on-time-apparel-blog

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Film blurb...

This is a look-book film following the day to day life of students and the high street fashion they choose. We filmed the daily routine of students focusing mainly on their attire for each and every activity they were performing. We followed as they prepared and took action highlighting that there is in fact a more stylish and student loan friendly alternative for you to choose from.

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Finalising our film...

To ensure we met our deadline and after careful consideration we decided to utilise only female models for our film because we both either knew of or shared accommodation with females and more specifically students so we stuck to the educational theme. This made it more convenient to arrange shooting times and ask everything we needed to know about their outfit. Another factor being that the film itself was only one minute long so we didn't need as many models as we initially thought. 

This is also the reason why we were forced to cut lots of scenes and increase the speed throughout the film which we were very gutted about as we really hoped to include a scene with the metro however it just wasn't a possibility.

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Time to edit down...

Editing was one of the hardest processes, getting our film down to just 1 minute! We had to take the essentials scenes and ensure they flowed well between the transitions. Once we had selected exactly which scenes we wanted, we then edited them by cropping, audio change, filters and speed. For example, we wanted to add a natural look to our film so we kept the filters quite natural. As well, the film has quite an upbeat, lighthearted mood so adding in some slow-motion scenes or sped up ones adds a touch of humour! In addition, with the editing we added in the text layer to the scenes. This allowed us to create labels explaining where each item was from, we feel this will be of use to the audience watching and save them having to look up links, they can automatically identify where to buy any of the garments that they like!

So close to finishing now, keep checking to see the final film! 

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Finally filming begins...

Location was critical to us because the whole concept of a daily routine around the clock must need to include all the locations a person visits on a day to day basis. From the second you wake up to your morning routines followed by a long day at university before forgetting about it all the same night you hit back those vodka and red bulls. Which brings me nicely to my next point, lighting was also very crucial because we wanted to highlight the narrative behind our look-book and again put emphasis on that around the clock schedule. Lastly, we were incredibly lucky to have received some induction from the wonderful lecturers at our university on how to use professional cameras. This was fully utilised once India received a Canon EOS 1300D for Christmas and we were able to shoot our film without the hassle of hiring cameras. The focus was very clear once zoomed in which is a huge contrast to shooting with an IPhone.

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Music to match the mood...

Music - We thought picking the music for our film would be one of the more simple tasks we were required to undertake. Surprisingly we were wrong! Our university recommended we visit personally created content on steaming websites where for a small fee you can download a song of choice if allowed by the producer of that piece. The rights to that song will be clear on the website. An example of such site is Audio Network. Unfortunately we were not successful in choosing the perfect piece for our film, the genres and tempo of the music available did not compliment our film. We also tried looking at a few variations on the same theme however a few required an annual fee and some we had trouble with the downloading links. In the end we decided to choose a free soundtrack from Apple iMovie which immediately fitted our ideal vision for the film.

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Lookbook Styling Research...

We decided to complete some primary research by observing students about campus and making notes on the types of outfits they were wearing along with the amount and style of makeup they had on. After observing and asking some campus students about their outfit choices we discovered that for day to day life at lectures students tend to go with natural makeup or non at all if its for a 9am!

In our previous brainstorming sessions, we had chosen to use only high street brands as we felt this was most fitting with out student audience with their limited budgets. Therefore, when selecting outfits for our lookbook this was a crucial factor. The garments would also need to be recently purchased so our lookbook isn't seen as outdated as our main aim is creating affordable outfits that are still following the latest trends. Our styling choices also need to reflect the activity within the scene for example the workout scenes need to feature gym/active wear. Time to get shopping!

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Casting...

Casting the right models for our shoot was very important to both of us because it determined how the finished product presented itself and how appealing it was to our target audience. To explain further, we were scouting for mainly students as they would already appeal to our target audience. Their lifestyle would fit the mood board accordingly. In addition to this, student models would already hold in their possession the attire we required for our lookbook - affordable, stylish fashion.

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Research and Review...

Before we started filming, we thought it best to have a quick look around at some student lookbooks that already exist to compare what we liked and disliked. Below are some of our favourites from our research and why we thought they were worth a mention! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQJTxBaWQGw

We loved the laid back and simple style of this video, the location and outfits look similar to what we are trying to achieve. As well, we loved the split screen idea that is used along with the camera angles which really show the clothing in detail. However, we thought one way the video could be improved is by adding some type of storyline or narrative that could add a unique twist onto it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co7aml9jo1U

This video provided us with some great inspiration. Firstly, we loved the upbeat soundtrack and thought it fitted with the theme well. Also, we liked how all the scenes had the same lighting which gave the film a good flow and made it look professional. The use of text stating where the items are from is also an idea that we’d like to use in our film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqXIlI1liWc

This film we felt had a more student/less professional feel, however we thought this was a good idea as it would appeal to the audience of students more. We thought it was effective how they captured the model acting natural so the scenes were less posed and more action shots. This is something we’d like to try incorporate into our film as our idea is based around finding outfits that fit the students everyday life.

Now we’ve got our inspiration its time to get behind that camera and start filming! 

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Concept Sheet...

By filling out a concept sheet for our film we were able to breakdown our idea + explore different options on individual factors. For example, one exercise was to list 3 words that describe the mood of the film, we chose upbeat, realistic and relatable. These are key things to remember whilst filming to ensure we stick to our theme throughout. We chose these words as lookbooks often have a released nature to them especially ones aimed towards students so we shall try to reflect this.

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Moodboard...

We chose to put together a mood board with the main ideas we had mutually liked for the film which would help to cement the ideas into our heads. Consequently, making it a lot easier to decide on the numerous locations and models we wish to use to really transform our few crazy ideas into reality. The main clock in the centre may look familiar because it is the main icon of our name. Surrounding this icon are a series of images we hope she a similar structure with our completed film. 

Watch this space!

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20 ideas in 20 minutes...Easy right?

Our next step in the research process was to complete the 20 ideas in 20 minutes exercise. Now, trust us this is a lot harder than it sounds, even if you are buzzing with ideas, trying to come up with 20 completely different proposals is a struggle especially towards the end! However, we found this exercise one that was definitely worth while. Due to your mind trying to think of plans under timed pressure there are no boundaries so you can come up with some of the wildest ideas as a possibility, this allows your creativity to really come alive. After the 20 minutes, we analysed our page and chose the ‘Life in a day of a student’ idea. We believe due to our own knowledge and experience as students we will be able to provide great first hand insight and we both agreed that having inspiration for on trend outfits but at a student friendly price would be something that not only we would be interested in but many others like us too! Our focus will be on both male and female student fashion from morning until evening providing styled outfits for all times of the day. Now, time to start storyboarding scene ideas!

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Let the research commence...

So, before we even begin to discuss ideas for our own fashion film we created some Frietag graphs to improve our understanding on the breakdown of film creations. Starting at the introduction to climax and finishing with the fall down. Picking some of our favourite films and music videos we were able to analyse them and discover each of these crucial stages.

Who doesn't love Breakfast at Tiffany’s right? An all time iconic classic with a gripping story throughout. From analysing this film we learnt that the audience is moved due to the developed introduction of the main characters so as we watch we become emotionally involved with them. We thought this was a point of interest to take to the thought process of our film as it’s a good technique to ensure capturing the audience’s interest.

The late Amy Winehouse is an all-time idol of ours and always had beautiful examples of videography within her music videos. In here song Back to Black, we see different emotional stages showed throughout despite their being only one main event happening in the video (the funeral). This got us thinking about ways that we could use scenes which may look simple but through the mood set can give a powerful effect. Due to the subtly of the set designs, the audiences focuses in more closely drawn to the individual featured and observing their body language and intimate details like that.

Finally, we thought we’d look at Halsey’s music video for her single ‘Colours’, this piece has a strong storyline as the audience follows thinking the girls crush is on the son, to then only find out at the end the crush is in fact on the father. We believe that it could be interesting angle to add a plot line to our fashion film and this could add to what we were discussing earlier about trying to get the watchers to engage with the characters on an emotional level. 

Overall, we found this a useful activity to give us some general insight into what we personally feel makes films captivating and a good watch. The pointers mentioned throughout are things that we will definitely take to the next brainstorming stage!

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Welcome...

Welcome to our student fashion blog! We are Fashion Communication students studying at Northumbria University. We named ourselves On-Time Apparel as we aim to find stylish, on trend outfits for every part of the student day whilst being suited to student budgets! This joint blog shows the process of our fashion film creation, where we hope to make a lookbook featuring fashionable student outfits for both genders from high street stores. Beginning from the ideas brainstorming to the storyboarding and then the final shooting, very step of our research will be posted, so please check regularly to see how we are getting on and to view the end result!