Testing and Inspiration for 'ORPHIC'

'Orphic'

Mysterious and entrancing beyond ordinary understanding.

Below I have gathered some images from pintrest for Eyeliner Inspiration along with some images from instagram off of Val Garlands account. 

Hand inspiration for the shoot 'Orphic' was taken from Paloma Faith's look at the 2015 Brit Awards. I loved the whole styling for Paloma Faith and knowing I wanted to create a hand look to go with one of my looks made the look really dark and captivating.

A nightmare is taking over her body that she is un able to escape or understand. 

Design testing for the look 'Orphic', I practised covering my hands in black to see how effective this would look and how good of an even coverage I could get on my hands as I did not want it to look patchy when I created the final look. I used black aqua colour first as I knew this would dry and not smudge as much as supra colour, I then layered mac black acrylic paint on top of this to get a better and even coverage. Once this had dried with an old brush I lightly brushed gold pigment up and down on my hands. I feel this look turned out really well and it was pretty quick and easy to achieve. I discovered an issue when I came to take it of my hands, the colours were so dark and pigmented that it stained my hand black and was really hard to wash of this could be an issue when coming to putting it on my model as I planned to also go up her arms and did not want her to walk away with black stained hands and arms. To overcome this issue of staining my models arms I asked my friend if I could use some of her derma shield this would apply a layer on top of the skin to stop the make-up from staining my models skin and make it easier to remove. I planned to also apply black false nails to my model to finish the look of. 

As well as practising the hand design for this look I practised an eyeliner design on myself gathering inspiration from Val Garlands designs. I also practised doing some light coloured contour and placed a few sequins and gems over the mouth covering the mouth in a design that almost looked like a disease. Once the look was done I played around with taking images of the look and also took an image using thick cellophane to see how the light picked up and how this changed the look on camera and really liked this effect. When it comes to shooting this as final look I plan to make the contour stronger and possibly do a different eyeliner something more simple.

Shoot Accessories

I went on the hunt for accessories today and found this amazing skull mask in a second hand shop. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to buy it even though it was slightly faulty with some of the gems missing but this meant I got it for £10 which is a complete bargain. I felt this mask would work so well with my theme it also reminded me of Alexander McQueen, who's exhibition Savage beauty  I had just recently visited In London. The exhibition got me really inspired and excited to create dark and beautiful imagery with many of McQueens designs taking on a dark and surreal feel that were very unnerving. “I think there is beauty in everything. What ‘normal’ people would perceive as ugly, I can usually see something of beauty in it” - Alexander McQueen.

I plan to create a shoot based around this mask with the mask being the main focal point, I feel this could look so effective in an image and it also does not need much else to add to its beauty with it also being slightly unnerving. I plan to possibly replace the gems that are missing from the bottom of the mask but am not to bothered with them missing as I feel it adds character adding to the dark surreal feel. 

Edited images 'OBSCURITY'

As I already knew both sets of the images from the series 'Obscurity' were going to be edited I asked the photographer if she could do these straight away so they were done early. I had decided I wanted to have the first set of images from 'Obscurity' edited with the lips now a brighter shade of colour, I decided to go for a turquoise/blue shade and then the second set of images from the series to have a quite hot pink coloured lip. The decision to do this was because I wanted to lip to really pop in the images and I wanted to have two different lip shades for both final images to separate them a little more. The photographer Natasha was happy to do this as soon as possible as she said the things I wanted doing would not take long to do. Within a day she had edited the images and transferred them  back to me. I was pretty happy with the outcome of the editing as I am not sure I would have been able to do it that great myself but with me being a slight perfectionist I did notice a few glitches such as the lip colour not right to the edge and the nails not filled completely to the edge also, these were nothing major so I decided I would sit and finish these of myself knowing I would get the result I wanted I also edited the parts of the skin such as the strap line.

As an end result I am so happy with these images for my first shoot and I am even happier now the final post production has been added with no effects having to be put on the images to create the distorted and movement special effects. I hope the rest of my shoots and post production of images go as well as these have.

Before & After 

Before & After

Tutorial

In my latest tutorial with Sharon we talked through the development of my blog and how my time schedule was working out, I had started to fall behind on my schedule as I have had a few cancellation from photographers which has started to impact the rest of my planning and shoots. We discussed sourcing more accessories for the shoots with me explaining that I was finding it more challenging than expected. Her advice was to possibly start searching round second hand warehouses and looking around vintage shops especially within the winchester area and to just keep contacting creatives. I also showed Sharon the un edited images from my latest shoots 'Obscurity' and we talked through the post production that I intended to do. Sharon agreed that I should possibly add more colour to the lips and change the nails but that they were not a massive issues and to also just tidy up any marks on the skin such as the bra line. As we were discussing the images Jennifer came over to have a look at my images I had done, which ended in us talking more about the post production of them. Jennifer read through some of my post production ideas for the 'obscurity' images and suggested that I should possibly keep the tattoo in the image,  I was originally planning on getting rid of this as I was unsure if it went with the images style. She commented that she thought it added an element of mystery with the writing of the tattoo being in another language and also that the placement of the tattoo and the pose of the image made it work, Sharon also agreed with these comments. This did make more sense the more I looked at the image and I did agree that it added an element of mystery to the image. I decided after that it would be a good decision to keep the tattoo in the image and the more and more I looked at it the more it grew on me and added to the images effect.

After having the tutorial I felt a sense of relief, I came out feeling more relaxed about my work and confident in what I had created because I was worried about the images that I had done especially the second look of obscurity because it was quite wacky in the styling department with the balloons. It made me feel confident in my decisions I had made about post production which I then felt more happy about getting on with. I decided that this week I would also go hunting around vintage and second hand shops to see if I could find anymore items for my shoots as I had not really thought to do this before, and finally i needed to contact more printer companies for my book.

Continuing shoot evaluation 'OBSCURITY'

Following on from the previous post evaluating the final outcome of the series and images 'obscurity'.

I explained in my test shoots that I would build on the first image with the fabric over the face to create a second images with added effects and objects. This idea came from the advice and influence of Madame Peripetie and how she adds and builds up an image to create different looks in one shoot. 

The images below are again unedited versions,  I feel these images turnout really well and I am really happy with them. They are slightly different from the first set of images and have moved on in terms of design and styling. The effect created with the lighting and the camera effects has turnout so well its not overpowering but adds a dream like obscured effect that I feel makes it slightly unnerving also. along with the poses I got her to do. The added effects of the accessories and the ballon headdress i created made the image more challenging but interesting exploring this ideas of obscuring the face and mind.

I am really happy with the way these image have turnout, they are a lot better than I originally planned and expected. A lot like the previous images I do need to change some things in post production such as, the lip colour and nail colour. I have also realised I need to edit out the bra strap line that has imprinted on her skin from where I took some images with a Lacey bra on, and maybe just smooth the skin out slightly and remove the tattoo on my models back which you can see in the last image. Overall the images for the series 'obscurity' and the idea of creating a ballon headpiece worked really well in changing the idea up and making it very questionable and one of its own. 

Shoot Evaluation 'OBSCURITY'

'Obscurity' the series unedited and edited Final images 

Below are a few screen shoots and unedited versions of some of my final images from the series

Obscurity. When the shoot first started I felt very anxious it was my first shoot and I wanted it to go right. I had planned all the accessories and look to a tee but was unsure still on how the overall design would look and work on a camera with professional lighting. I took along a mood board to show the photographer, referencing the look and how I wanted close ups and black space to be achieved. I realised in the mood board that the images had different background colours but I already knew I wanted my images on a black backdrop.  By bringing along a mood board it helped both me and the photographer to relax and feel more confident about how to set up lighting and how to achieve the overall outcome. I also had some added images of poses on my iPad to show the model so I was not stuck on direction when it came to asking her to move and pose. 

The shoot I feel went really well we managed to get a mix of shots some normal and some incorporating the slow shutter speed effect which created this really amazing glow and slight distortion in some of the images with the netting and material obscuring and building on this effect. I manipulated the fabric on the face so it had bigger gaps and spaces and I felt this made the fabric more interesting to look at breaking apart its form and also freeing the mouth area so I could make the lips a focal point for make-up. 

After looking through the images properly I managed to narrow down a few of my favourites. At a closer look I was slightly disappointed with how the make up had come out with the lip barely showing up on camera, I had done the lip in a dark purple but on camera it looked very natural this was not a major issue as I knew I could brighten or darken this later on in post production. Another issue that came up within the shoot was my models nails I had planned to apply nails and have them black, but my model had only recently got her nails done this resulted in me having to shoot her with bright red nails which did not go with my initial idea, I decided I would later change these later in post production also.

Overall I am pleased with the result of the first images from the series 'obscurity' and am actually finding it really hard to narrow down which images out of the final ones I like best, as they are all slightly different in there own way making it hard to choose. In my opinion they have worked in looking unnervingly beautiful the next step is making the small changes needed in post production but I feel I will not have to alter much at all mainly just the lips and nails.

Moodboard images from my pintrest board

Trip to the printers

I decided after receiving an email back from Diguru to go in and visit them, along with dropping by one of the other printing shops I had contacted on the way as they were both near each other. Diguru at the minute seemed to be my first choice they were able to do everything I required, they advised I dropped in to see them as it would be easier for me to see the works that they produced and also have a chat and look at paper samples The guy I spoke to by email when visiting explained all they could do, he advised me that he could only give me a guide price because of the bespoke nature of my project. He talked me through paper samples, front cover options, and binding which was great as it allowed me to understand more about printing and binding in general.

As the meeting progressed I felt the man was very distracted and he was trying to talk me into an easy option of printing for there own benefit not mine, and I found it challenging explaining to him that I did not want certain elements he was telling me. I felt that even thought they could create a front cover I wanted with a fabric that I was causing them hassle by asking for it and they did not understand how important it was for me.

By the end of the visit I was not overly impressed by what I had been shown and had already decided that they were not the print company for me. I left hoping that the next printing company would be better suited for me as I was highly disappointed with Diguru being my favourite at first.

The next print company I visited was Kall Kwik in Eastleigh, On arrival the man was very pleasant and helpful. I explained my project to him and he disappointingly told me that they actually did not create books how I wanted as they were such a small business  but more printed and binded dissertations etc, he did advised me of other places I could try which was very helpful of him.

After visiting both printing shops I realised I had not had much success the only thing I had come away with was some paper samples. This meant I would have to keep searching for more print companies maybe even going further afield and pay more money for what I wanted. All in all it was a learning curve and made me realise that this search could be a lot harder than initially expected.

Practise shoot distortion and effects

These are some of the practise shoots I done at the beginning of the project with one of the photographers that would be collaborating with me for my project. I wanted to test using a slow shutter speed and long exposure, to capture images that were slightly distorted and had various movements within one image to see what effect I could create without using photoshop, it also allowed me to see how the photographer worked as I had never worked with her.

 This was an idea I felt needed to be tested before the shoot as I had no idea how or if it would work effectively I created a mood board with various images on that I showed to the photographer and we tried to see how many of these we could create purely with the camera effects and lighting so we knew when it came to actually shooting the final look what was achievable. It took a lot of time to work out how to get parts in focus and also how the lighting should be especially to capture images 3 and 4  experimenting also with materials such as netting, sheer fabrics and light and dark colours to see how this would work within the camera effects and if they would pick up. 

Issues discovered when doing this was the camera having a mind of its own the camera would not stay in focus on the face within parts of the shoot, and also with using slow shutter speed it was one of them things that could either work really well or not it was just about not giving up. I discovered that this shoot could either work or not work when coming to the final outcome but if it did not the photographer said she could always create this effect in photoshop if worse came to worse.

I am glad I practised this idea as it made me realise it is achievable without editing solution and it made me realise that I had to really plan it especially if I wanted to create it on a location as this could be harder to create without all the lighting. I plan to use this effect on my first shoot 'obscurity' and see how I could make it work with some of these images.

Mood board for the practise shoot

Tutorial

In preparation for my tutorial I tried to make sure I had everything I wanted to discuss written down and more of my developments on my blog done to show Sharon. There were a few things I wanted to go through with Sharon from the last tutorial we had along with discuss how these had progressed.

In the first tutorial I had with Sharon we discussed:

• Revising a new time schedule 
• How to respond professionally to photographers and models
• Finding the right model
• Starting to research print companies
• Test shooting 
• Contacting Keiron LeVine and other creatives
• Creating a to do list for the next week

After having the first tutorial I realised there were a lot of issues with my original production schedule, I had planned to do about 3 shoots a week, this was far to ambitious and I did  not need to do that many shoots. I discovered I was trying to cram so much into a short amount of time instead of rationalising so having a talk with Sharon about this made me see that the first thing I had to do when I went away was to re do the production schedule.  I did this and it made me feel a lot happier and the work load seem more achievable for the next couple of week. I went away and also continued with what we had discussed resulting in me contacting print companies and and responding to the models and photographers that had contacted me along with the other tasks helping me to get started on the planning and organisation of my shoots. After discussing what I planned to do the week before we looked at what I had achieved which was a good result and then looked at my plan for the week commencing. 

This week I planned to start shooting along with the planning and creating ideas for my other shoots. I needed to plan a visit to the printing companies that I had been speaking with, the first being Diguru in order to understand what is possible and at what cost and make myself more knowledgeable on whats achievable for my book. I also discussed with Sharon that I needed to look further into sourcing some more accessories for shoots and start to think about the styling element and wether I want help with this or If I planned to do this myself. As I previously mentioned, I aim to start shooting my first two images this week from the series 'obscurity' getting two shoots done in one. 

Book companies

Below are some of the book companies I have researched and looked into to get my book printed. I have spent endless amounts of time researching and looking for book companies that could print what I wanted. After narrowing it down to 8 book companies which were found either online and also recommended by friends I started to email them all. 

I starting emailing the companies that were closest to Southampton as this would make it easier to get to if any issues occurred in the long run, with my favourite and recommended print company being Diguru. I sent the same email to most of the print companies, the email I sent was just a rough guide of what I wanted to be made just so I could get a quote and see if this could be achieved. After emailing the different print companies I had to wait and see who responded and I was hoping they would get back to me quickly so I could start to plan my final book design and start figuring ideas for layout and design elements. The next step after this would be to go and visit the two print companies I like best.

Print companies 

Diguru.com

Kall Kwik

1st byte 

Ivor solutions

Freestyle print

Ensignpress
Fineprint

Emailing about wearable art pieces

After discussions both with Sharon and Madame Peripetie about accessories and wearable art pieces I decided it would be a good idea to start contacting people. The first person I decided to contact was Keiron LeVine I had used some of his accessories before and knew he would have some really individual and amazing pieces that could work well with my shoot ideas. I emailed him and asked if he possibly had any new pieces he was working on that would possibly fit to my theme that I could use, below is the email I sent to him along with some images of his wearable art works that I took from before. The next step is to wait for him to reply and hope that I get a response soon.

Hi Keiron, 

I am currently in my third year at Southampton Solent university, studying make-up and hair design. I am currently doing my final major project, which is based on dark surrealism, focussing on the in-between world of dream and reality. I wanted to know if you had any new pieces of wearable art works? or work that I could possibly borrow, to shoot and use for my final
Major project? I have used your work before, when you visited for our tribal project in my second year, and I would love the opportunity to work with you, and use your work again if possible. 

It would be great to here back from you. 

Thank you  

Lily Mills 

Along with messaging Keiron a photographer that got in touch with me about photographing some of my work, I saw made headpieces and jewellery. I quite liked the look of some of the images I saw of the headwear she has made so asked If I could possibly use one of the headpieces for one of my shoots if she photographed this. She responded very quickly and said I could defiantly use one of her headpieces and that she would be happy to also photograph my images. This was a great response and allowed me to start thinking about possible shoot ideas with some of her accessories. 

Below are some of the pieces she has made.

Image and headpiece by Ola Adegoroye

Image and headpiece by Ola Adegoroye

Design testing 'OBSCURITY'

I have tested some more looks for the development of the series 'Obscurity' I have kept the tights which I really like the appearance of on camera especially when manipulated for this second look I feel it ties it up better and the effect works really well. I blew up a few balloons I had and experimented with building a structure with these inside the tights on top of my head. This created a really weird structure and look that I really liked, building on the original idea and linking them together. It was hard to place the balloons inside the tights but they stayed really well and I feel looked really effective as an overall design and could look really intriguing for an outcome. 

The one thing I had to consider in the final design was the colour of balloons and also the make up for this look, which I had planned to keep very natural with a possible bright lip colour as the focal point for the look not taking to much attention away from the rest of the styling. I also added black flowers around the top of the head as It needed something else to sit on the head and I feel it added to the overall look. 

I plan to go ahead with this look and just practise a little more before the shoot and really decide what colours could work well and how many and what size balloons I could use in the final look, along with making a decision on whether I would have these images as just head shoots or have some of the body in the look also and how I would pose this design to really look effective on camera.

Design testing for 'OBSCURITY'

The focus of the image, along with the make-up and hair design for the look 'obscurity' is of suggestion of being unknown, possibly trapped, unnerving, and surreal. I have decided to experiment the look on myself to see how comfortable it is and how it could work in terms of photographing and applying make-up and hair design to the look. 

Another reason I wanted to trial this look was so I could decide if I wanted to use make-up to actually create the trapped line like effect on the face or wether this would work better with a material. 

I decided that I really liked the effect of the fishnet tights on the face and I liked how I could also manipulate these by making the holes bigger and stretching the fabric in different ways to sit differently on the face and head. I liked how I had no make-up on at all so you could really just focus on the detail of the material across the head, face and neck. 

This look has developed since my previous post on the design aspects of 'obscurity'. I placed many materials on the face but found that the tights worked best for what I wanted to achieve both for this look and the second look I planned to create. I have decided since starting the development of obscurity that this could work well as a series. 

I plan to start the look more simple and focussed and then change it building on the original idea changing the look into something more extravagant and unfamiliar. This idea has come from Madame Peripetie where she advised me that in one shoot I could actually create various images just by changing certain elements and adding different accessories and objects. The main concern I have with the look is the fact that I do not know what to do with the hair, I trailed the look with the hair down and thought about possibly having it wet look across the neck and chest, but after looking at the images further decided that I think I would prefer the hair out of the picture and the concentration to be purely on the face and the texture of the material along with the lighting and effects. The look could almost look 3D and distorted the face.

Revised time schedule

After having my first tutorial with Sharon, we decided that I needed to go away and revise a new time schedule for my project. Within this time schedule I needed to be more realistic on what I was doing, what I aimed to achieve, and when I was going to do it. This was to help me in the long run so I could really keep on track of everything, and know a brief outline of what I aimed to achieve each week. As I was worrying about work Sharon also told me to write on my schedule when I would be working at my job and how many hours, so that we knew how to schedule and work around my day of work that happened to be smack bang in the middle of the week. I really hope to stick to this revised time schedule as I feel it is a lot more realistic than my previous schedule in my proposal and will help me really stay on top of planning and my project.

Madame Peripetie

One to One with Madame Peripetie 

Booking and having a one to one meeting with Madame Peripetie was very helpful and insightful, and a great start to helping me develop my project with understanding from a current and relevant industry expert.

I was able to talk and show Madame Peripetie my ideas for my project and gather feedback on my concepts and what I wanted to achieve, along with talking through and exploring its relevance to industry now. This was a very helpful one to one session, as Madame Peripetie is an industry expert who is current and trending, with the new release of her book 'dream sequence' which embodies strange, surreal, and though provoking images, that explore similar attributes to what I am looking to achieve. The discussions that took place allowed me to see that what I aim to accomplish still has industry relevance, this got me to understand that even though surrealism has been around for centuries, it still plays a huge part in society, and is now explored in many art forms along with being seen in everyday amenities. 

After discussing my project and my aims with Madame peripetie, she gave me some noteworthy feedback, she explained that she thought I was aiming to create to many images and that I should cut down my image quantity, possibly creating no more that 10 images, where as originally I planned to do 20, She told me to concentrate more on the quality of the image and less on the quantity. we discussed exploring and finding accessories and contacting possible designers such as students from London college of fashion or central saint martins, as they could possibly provide me with intriguing headdresses and jewellery from there final collections or past collections that could make my images really stand out. She told me also just to experiment wether this be with materials or lighting and really make it my own and what I would like to see, and always stay in control of the project. 

With this feedback I feel I now know how to achieve and make my project even stronger, I now no longer feel as worried about exploring outside my comfort zone, and going with my gut instinct of what I want to create and embody in this project and its final outcome. 

Below are some of the images from Madame Peripetie's latest book named 'Dream sequence' the book contains a series of portraits of imaginary characters, whose features are replaced by flowers or other objects while their bodies are covered with bizarre garments and colours. 

'OBSCURITY'

'Obscurity'

- The state of being unknown, inconspicuous.

- The quality of being difficult to understand.

- A thing that is unclear or difficult to understand.

Obscurity is state of unknown in which we can manipulate are imagination to understand what we see whichever way we wish. Obscurity explores the the beginning of the subconscious mind and the beginning of the dream like state of mind.

I have decided to create a chapter based on obscurity as it is a great element of unknown which relates to surrealism as a subject with objects and images possibly being unknown to the viewer or hard to understand. This chapter will be in the form of landscape images as I want some of the images to have an exposed and blurred effect. As well as having this effect I want to capture a lot of dark space and movement behind the image making them quite dark, making the face the main aspect within the image with fabric or material over the face and body to create an out of control and unusual feel.

Before I do this shoot I need to to some design testing and see what fabrics and materials could work well along with what picks up on camera and photographs best. I already have a strong idea of the look I want to achieve with different aspects being added to create a really creative and distinctive design, that could allow me to explore many different elements of design and push my creative ability creating something that could be beautiful, dark and inquisitive. 

Artist Flora Borsi is a strong influence in the design element of 'obscurity' she creates imagery that uses exquisite photo manipulation creating surreal images that are thematically focused on identity, relationships, emotions and dreams. I found her work through behance and really loved looking at all the different aspects and materials she applied to make an image so unusual but pleasing to view. Flora Borsi describes her work and what she does; 'The editor software is just a tool to complete my pictures, I want to make an image, which looks like a real, unedited photo. I would like to shock people or make them smile with some society critics. My goal is to inspire the viewer to think, to feel what I felt.' This is a perfect statement that concludes how I would like a viewer to interpretate my images.

http://www.floraborsi.com/191724/gallery

https://www.behance.net/yayuniversal

Responses to call out photographers/models

The first step I have taken is getting organised, I posted on various Facebook pages within the solent networks, along with posting to Facebook pages such as, London models and photographers, this was to be seen and create a call out for photographers and models to help with my final major project and production. Below is the message I posted on to the various Facebook pages where I wrote both a short paragraph explaining what I wanted and needed and also where I attached a mood-board so anyone viewing it could really see what I aimed to go forward and create keeping it short and friendly.

Hi, I am a third year make up and hair design student, and I am looking for

**** photographers and models **** 

to collaborate with for my FMP. I am doing a project based on dark surrealism, creating imagery focussing on the subconscious mind, and the in-between stages of dream and reality. I want to create images with distortion and multiple effects, shooting on location and in studio. Any photographers or models that would be interested in collaborating, would be amazing, and a massive help.
Contact me if your interested and we can talk further. I can send you mood boards/imagery and ideas wanting to be created.
It would be great to work and collaborate with other creatives.

Thank you 

Lily x

Mood board posted alongside post on Facebook

I wanted to post on to Facebook as I felt this was an easier way to communicate and contact other creatives posting on many different pages, that I have joined over the years to gather as many responses and interest as possible. The response to my call out was very over whelming with lots of responses coming in, within the first 5 minutes. I was not expecting as many responses as I got and felt slightly overwhelmed with knowing where to start, and also what to say back. Going through all the emails along with tags on posts, I messaged everyone back that had messaged me, and commented, both models and photographers, and asked those who had not sent there work links or images to do so, this was so I could make a firm decision on who to use. 

After the responses I decided I would rather use other creatives at the university, as this would be easier and It means building a strong relationship with fellow piers and helping each other out. I started to write a list of people who had responded down so I knew who I would like to use both models and photographers and the next step was to contact them in a professional manor and start arranging dates and times.

The beginning of a surreal journey...

The project 

Lucien Freud once said; “The pictures that stayed in his head were the things that disturbed him- things that were soothing had much less quality”. (Gowing, 1988, p13)

The book will provoke wonder, hopefully pushing the viewer, outside a normal comfort zone, exploring, imagining, dreaming possibilities, and manipulating the imagination. Convulsive beauty, dark fantasy, and darker surreal fashion imagery, will be the main aspects, within the books imagery, along with added effects of image distortion and manipulation. The book will be broken up into 3 different chapters, that showcase different elements, of the darker side of surrealism, with images, that will not all be ecstatically pleasing or beautiful. The chapters are yet, unknown, as the development of the images comes, the chapters, will form more of a structured place, and flow. The images placed in the book, will be displayed, along with one simple empowering word, or a quote/caption, reflecting the imagery placed with it. This will help the viewer, to possibly understand, and conduct an emotional response, but still allow the viewer, to explore their own opinion and emotion.

Feedback from final major project proposal

A comprehensive introduction that explains surrealism with both historical and contemporary points. Be mindful of how you phrase things, for example: "pushing the viewer outside their comfort zone"- you can make work with the intension of doing this but this is subjective, so only the viewer can say wether they have been pushed outside their comfort zone, this may seem like a small point but questioning things like this yourself, and indeed how you imagine you will do it is at the very heart of you inquiry. The price seems very low, for an object/book that could be more limited edition or a one off piece - since the project us not overtly commercial this approach may be worth considering. It would be useful to develop a more detailed reader profile - what you have here is very general. Excellent range of visual research that conveys very clearly the aesthetic direction you wish to pursue. The imagery has a gothic slant, I would recommend that you research the gothic movement further as this might help you in developing the imagery for your project. I would urge you to speed u p your production schedule and shoot earlier if possible.

Agreed grade: B1

What I am going to do next...

After receiving my feedback I knew that I needed to revise my time plan and schedule, and start to plan out shoots and also do some practise shoots. Along with doing all of this I needed to request paper samples and discuss with book companies the process and needs of what I want my book to look like, start contacting people for accessories such as headwear and clothing to give my shoots that unique dark twist.