Monday 26 November 2012

EPQ lesson - Time Managment and Project Planning 24.09.12

  In this lesson we practised our planning skills by planning a 16th birthday party for 50 of our mates considering the venue, our party outfit, and other factors than needed to be planned. We did this by creating our own mind maps first and them putting them all together on the board, to evaluate what we had forgotten to plan or what was planned well.
  We then looked at Gantt charts and used them for planning the party. I found that this was an easy way to help me keep on track as it was visual

Living Doll / Lolita 26/11/12

There are many different variations on the Lolita style such as:

  • Sweet Lolita
  • Gothic Lolita
  • Classic Lolita
  • Punk Lolita
  • Pirate Lolita
  • Qi Lolita (Traditional Chinese Inspired)
  • Wa Lolita (Traditional Japanese Inspired)
         Punk Lolita                                      Gothic Lolita                                              Qi Lolita



 


            Wa Lolita                                                              Sweet Lolita  




Sources
*Lolita website - http://www.lolitafashion.org/lolita_culture.html
*Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_fashion
*Gothic and Lolita Bible on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_%26_Lolita_Bible 
*Interview with a Lolita - http://comicsbeat.com/a-gothic-lolita-speaks/
*Lolilibrary - http://lolibrary.org/node/1239
*Hardy Bernal, Kathryn Adele. "The Lolita Complex: a Japannese fashion subculture and its paradoxes". http://aut.researchgateway.ac.nz/handle/10292/2448. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
*Scan of the 'Gothic Lolita Bible' Magazine - http://gothiclolitabible.tumblr.com/archive
*Make up and Hair tutorials - http://sweetornots.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/lolita-make-up.html  

Interview on Daybreak with 'Venus Angelic' - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2125028/Venus-Palermos-mother-Margaret-praises-15-year-old-daughters-obsession-looking-like-living-doll.html
interview with 'Venus Angelic' - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2136332/Venus-Palermo-The-truth-15-year-old-human-Barbie-South-London.html
Article in he Daily Mail on living doll style - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2122177/Meet-real-life-Barbies-Internet-craze-sees-teenagers-turn-freakish-living-dolls.html

Documentry on Lolita group in Japan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV5FAkyAg_M 
Documentry on British Lolita - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1Yb2sj01sM
Lolita's on Japanese TV show 'Tokyo Kawaii TV' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=6_O_W7BYD-E&feature=endscreen
True Ottaku documenry - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdv0n5DUb4E

Make Up 
Plan 



I plan to use a soft pink eyeshadow that gradiates into Burgandy at the outer corner. I will line my eyes with black liquid eyeliner and creae a small wing. I also plan to line my bottom waterline with a brown pencil.
 For the lips I am initially planning to use a pale pink lipstick or lipgloss.
 I will create contoring by applying blush to the apples of my cheeks and bronzer just above my jawbone and to the sides of my nose to make it look smaller; I'll also apply a light powder to the top of my nose to also make it look smaller.






Make Up Test
13/01/2013





Final Image













Sunday 18 November 2012

1960's Mod Girl 18/11/12

What is Mod?

  The word Mod is short for Modernist.

Make Up
Plan

  This is my initial plan for the 60's make up. Bright light blue eyeshadow on the eyelid, with black eyeliner across the top lash line and just above the crease. I will also emulate Twiggy's doll lashes using black eyeliner.
  I initially planned to do an orange-red lip but have now changed this to a pale pink, almoast neutral colour as all the attention is supposed to be drawn to the eyes.
  I will apply long fake eyelashes to the top lash line and use very little contoring on my face if any.






Make Up Test
2/1/2013

On reflection I think that i will use a white eyeshadow instead of blue as it will add a pop to the eye if i take the image in black and white.

Sources used 
  • Images of twiggy
  • The book 'Retro Makeup : Techniques for applying the vintage look' by Lauren Rennells - This helped with the technique for drawing the line above the crease and also the botom lashes.

Outfit

  The main fashion influence of the 1960's was the Mini Skirt. Popularised by Mary Quant in her famous 'Bazaar' boutique.


Plan
  I plan to pair a monochromatic geometric mini skirt with a plain white shirt buttoned to the top. I will wear a plain black suit jacket, natural tights (for modesty) and black smart shoes.


Hair
 
  In the 1960's hair became alot larger with hairstyles such as the Beehive (also known as the B52). Curled hair also fell out of style with straighter styles seen on people such as Bridget Bardot. Short hair was also in often with sharp asymetric styles or a clean style mimiking mens hair that was seen in the Mod culture.

Things became alot more natural in popular society as seen with Bardot's messy beehive.


Final Image


Thursday 15 November 2012

Punk 14/11/12

Punk formed around 1970 as a rebellion against the popular music of the time.... Punk was setting out to shock people by behaving and dressing in a way that had never been seen before and was planned to provoke a response.


Make Up
Having watched video footage from the 1970's of real Punks, I have observed that all though the males look quite 'scruffy' whilst the majority of the females took a lot of time and made an effort with their make up. A lot of darker colours and harsh lines are used, many black or brown shades used for blush and lipstick; although there are splashes of red, purples or blues.
  I plan to use harsh red and black for eyeshadow, in a sharp point similar to what is shown in DelyrisPhoto's video (Source 1 below).
  I also want to cover my eyebrows as many Pinks acctually shaved them off to create more dramatic loks by playing around with eyebrow shapes. To do this i used the second part of Petrilude's tutorial (source 2)    

Plan


















Make Up Sources
1) DelyriaPhoto's video 'Extreme gothic look tutorial by Delyria' available here -     http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=j4J2ebZgnNc&feature=endscreen

2) Petrilude's video 'Covering Eye Brows (2 ways)' available here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb3D-afzKEc&feature=BFa&list=PLD6D36A6AAA64DA46 

Sources
clipsandfootage's video '1970s Kings Road Punks in London' available here -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UahAEkiCrE0

clipsandfootage's video 'London Punks 1977-1980' -
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJLuImkBiQg&feature=plcp

CaptainZipVideoTrip's video playlist 'My punk films' -
  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE7D84FE504DBDCAF


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9CtYLDHhsw&feature=related



Make Up Tests


15/11/12

  I started by covering my eyebrows using 'Spirit Gum' and eyebrow wax, them powdering over the top. I drew on harsh black eyebrows using a black eye pencil to give a 'moody' emotion to the face. 
  For the eye make up I started by creating the outline of my desired shape with a red lip pencil and filled in that shape with the pencil; I then applied red eye shadow on top to seal the colour. I out lined the red with a black eye pencil and added shading with black eye shadow around the outer edges and in the eye crease. I then lined my eyes with black eye pencil and extended the line from my tear duct onto my nose, I also lined the bottom lash and extended the line from my tear duct onto my nose again. I applied black mascara on my bottom and top lashes, but not too much so that it looks overly girly. 
   For my lips I lined them with the black eye pencil, exaggerating my cupids bow into a point and adding a point going downwards in the centre of my bottom lip, I then applied black lipstick over the top.
   I  contoured my cheekbones using brown eye shadow and black eye shadow to add definition to the face to add to the surly look.  

On reflection I didn't successfully cover my eyebrows as they are still visible, to overcome this I will have to use more concealer and powder to cover up the colour of my eyebrows. 
A part of me thinks that I should try to neaten up the eye make up next time but the Punk look wasn't about being neat and tidy so it doesn't matter if it's messy. 
  Overall I was happy with this look and after making the adjustments stated the look will be my final one for the photo shoot.


 Final Image


Monday 12 November 2012

Goth Style 9/11/12

The first style I'm going to explore is Goth, which came about in the late 1970's. It was a style that took the look of Glam Rock, New Wave, and Punk; mixed them together and added a dark twist to the look so that it wasn't as appealing to the mainstream public who just wanted to copy the popular looks of the time.  

I plan to shoot my photograph in a woodland setting as it complements the romantic side of the sub-culture.

Aesthetic choices -

Make-up
Plan

-Pale white foundation
-Black and red lipstick
-A heavy black smokey eye
-Heavy, exaggerated black eyeliner
-Thin black eyebrows dawn in eyeliner












Test 30/11/12

...(INSERT VIDEO HERE)


  Sources Used for Makeup
DelyriaPhoto's 'Delyria's classic gothic look tutorial by Delyria' available here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlHceuuoMEo&feature=plcp




Hair
Plan
-If i can find a big black wig then i will wear that, if not i plan to create a large volumised hairstyle similar to goths of the 1980's by back-combing my hair.
-I drew inspiration from Siouxsie Sioux's large crimped hair

Final Look
I did manage to find an appropriate Wig for this look. It is a long black wig with a pointed fringe; I found this in our loft with old Halloween costumes.

  Sources Used for Hair



- An image of Siouxsie Sioux taken by Simon Fowler
- I used sweetbeautyx's tutorial on how to crimp hair as an inspirstion together with my existing knowledge. The tutoral is available here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbP08P59X0U

- As I wore a wig I used ... tutorial on how to apply a wig cap and then a wig.

Clothing

As I chose to show the romantic side to the subculture I stayed away from fabrics such as plastic or leather as they have edgier connotations. I wore a black shirt with a black under-bust corset over the top; black skinny jeans and purple New Rock boots with a black spider web design. I also wore a long purple velvet coat with black fur trim. 

  Sources Used for Clothing


      


 Final Image


Remote Shutter 8/11/12

Today a piece of equipment that I ordered off of Amazon.co.uk arrived that I can use to take my photographs. It's called a remote shutter and will allow me to get into position, press the button and have the Camera take the picture. I have tried just using the camera timer but it's very difficult to get yourself in focus as you have to set the focus before you move into the frame. With the remote i can set the camera to auto focus on myself when i press the button and have a clear photograph. It works using Infra-red, sending out a signal which is picked up by my camera ( a Canon 550D ) and sets off the shutter. I can set my remote to an immediate shutter or a 2 second wait until the shutter goes off.



I purchased the 'Shoot Infra-red Remote' from Amazon at this address - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Remote-Control-Canon-RC-6/dp/B004WI29QO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1352719987&sr=8-3 

Friday 9 November 2012

Introduction

Welcome to my Blog. I am keeping this as a way to document and keep my research in one place for my Extended Project Qualification.
 
My EPQ title is: Exploring Cliques and Subcultures in Photography Through Self Portraiture. 
I plan to research into photographers of cliques and also photographers that use self portraiture. I also plan to research into the cliques and identify their fashion and life style. I will then take self portraits of myself in the clique's style and analyse my photography technique and loyalty to the subcultures style. I will also send out a questionaire to a sample of 17-18 year old students at college to see if I have communicated the sub-culture to them correctly.
 
The subcultures i will represent are;  
  • Goth
  • Pin-up/1950's Girl
  • Rave Girl
  • Punk
  • Living Doll
  • Mod/1960's girl
  • Mean Girl/Plastic

When I create my survey i also plan to include a definition as i have found that some people although very familiar with subcultures didn't actually know that they were 'subcultures'.

sub·cul·ture/ˈsəbˌkəlCHər/

Noun:
A cultural group within a larger culture, often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger culture