Contextual Research. College.

1. Contextual Research
Freddie Fullman

2. DESIGNER: Lia Griffith- Paper dress
The main reason I wanted to look at this lady was
because she uses objects as accessible as paper. Her
ideas are very out of the box and it would be great if I
included something like this in my project. Because of
lockdown restrictions, it might prove important to be
able to think outside of the box and resort to different
ideas that I wouldn’t usually think of (for example using
paper instead of material).

3. DESIGNER: Irene Van Herpen
• I really like this designer and believe I
can learn a lot from her. All of her
outfits use one item that is repeated
over and over again to create intense
and ‘trippy’ patterns. This designer
has already sparked some creative
ideas in my head and I believe her
work will probably influence mine.

4. FASHION FILM: VIVIENNE & TAMAS
• Vivienne & Tamas are a fashion film director and fashion
photographer duo who work all across Europe (mainly in Paris,
London, Berlin and Milan. They have worked with many high end
designer brands including Dior and Gucci. I really like their work and
will definitely use some of the aspects they use to improve my FMP. I
haven’t been able to find much about their beliefs so I am going to
focus on their artistic approaches etc..

5. • The first stylistic choice from Vivienne &
Tamas I noticed was the similar establishing
shot with most of their fashion films. These all
feature an out of focus close up shot with the
logo or brand in clear writing in the middle of
the page. To me this highlights the importance
of the brand and highlights what the fashion
film is about. By having blurry visuals it
suggests that the brand is more important
than the visuals. I really liked this and will
definitely include something like this in my
work. Furthermore, all of these fashion films
are around 1 minute long so I should probably
keep each fashion film I do at a similar length.

6. FASHION FILM: Sugar Collective
• Phillipa Wilson is a young fashion film maker who has recently
released her own fashion film and fashion magazine online. For the
second part of my contextual research, I am going to be analysing her
fashion page on Instagram account called ‘Sugar Collective’. I have
asked to do this and have been granted permission from her.
Although I appreciate that she is not a big figure to study, I think it will
be very helpful to have someone who I can ask specific fashion film
questions to.

7. Location is quite an important aspect for a fashion film as it usually needs to
reflect the type of clothing you are showing. Sugar Collective has done a great
job in doing this. The film is set in an urban area which creates parity with the
street wear she is advertising. By doing this, the audience feels a sense of
reliability, they know what they are getting. This also avoids confusion or
distraction as they compliment each other instead of contrasting each other.
The first prominent angle that caught my eye when watching this was her use
of the worms eye view (the camera is filming from the floor; the subject is
positioned higher than the camera) these shots are only prominent when
Philippa (the creator of sugar collective) is in the frame. I’m not sure whether
she has done this intentionally but a worms eye view often creates a sense of
superiority between the subject and the audience- highlighting that she is an
important part of the fashion film.

8. There are many aspects of production that she will have done after filming
her fashion film. First of all, she has added non-diegetic sound. I think it is
clear that she has thought about her song choice thoroughly, As well as this,
she has various ‘Matte shots’ (two separate shots that have been edited
together). Despite this mostly being a stylistic shot, it also brings the
audiences attention to other parts of the clothing she is wearing that you
might have not seen in a single shot.
There are also a lot of slow-motion shots but one could argue that they
could be either pre or post production, many cameras have a slow-motion
settings. Slow-motion is a great effect as it allows a break for the audience
from fast pace shots, it’s also a good way to focus the audiences attention
on certain things.
Over all her production is very effective and I will incorporate many aspects
of this in my project.

9. I also loved her use of mise en scene techniques
The lighting is interesting in the fashion film because it fluctuates between high
and mid key lighting. I think this creates a contrasting effect which draws your
attention to the different shots. I think this appeals to the audience by catching
their attention; the contrast draws attention to every shot and makes the
viewer not want to look away.
The most noticeable aspect of mise en scene is costume which is obviously an
important for a fashion film. The clothes she has made have a street style, she
has not only printed great designs on her shirts but she has also effectively
paired the clothes she has made with other clothing items to bring everything
together.

10. THEORY: Semiotics- Roland Barthes
• The first theory I want to look at is Semiotics by Roland Barthes.
Semiotics are the idea that visual codes and technical codes all have a
meaning. For example, a scar on a characters face, a hermeneutic
code, could imply that then character is a villain. Other examples
include light and good ‘guys’ and dark and villains. Obviously. I’m not
going to have villains in my fashion film, but, to portray certain
meanings I will have to utilise certain colours and gestures to help
show what feeling I’m trying to convey. This therefor links directly into
Roland's semiotics.

11. THEORY: Structuralism - Claude Lévi-Strauss
• Structuralism by Claude Strauss is another theory I think could be
useful to look at for my FMP project. Structuralism has a few key
ideas but the main one is the use of binary oppositions. Binary
oppositions are described as ‘two diametrically opposed concepts
that oppose each other which end up defining each other’. A great
example of this is hot and cold. An idea I had that could be good in
project could be happy music with sad clothes and semiotics that
infer sadness. By doing this I could strengthen the message I’m trying
to display.

12. Bibliography
• Lia Griffith. (2017). Website. Available: https://liagriffith.com/. Last
accessed 07/01/2021.
• Iris Van Herpen. (2014). Bespoke Designs. Available:
https://www.irisvanherpen.com/bespoke. Last accessed 07/01/2021
• Phillipa Wilson. (2019). Instagram. Available:
Instagram.com/sugar.collective. Last accessed 07/01/2021.
• Various contributors. (2018). A-Level Media Studies: Theories.
Available: https://lr-media.blogspot.com/2018/09/theorists-and-
theories.html. Last accessed 08/01/2021.
• VIVIENNE & TAMAS. (2015). Various works. Available:
https://vivienneandtamas.com. Last accessed 07/01/2021.