Critical Appraisal

This project has been one of my favourites so far as it combined practical skills with another aspect of photography. To begin with I was not very interested in fashion photography but, as the project went on, I began to understand the aspects of this section of photography and look into it more which sparked an interest in me as I began to see how different fashions influenced culture and the extent of the influence on modern society.

The set build itself was challenging as there was a lot to consider, a lot of materials to source and a lot of possibilities when it came to composition. However I liked the idea of sourcing our own materials and finding the best prices for things as it gave me an idea of what it would be like to choose set building or the like as a profession. 

The fashion aspect was also challenging as we had to design our own costume from scratch using influences from other fashion designers and shoots. I found it interesting looking into the different designers and see how many different sources influenced our final design.

As a team I believe we worked well together. There were disagreements as each of us had some of our own ideas about how the set should look and what the clothes the model would wear and where the influence would come from; however we managed to come to agreements on all decisions as we considered each person’s view and came to a compromise. Although communication broke down a little at the end of the project, I feel that we complemented each other well as a team as each of us had our own separate skills set to bring to the team.

Fashion Constructed Image: Group 2, Snow White

Tools and Materials

Below is the budgeting spreadsheet that details all the suppliers I looked into getting materials from. 

Set Specifications


Below are some reference pictures taken in the Rochester Crypt.

Before deciding on our final dimensions for our set, we went through 3 initial possibilities. 

Below are my write ups of the dimensions and a diagram of each that I produced on Google Sketch Up.

Below are some of the colours we considered using for the set. After testing we decided to use the colour tones from the Wickes range.

 Technical Specifications


Below are the initial choices the group made for lighting and lens.

 Casting

Bethany (or Billy) Smallwood was our first choice of model. We felt she had the features that we were looking for in our model. She had long dark hair and quite a pale skin tone. She was 5 feet and 3 inches tall which was a little smaller than the 5 and a half feet tall we had specified for our models height, however we felt that she had the right facial features and body structure to complete the role of Snow White in our shoot..

However, after previously agreeing to the role, Bethany eventually decided that she did not want to be a part of our shoot which meant that we then needed to have a look into some of the other potential models we had found.

Emily Irwin was the second of the models we had picked as potential Snow Whites. As with Bethany we felt that Emily had the ideal pale skin tone and long hair to fit the profile of the required character. She was of a similar height to Bethany with a similar body structure, however we decided not to use Emily as we did not feel she had the right face for the Snow White we wished to portray.

Katie Stephans was the third of our possible models. We liked the fact that she had long, dark hair and pale skin tone however we again did not choose her for the role as, overall, we did not feel she was right for the role of Snow White.

Francesca Shirka was the last of the models we considered for the role of Snow White. She was 18 years of age and had the right skin tone and a height of 5 feet and 5 inches which was close to the desired height of 5 and a half feet. The only problem we initially had was that Francesca only had short, dark, curly hair. However she then mentioned that she frequently wore long extensions which made her hair the perfect length for Snow White. After discussing with her the role profile and what it would entail, she was happy to fill the role of Snow White.

Costume and Fashion Influences

Below are some drawings I created of possible costume ideas.

Final Paperwork

The following pieces of work detail all the final decisions made by the group and the work produced from the decisions.

This first sheet details the total costings of the group with a grand total at the bottom.

This is the profile for our chosen model.

The sheet below details the groups final costumes choices and, below that, is a drawing I produced of the final costume.

Health and Safety

The Final Image

Below is our final, unedited image. We were happy with the final outcome but we knew there was some editing work to be completed to colour correct the piece and remove some dust spots.

The final edited image is below. 

The lining of the coffin has been slightly colour corrected to give the sheet and the pillow a more similar tone of red so they do not look so odd.

Also, the dust present on the top and the sides of the coffin has been removed to neaten the overall image and make the perspex seem more glass-like. 

The edges of the coffin have also been colour corrected as they were slightly magenta in colour.