to buy into. 

Therefore I told the story of a couple who meet and have a summer romance. I liked the idea of having the beginning of the film really calm and cool, and then the whirlwind of love sweeping them up. I also liked the idea of taking influence from old movies where happiness and the dizziness of love was portrayed by a sped up sequence of them running and playing together, therefore I wanted to include this in my film. 

A struggle with the making of my film, was that unfortunately the film crew of two people, myself and Indiana Tarrant, were also the models. This made it a really hard and time consuming project to fulfil. Furthermore, because I only could have myself, who identifies as female, and Indiana Tarrant who identifies as male, I was/am worried that it seems cliché/incorrect to use a heterosexual couple. However, the reasoning I was able to find myself was that because the range is unisex, and the fact that the female (myself), at the end of the video, is then wearing the suit jacket and also the fact that the man (Indiana Tarrant) had long hair, made it viable for them to be a heterosexual couple. However, on reflection, it was not a case of looking back with regret, because there really wasn’t anything I could do considering the time and the people I had around me in the couple of days I managed to go back home for Easter and film this. I do not think however, that the struggle shows too much in the video, and considering it was my first time doing something like this, I am very proud of it. 

Something else that was hard about the making of this campaign film, was the fact that obviously the Spring Summer 2020 collection for ‘Gucci Kind’ doesn’t exist, and therefore it was very tricky trying to find clothes that fitted with not only Gucci’s aesthetic, but the aesthetic I wanted to give my subbrand and also fitted the macro trends I had envisioned for this project. 

Before styling and piecing together the outfits, I did make a rough concept board to help me find the tone I was looking for through colour and fabrics:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/kynzakendalljon/back-to-nature/

I named it Back to Nature Initially as I knew that that was the essence of what I wanted to create. This was due to the fact that I wanted to not only fit my macro trends, as I mentioned previously, but also work with my manifesto, that states that each collection for Gucci Kind would be in support of and influenced by a charitable organisation. I chose to support Greenpeace.

When it came to editing my Fashion Film, this was where my style shone through more, and the film became a lot less of a Glen Luchford and more of a Kynza. Before editing this film, I had never used Premiere Pro, so I really had to start from scratch and begin to teach myself how to use lots of elements. Lynda.com and youtube were a big help and it really taught me to have initiative when trying to find my way around Premiere Pro. I found that it’s always hard to teach yourself something new, especially when there are other programs that come so naturally. It is difficult to remember that what is now easy, was once really difficult, like Photoshop. 

However, as I watched more tutorials and did more editing, I really got into the flow of it all.

Something that was really important for me to nail, was the colouring of the fashion film as I felt this would be detrimental to the way in which the film is perceived by others. I really wanted muted and soft pastel hues that especially followed the colour palette of my trend board ‘Earth Generation.’ This was an element of the editing process that really took the longest as playing with colour on a system you don’t know is very tricky.

I was really happy, however, with the final outcome of my Fashion Film as I felt that every element of it really fell into place to create the best I could for my first ever fashion film. 

 

References:

Gucci Fashion Films I studied:

Gucci Bloom

Gucci Guilty

Gucci Bamboo – The New Campaign

Gucci Stories: The Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

Gucci Cruise 2016 – The Director’s Cut

Gucci Spring Summer Campaign Film 2016

 

MY CONCEPT

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After having researched heavily into the way Gucci operate their Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility as a large luxury brand, I found out that they put in a lot of work into making sure they are in accordance with the law and further. 

CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY & RESPONSIBILITY

Commitment

Gucci is working to strengthen its current commitment to be a progressive leader. This pathway involves the enhancement of key issues such as respect for human rights and employees, the environment and biodiversity, respect for stakeholders and the involvement of suppliers.

Policies & Principles

Gucci is committed to implementing a Social and Environmental Responsibility Management System that goes ‘beyond compliance’ with the law. This involves the adoption of the most important international standards, policies and procedures which define the guidelines of the company for the effective implementation, monitoring and continual improvement of its performances in terms of CSR and sustainability, both internally and along its supply chain.

People

The protection of all workers and human rights as well as the enhancement of the supply chain represent a fundamental pillar of our commitment in terms of social responsibility.

Environment

We have implemented a worldwide, eco-friendly program designed to progressively reduce the company’s impact on the environment.

Culture and philanthropy

Gucci’s longstanding commitment to the preservation and promotion of the arts and the solidarity initiatives.

”  1

After looking into this I also found that Kering, the overarching group that Gucci is a part of, has an Ethical Strategy plan for 2025. This gave me the idea to create a sub-brand that is sustainable, encourages workers rights and an equal and higher pay and also the support of charities.

This subbrand would be a test run of this Ethical Strategy and would also be reusing the fabrics from previous Gucci collections. This would be to reduce waste. Furthermore I would like to have an element of exclusivity for my brand, such as limited production of garments, to allow for an increase in price. This would be to correspond with the way Gucci Kind would receive their money. I would like for the workers to be given a higher than minimum wage and equally amongst different genders and age. And then the rest of the income made from the collection would go straight to the charity that the collection would be supporting. 

All of these elements to my brand would be to reduce waste, both physical and emissions waste, to increase workers conditions and pay and to support charities. I would also like the sub-brand to support new and upcoming artists and creatives through promotion on campaigns and on Gucci Kind’s social media. 

 

References

1 “Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility” Gucci.com https://www.gucci.com/uk/en_gb/st/sustainability-landing

 

THE SCIENCE MUSEUM PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION and the V&A

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The Science Museum

Illuminating India Photography 1857-2017 was an exhibition I went to in London. Unfortunately I was not able to take photographs. It was the recent photography that interested me the most and the casual and ‘quotidian’ feel to them that I really loved. 

(Figure 1)

I wanted to go because, not only to I love contemporary film and digital photography, but I love gaining influences from different cultures and countries. I feel as though doing this, enhances my Cultural Capital and gives me a more well-rounded view on the world and develops my creativity in a major way. 

(Figure 2- Modern India)

I particularly love this photograph as first of all, something I have always loved in Photography is leading lines and cutting lines that really make the eye focus on the image. This is something I have done previously in my photography a lot. Previously I have been mostly influenced by Degas and Lartigue, however now that I can see that similar concepts were being carried out in India at similar times is very interesting to me. The other element of this photograph that I love, is the timelessness. This is something that I often would like to portray through my artwork. This gives an image power and strength, I think.

 

The V&A

After having been to The Science Museum, I went to the V&A to particularly go to the Into the Woods Exhibition as I thought it may help with my concept on Nature. I couldn’t take many photographs, however it was interesting to study the different ways in which Photographers had taken nature and trees to influence their work and give their work different meaning whilst using the same subject. 

Adams

(Figure 3)

Stromberg

(Figure 4)

I liked this image particularly for the cinematic feel it produces, I thought this would be an interesting shot with a fashion model stood looking powerful in front. 

 

Figures

Figure 1 – Illuminating India Photography 1857-2017 Exhibition at The Science Museum.

Figure 2 – Modern India. High Court, Chandigarh, 1955, Lucien Hervé. J Paul Getty Trust.

Figure 3 – Ansel Adams, Aspens, Northern New Mexico, 1958. Museum no. PH.1376-1980. © Ansel Adams

Figure 4 – Gerhard Stromberg, Coppice (King’s Wood), 1994. Museum no. E.585-2001. © Gerhard Stromberg