Blog Post 3: Project Reflection
Coming up with a concept for a moving image while simultaneously being thousand of miles apart was an interesting experience for our group. We were randomly placed together without really getting a chance to get to know each other, and still, we had to come up with a way to create a unique representation of the assigned brand. After going through something like that, it brought us close together and helped us create something that not only represented our individual talents and backgrounds but also clearly showed how we saw the brand BODE.
BODE is a luxury fashion brand that focuses on sustainability and individuality. The pieces, like dress shirts and shorts, while seemingly very simple and banal, are actually very unique. The brand plays with a lot of textures and colors and does all of that using sustainable materials and historical techniques. As stated on their site “, Each piece tells a story and is tailor-made” (About, 2020), and that is precisely what we wanted to focus on for our moving image. We all wanted to tell our own stories by using our surroundings and utilizing the only resources we had during the quarantine, like the clothing in our closets, the views outside our windows, and of course, our laptops and cameras.
After analyzing the brand, we figured that our outfits and the “mood” that we created for video should reflect the key themes of the brand, which are nostalgia, diversity, uniqueness, and simplicity. The brand plays a lot with the idea of masculinity and femininity, so we all picked an outfit that we thought resembled the brands pieces, and each combined that with a video of our landscape. The inspiration for the video came from the “Facetime Photoshoot” trend that has recently been going around social media. I saw a video by a photographer from my home country, where he filmed a model on facetime, and used a vintage effect. I loved what he created, and offered the idea to the group. We filmed separately, and then sent the videos to be edited by my group mate Nizatelle. With her combination of effects and the music we picked, we created a feeling of “romance” and “springtime” that we don’t get to see much anymore in modern campaigns.
I enjoyed working with the girls in my group and really admired their commitment to putting their everything into this project. I also loved that I got to share a little piece of my heritage in this video. In my video, I am using a traditional blanket called a Korpe (Fig.1), as my background. It’s created using an ancient patchworking technique that has been used in my country for centuries. Since BODE is known for its patchwork, I thought it would be interesting to show how this technique is used in different cultures. In our case, the sewing together of different materials represent the heritage, history, and strength of a family and village, which is later passed on from generation to generation.
OUR VIDEO: https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/9f02aab6-a5fd-4c4b-a979-a00108f338a2
BODE New York. 2020. About. [online] Available at: <https://www.bodenewyork.com/pages/about> [Accessed May 5 2020].
Figure 1: Inform.kz. 2019. Кокшетауские Мастерицы Установили Мировой Рекорд, Сшив Корпе Длиной 11 Км. [online] Available at: <https://www.inform.kz/ru/kokshetauskie-mastericy-ustanovili-mirovoy-rekord-sshiv-korpe-dlinoy-11-km_a3547452> [Accessed 10 May 2020].