Post internship and feedback session

Today I had my weekly feedback lesson with Clementine and updated her on my week at the agency. We discussed the week and what I had learnt from working at Leni's for the second time. I showed Clementine the comp cards and advertisements I had picked up from the agency and we discussed the layouts etc. With consideration to the content page of my magazine, One of the fashion week comp cards from Fashion week inspired me as it has a similar layout to what I have sketched in the past on a previous blog entry:

Obviously the girls from "Mae's" haven't walked in any shows but the thumb nail layout of this card intrigues me and would be good for my contents page.

Other feedback from today's session was:

- I need to make sure I am getting the body measurements of the models whilst on shoot so I can document them in each model's feature within the magazine.

- I need to start focusing on written content for the magazine as well as the images I am currently most focussed on. I need to start recording interviews with people when I collaborate and then turn them into interviews also for the magazine.

I am Also planning mood boards and adding more inspiration to my Pinterest account to prepare for my shoot on Thursday. The model I will be using is Giovanna Balivo. She is quite short but appears taller than she is as her legs are longer than her torsoe which are good proportions for a more petite model to have. I am confident that the shoot will go well. Here is a link to my Pinterest board:

http://pinterest.com/chelseymae21/fmp-inspiration/

Here is a shot of Giovanna, the shot isn't very strong but I feel she has alot of potential:

In the image above, Giovanna is the girl on the right. I really like the length of her hair and will use it both curly and straight within the shoot on Thursday.

Hannah Farrell is shooting the looks for me. I am confident working with Hannah as we both understand each other's direction whilst shooting and work well in a team together. 

Tomorrow I am going to get a few things for the styling element of the shoot and to cater for the different looks.

For the full length shots I want to style Giovanna in simple tight clothing. Possibly high waisted leggings etc. I think I will also buy different pairs of sunglasses for the beauty shots.

I have a really good feeling about Thursdays shoot and am looking forward to seeing the images.

research and interning

The past week was spent interning at Leni's Model Management. I have interned there before and this was my second week working amongst the team. The week started with me working alongside Laure, she gave me a list of tasks for the week. These included running the agency's Instagram page for the week and updating it twice a day with regular posts, updating their pinterest account with images of their models from fashion week and re doing the head shot walls. 

Re doing the head shot walls really intruiged me as I have been wondering wether to have the main head shots of my models in colour or black and white. Laure at Leni's wanted to change the wall from black and white headshots to all colour. This has made me think that there isn't a boundary as to having to have a specific scheme for the head shots, they can be colour or black and white. 






Whilst working at leni's I picked up some examples of their current printed advertisements for the agency.

This is a selection of cards I photographed. They consist of comp cards of different sizes, a card to advertise and promote the agency within fashion week and a card sent out at new year wishing clients a happy new year. These are strong examples of published work within an agency. I feel my magazine will possess all of these qualities within one publication which gives it a high advantage within the industry. 

Also whilst at the agency I was asked to take Polaroid shots of the new models and models applying to be with the agency. The set up for the shots was simple, a white back ground and two beauty lights within the office. I found that by doing this on a regular basis and with some guidance from Eleni I was able to understand the different poses needed to gain a successful selection of Polaroids  This will help me tremendously with my shoots!

Keeping Polaroids in mind, I want to add them to each model's feature. I think this will show a really good variation between editorial shoots and natural effortless shots. I have always found it fascinating to see how the model looks naturally compared to her appearance in shoots and I think it will be excellent to have that comparison within my magazine.

Logos and Layouts

As 'Mae's' is a new brand starting out, I need to actually start branding it. I have been in contact recently with a graphic design student at Solent, Joeseph Parker. He has agreed to give a helping hand with coming up with the logo for 'Mae's'. He has played around with some initial ideas and sent me over a sample he feels is the best and most relevant.

The middle logo is my favourite. I love how the letters are blended together. The type face is Didot, the same font as Vogue Magazine. I am hoping that this won't be an issue however as I do feel it is a very strong font for the fashion industry which is the market I am aiming the magazine towards. I am really happy with the initial designs that joe has come up with for me however I have asked him to change the word 'fashion' to 'Management'.I am glad that the logos are finally under way and am confident that they will be a strong label and representation of 'Mae's'. 

In preparation of the magazine, I have been rough sketching out some new ideas for the page layouts etc. The drawing below represents the first double page of the magazine. It will be the contents page for the models. The reader will open up the magazine and be able to browse over the image thumbnails of which model profile they wish to view. The number in the corner of each thumb nail will be the page number for that particular profile.

I am confident that this is a definite design for the first double page spread in my magazine. It has also helped me decide on the number of girls I want within my agency, eighteen. 

I have been thinking about other elements of the magazine layout also, and would like to add a personalised creative element to exude 'Mae's' personality as an agency. Graphics like this really catch my eye:

I want to make 2-4 page spreads consisting of editorials of the models and have graphics similar to the image above around them. Although the agency fits in with the typical model agency criteria by having edgy and original graphics like these it will portray it's own personality. It will be a different take on showcasing models within a new confident agency. 

I need to look further into layouts and graphics inspirations so I am more confident with placing each layout to each model. I also need to devise a solid ethos for 'Mae's Management' which will reflect the agency's aims, morals and objectives in the fashion industry.

Further scouting and shoot development

Last thursday I shot another model for my agency, Frances Kenyon. For the shoot I collaborated with Suzan Kerlo, an aspiring nail artist and fellow student. 

Since the shoot I have been editing and retouching the images and have come across a couple of set backs. I don't feel like the images are strong enough for the agency. Fran was lovely to work with however it was hard to get the facial expression needed from her in the natural shots. I really needed some naturally confident and beautiful shots of her for her profile but it was a real struggle to get this. This made the selection process at the end difficult for me and I now feel I need to re shoot her to get the level of professionalism I require. An example of a shot I am unhappy with is:

This image is completely un retouched but the facial expression present in this image was present in a large number of others. In person Fran looked really good but on camera alot of the shots looked like she was frowning and didn't have very relaxed facial expressions. 

Another negative point I came across was difficulties with collaboration. I needed good natural shots from the shoot and the nail artist needed hand shots. However I feel I should have given more of my own input whilst shooting as a lot of shots ended up with hands in the the way of the neck etc, a key feature I need to portray as part of a model's profile. An example of this is:

By having the nails as an extra element in the shoot I feel the shots became too posed and didn't fit in with the criteria and brief I had planned. 
Although I have quite alot of negative feedback to say about the shoot I am happy with a couple of images and have retouched them slightly. They could possibly still be used in Fran's profile for the magazine but I think I need to seek further assistance in photoshop for perfecting the skin etc. I am hoping that with some more retouching the images will be usable.

Here are the images I have retouched so far, I will keep them on file until I can get extra help with them and have shot Fran again:

I think these images still have strong potential and when put with the shots from the next shoot with Fran I think they will flow well together.

The next shoot with Fran isn't scheduled yet but I have been getting a few ideas together on Pinterest for inspirational imagery that is assisting me with the brief development.

http://pinterest.com/chelseymae21/fmp-inspiration/ 

Key words and phrases for this shoot will be:
- Glowing skin
-Over highlighted
- Skin oils
- pale complexion
- Glossy
-Bold perfect lip
- Black and white (possibly).

Progress and model #2- Frances Kenyon

In the past week I have been retouching the images of Alexa's shoots and planning future shoots also. On Friday I collaborated with photographer Zoe Rollings for one of her final major project shoots. The shoot was roller disco themed and featured two models. One of which being Rachael Heather. After talking for a while she spoke about how she isn't agency signed and is looking to extend her portfolio, so I recruited her to Mae's and she has agreed to shoot with me in the next couple of weeks. Here is a quick shot of Rachael from Friday's shoot and a couple of the final images:

Also, Whilst on my Estee Lauder training last week I managed to recruit another model named Gemma. Gemma is a part time estee lauder employee and I will be shooting with her in the near future.

Frances Kenyon
The second Model I will be featuring as part of Mae's Management and as part of Mae magazine will be Frances kenyon. I am planning on shooting Fran this thursday and will also be collaborating with Suzan Kerlo. Suzan is basing her final major project on nail art and will be doing Fran's nails for the shoot.

The shoot will be inspired by Rankin and also a past graduate student named Lara Himpelmann. This is a moodboard of the main inspirational images:

The top shot of the artist Robin is By Rankin. I love the colour build up and development in this shot and really want to take that on board when shooting with Fran. The three shots below are by Lara Himpelmann, a former student at Solent university. I really love how she improvises with craft materials such as the mosaic tiles on the neck of her model. I have bought some of the tiles for my shoot on fran to try and re invent the look and mix it with Rankin's image also.

I really feel fran;s face and facial features will tie in well with the look as she has quite a pixie looking face and bleached hair and eyebrows. This look differs from other models in Mae's and shows a good variety between the models. 

As well as this look I will be shooting beauty shots and full length shots of Fran for her model profile. After asking Clementine's advice on the shoot she gave me the following highly relevant points to consider:

-Do the beauty shots first (natural) and find her good side for them. Every model has a good side so it is good to find out which angle is best at the start of the shoot.

-When shooting the full length look, style her in leggings and a bandeau top or have her topless (discreetly of course). 

-Shoot from a low angle to make Fran appear taller than she actually is for her profile.

I found this feedback really useful and it made me more excited for the shoot.

Shooting and selecting...

Monday 4th February

In the past week I have been considering the following things for my agency and have tracked the following progress:



Clementine suggested that I highly consider shooting some beauty looks on Alexa because models require close up head shots aswell as full length body shots to portray some variety in their profiles. I then went on to plan my beauty shoots. I searched the internet for some inspiration and found images by other artists that really helped inspire me.

I planned to conduct a beauty shoot that featured highly accessorised hands and wrists with jewellery. I also loved the idea of using the hands as props within the shoot like the picture above.
My final ideas for Alexa's beauty shoot were two looks:
1- I wanted to create three shots of Alexa and have all three shots with the same hair but with slightly different facial expressions and a different lip colour in each photo. I then plan to edit the photos into one image and have them as a set of three images in a row. I am yet to fit the three images together but this is my favourite shot of the basic beauty look with pink lips:

2- I wanted to add a second look to the shoot by over accessorizing Alexa's hands and using them to frame her face in different ways. My favourite two images from this look were:

I feel like these images were the strongest for the final look. Alexa's bone structure and composition are really captured well and these images will be seriously considered for her model profile.

- Layouts and logos
 On thursday 31st of Jan I attended my quarterly traning for Estee Lauder. We were given a book of the latest trends and products that were due to be released for the company. I immediately fell in love with the quality and finish of the book and will definitely use something similar but with a smaller page count. The Estee Lauder book has strong glossy pages cover and also a spine. This design will prove effective as it shows an established presentation of the agency. That the agency is a strong high fashion brand with an image to reflect that within the magazine.

I have also been considering page layouts for the magazine and have found a few examples of ways I would like to present the models. 

For a double page spread to showcase a model, possibly my 'model of the month' feature I really like this layout:

I love the bold border around the images and think this layout is a really quirky and creative way to show a model and portray their personality. Personality of a model is something I really want to portray as part of the agency's image and ethos.

Other layouts I liked for the magazine are:

I think this would be the perfect layout for an interview with a model and could feature facts about the model. eg, favourite snack, designer, place to go out in london etc. I want the magazine to delve into little important details so the reader can really get an inside view of the model and what the agency is about.

I am happy with the shoots completed this week however I wish I had added a little more variety to Alexa's beauty shoot as I had hoped to use head scarves. I am planning another shoot for Thursday 7th and will consider all these faults and use them to create better images.

Testing and tweaking...

Since last week I have been retouching the shots of Alexa from Thursday's shoot. On Monday I presented all the images to Clementine in my feedback session to see which ones she thought suited a model profile for "Mae's" the best. These are the images Clementine felt best suited the brand:

All three images suit a model profile well as they show off Alexa's body shape and features. 

Useful feedback from Monday's session was to keep in mind the following points when shooting:

Consider closer beauty shots. I am planning to shoot beauty looks on Tuesday 29th Jan.