Saturday, May 5, 2012

Production Project 2: Fashion Documentary Ideas

Here are some ideas that I have brainstormed for my fashion documentary, ranging from thoughts on subject to angle to production medium: 

1. Character

One key point that I picked up from both the documentaries I watched was the intense sense of character each of them possessed. Both Bill Cunningham and Anna Wintour posses unique idiosyncracies and eccentic personalities that proved extremely captivating for the viewer, and I think it would be prudent to find a subject that is just as enthralling for my fashion documentary. I have not met any of the workers at The Social Studio, but I think that given their past experiences as refugees many of them will have extremely interesting stories to tell. I think the best angle to go for here would be to find one or two subjects within the Studio that are willing to participate and help them tell their story to the best of their ability. I am excited at the prospect of doing this, because I feel that the workers there would prove to be extremely interesting subjects for a number of reasons. First of all, they each come from a different culture and way of living, and it would be intriguing to document their transition to life in Australia, and how they’ve brought their customs here with them. Also, the conflict and struggle involved in fleeing one’s own home country references emotions and feelings that are both compelling and tug on one’s heart strings, captivating the viewer and eliciting a sense of humanity and care from within them. I think that through focusing on a sense of character and a personal story I could create a documentary that is not only about fashion but also about one person’s story of struggle and inspiration behind it.


2. Street Style

I would love to inject the theme of street style into my documentary. In Bill Cunningham New York, the subject notes that “the best fashion show is definitely on the street. Always has been, always will be.” I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. To me fashion is the style that emerges on the street, what happens when ordinary people go about their daily business in fascinating ways. Having travelled quite a bit and lived overseas for the past couple of years I have come to notice just what a unique sense of style Melbourne has. I was often reminded of this when I first returned home this summer at places like the Victoria Night Market or various music festivals, where the more eclectic crowd would come out and I’d be delighted by the girls wearing long, flowing sheer skirts that were cropped in the front, or most recently long woolen cardigans cinched at the waist with a belt and worn as a dress. Melbournians sure do know how to dress, and they never fail to inspire me with their creativity. I know that the original subject for the documentary was The Social Studio, but amidst some recent talk that the subject may change I think Street Style is a great potential theme that I would love to explore.

3. Fashion Pin Board

From my understanding the creation of our documentaries are not only limited to the medium of film, but can be created using whatever medium we see fit (within reason). I am drawn to the idea of creating a documentary using a virtual online, a social space. My recent interest and focus on social media in my degree has got me thinking about the different ways I could document a subject and house it online somewhere where people can interact and play with it. Recently I have begun using Pinterest, a content sharing service that allows members to “pin” images, videos and other objects onto their pinboard and also includes social networking features allowing users to easily share them with each other. 
It might be an interesting idea to create a pinboard for my documentary of The Social Studio and pin different mediums such as photos and video and text onto it to create a diverse user experience. The creation of a ‘pin’board for a fashion documentary is ironically appropriate.

No comments:

Post a Comment