Final Image edited!

Photoshop meeting - Preparing to edit final image!

Presentation 1 PHOTOSHOP

Alice Dress ordered.

This is the dress chosen for our model which everyone in the group was happy about as initially this is the short/ruffle type they were looking for.

I think this will work well due to the glamourous detail at the top which will be the main focus of Alice when kneeling towards the hole and the shortness is perfect as it will not get in the way of her position when crouched down. 

Final Casting - Chosen Alice

Perfect model to represent and play Alice!

Alice

Book by Anna Gaskell. 

Alice in wonderland.

I see the lose of innocence and the fight that girls go through to compete with one another to meet society's standards. 

This series by Anna Gaskell is so incredibly inspiring. It's the artist's own play on the Alice and Wonderland story, and makes a series of simply stunning photographs. I love how her work is beautiful in a distinctly feminine sort of way, yet definitely goes past being just a beautiful picture. I see her work dealing with a loss of innocence, questions of sexuality, youth, beauty, and most importantly narrative. 

Comparing+Presenting Alice

Presentation 1 Presenting Alice Blog

Meaning of Alice's character with her dress

The dress plays a huge part in the image as it resembles the models character and glamour. It will match the scene and setting as well as the models personality and face.
This is a beautiful dress by Amanda Wakely (Grey) which my father brought for me as my prom dress, I still have the item and I think for the 'forest' set that we are going to create this dress would look magnificent.
However, comparing this to a huge feather dress in the image below (Blue) - you get to see how they both portray different meanings.

This number represents sleek beauty with a detailed upper part of the dress which will be brilliant to focus on when the model meals down to reach out into the hole. - To see what this will actually look like, my group will do test shots of me wearing my dress and how it will fall into place when at the scene. 

A dress like above will be researched into - where to buy it from? Can a Fashions student make it for us?

As our model will be placed like the one above, we were considering having this dress in that reason. It would be amazing to see the dress laid out around her body - and the fact that such a small person has got on a huge over flowing dress will give that feeling of Alice growing up too fast. 

Mirror prop - Alice Gaze

Alice 3D Model

In todays tutorial my group and I showed our 'Alice Model' to sam which Michelle made for us!

This was amazing to see as it was like a miniature version of what our real life life set would look like.

It was also interesting to see and discuss if will go according to plan and looking at health and safety issues. 

Here are a few images of the making of our model

Lighting+Forest set

Using Leona Lewis - Run video as a reference and inspiration for set and lighting 
- we decided to make our image in the set of a 'Forest' (As we are portraying the dark side) instead of the original Alice set (sunny park). 

This is the sort of 'beaming light' we want coming in towards Alice and in style of Crewdson's image below

From looking at Crewdson's series of 'Beneath the Roses'

I came across his images in the Forest which is what we are trying to do in terms of the set

Props - for the hole

Estimate of image- width of hole

My group and I wanted to see how the re-creation of 'Boy with hand in drain' would actually look like - and also get an estimate width of the hole where all the props will be in.

This was good to see how the model will also be placed and how her position will effect how much of the dress we will actually see.

Change of Alice Idea - Development

After our tutorial - we realised how complicated our production will be if continued with the alice fall image as it will be too hard to build a set like that considering our budget of £200.

After looking at Gregory Crewdson's image - Boy with hand in drain

We came to an conclusion that this is what we should have out set similar to - in regards to Alice (nearly) falling into the hole. This now has meaning, ambiguity and sense of uniqueness compared to our original idea. I can now say I am looking forward to creating something in the style of Crewdson, whose work I very much admire as it shows dreams as our possible reality.

Alice - surface sketch!

By analysing the new sketch, we want to get an estimate of the width of the hole for the image and possible lighting coming underneath the surface up towards alice.

I have viewed the images in the 'Twilight' series last year but I wanted to have a look again to get another feel of them as I will be now creating my Alice in wonderland image in the style of one of the images in this book. 

-Crewdson wants his photographs to become one world upon its self

-mechanics of cinema, 60 people, actress's, makeup artists.
-very cinematic, highly composed making then unique
-2-3 days of preparation to shooting
-1 hour of shooting period always refining through this time
-collages in photoshop the different frames, taking the perfect parts of each image to create a perfect image.
-creating uncanny moments
-Twilight was the first shoot where Gregory Crewdson used cinematic lighting.
-tells story through light and colour.
-interested in the dark side and the psychotic

-What exists beneath the surface is exploded in his Twilight Images. 

-over 100 lights working on this picture

-wetting the road creates a shinny surface for the light to reflect off of.-wanted to feel conected to the private moment for the woman in the car.-builds a picture around his location.

Gregory Crewdson - Art in Progress

''If you could freeze a moment in your dream and really look at it in every detail and every aspect of it, you will be in of Crewdsons images'' - This has inspired me to create set builds of what I dream about

Crewdson's earliest work was in 1988 - Spittfields America (Peoples houses/neighbours)

His father was a Psychoanalyst and in Crewdsons teenagehood there was a moment where he used to listen in through the floorboards as his father worked with his patients. - Classic Psychoanalytical father moment.

Crewdson used to attempt, never really heard anything but listen to whats going on beneath the surface.

I feel as if Crewdson imagines that was him as a young boy in the image above - boy with hand in drain (2001) 

Watching this documentary I finally got to see how Crewdson creates his images and where his ideas generate from. He stated that he finds ideas and locations whilst driving around for days. 

''When you see something that feels right and respond to Architecture and setting thats important''

His work comes from what he sees as American Sensibility tradition for instance - paintings of Edward Hopper. 

*Similar emptiness and theme (Ordinary life)

*Crewdson wants to capture emptiness (timeless) and aimless in his images like how Spittsfield is. 

Crewdson stated for him first and for most is to make a beautiful picture but if its just purely ecstatic experience, its not good enough. That meaning needs to be undercut to something psychological or dangerous or desirous/fearful. Ultimately I want it all to become one world in itself. 

- He uses Light to establish a world and tell a story!

Casting - Possible Alice?