For our first year film, namely ‘Renegade’.
design
My Room Madness
Film Styling, Costume Design, Makeup Design, Production Photography: First Class
Year Learning Objective: “To introduce a basic understanding of the effective process through the styling design of fictional character dress that aims to be affective for an identified target film viewing market.”
Workshop Learning Objective: “The workshop is focused on the introduction of concepts paramount in understanding the aim and process of a CMSP designer to effectively affect a target viewing audience.”
Otherwise known as CMSP (Costume, Makeup, Styling, Photography), this class is not as ‘easy’ as it’s stereotype. It demands a large amount of concentration and terrific listening skills. I rate this is because it requires so much psychological research into a character/(s).
I admire the way Mr Ivy teaches because it actually makes you think and self-reflect. This workshop revealed how easy it is for us to be psychologically manipulated. It happens daily, all around us. In other words, “…If someone manipulates your thoughts and emotions, messing with your head, you naturally feel resentment: he or she has distorted your perceptions, disturbed your feelings, maybe even usurped your self” (McGinn, 2008:1).
Research into the styling of a character is so absolutely imperative in order for them to be relevant in the story and believable by the audience. One doesn’t understand this fully until they actually have to research a character and link their psychology (value systems, personality) to create emotional relevance for the script/story.
I must admit, sometimes I struggle to understand all the different concepts presented in class, but after time I begin to understand them as they all revolve and work together.
Yesterday’s Trip To The Prop Shop
The realness of the student struggle (and my curiosity) led me to the prop shop, where you are able to rent props for a fee. It’s amazing to see typical, everyday items now dubbed as props.
The burgundy material (on top of pile) will prevent paint missions and help save financially.
Wine glass for that grape juice.
Beautiful.It was like shopping for a house.
Ignore the transparent beauty. I just didn’t want to fiddle.
Production Design: First Class
Production Design really interests me in the sense that you can decipher A LOT from the aesthetics of a film.
I learnt that everything (everything) placed on a set has to have meaning. (Isn’t that the purpose of film anyway? Man’s unending search for meaning). Everything placed in a scene has to have some form of a purpose that is not solely for practicality reasons.
I learnt more about the ‘hierarchy’ of jobs within the film industry currently, and I definitely agree with Miss E that it should rather be a group effort – a collaboration of rich ideas and new perspectives from every crew member in the team. It reminded me about the mini experiment in a Production Course lecture: two groups of people had to be creative with plastic white cups. The one group, led by a single leader, produced a simple and straight-forward cup tower. The other group, with input from everyone, produced a very artistic cup tower. Enough said.
The assignments for Production Design seem creatively challenging, which I love. The one that seems the most challenging to me is the ‘Reinvention of a Fairytale’ assignment. I think it will become ‘easier’ once I actually have an idea of what modern day societal issue I want to confront.
Upon being reminded of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, I learnt that this is a useful tool to help define one’s target audience. To have the ability to directly influence a specific audience is a great opportunity.
Below is a rough draft of my ideas and inspiration for my project group’s term 2 film.
kaylaismyname 
