Blog 3
Project Outcomes and Personal Development Reflection
The theme for my Better Lives Unit project was ‘Fashion Activism’, pertaining to creative direction. Creative direction is the intersection where art direction and design meet strategy(Arts Moodle: Log in to the site, 2020). In the first lecture we were divided into groups, where we were assigned a brand and were asked to ideate, test and deliver a moving image content for social media that is persuasive, compelling and stylistically appropriate to the brand. We decided to make the moving image piece in the form of an online film.The brand that my team members and I were assigned was Lazy Oaf X Time To Change, which is a limited-edition seven piece collection focussed on reducing the stigma attached to discussing mental health.
For the film, my group members and I have tried to visualise the idea of mental illness. All of us read the brand’s tag line “its okay not to be okay”, which helps break free from the preconceived notions attached to mental health. We kept the duration of this film quite short to make it more effective. The black and white effect symbolises how individuals suffering from mental health disorders tend to think in extremes and finding a golden mean is back breaking for them. The use of T.V. static gives the film an uncomfortable vibe, encapsulating how people with psychiatric disorder feel cognitively distressed . To further develop the concept, we used a lot of repetitive noises to apprehend how anxiety has the tendency to make a person overthink.The brand is known for it’s laid back and minimalistic styles and, keeping that in mind, we styled our looks accordingly. The simplicity of our clothes does not divert the attention of the viewers from the message that we are trying to communicate.
We have tried our best to incorporate the pillars of the Better Lives Unit. However, we had to alter some of our initial ideas due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.We had thought of featuring a diverse group of individuals ranging from different age groups, genders and social classes to show that mental illness does not discriminate. We had also planned on shooting this film in a park to invoke the feeling of calmness for people suffering from dementia. But since both these ideas were next to impossible to achieve as my teammates and I were in different corners of the world, we decided to shoot individually and then compile all the matter at the end. The fact that we all came from different ethnic backgrounds helped make the film more relatable, highlighting the fact that anyone can suffer from mental health disorders. Thus we were able to capture the essence of diversity. Our brand collaboration directly relates to the theme of social responsibility. We have made this film such that it makes the audience realise that mental illness is not something to be embarrassed of as it has a biological basis just like any other medical illness. This, I feel, would also help in reducing the taboos attached to mental health. After all “you are so much more than your disorder”.
https://web.microstream.com/video/31690d16-d8a4-43ad-8202-9fbac412fc
Bibliography:
Moodle.arts.ac.uk. 2020. Arts Moodle: Log In To The Site. [online] Available at: <https://moodle.arts.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/836371/course/section/337357/Creative%20Direction%20for%20Fashion%20Week%201.pdf> [Accessed 5 May 2020].