Revised Proposal , Its becoming serious

Sally Jenkins

Revised proposal

At the very beginning of the project I wrote my proposal wanting to make a light hearted poke at the 21^st century beauty culture and to the extremes young women go to get accepted in current trends like “selfies” and this new “fake” beauty. I wanted the video to be humorous so women could reflect and maybe next time applying all the falsities becomes more subtle. I have read up on current debates , researched photographers ,looked into popular culture and where this trend stemmed from and also a massive r influence for my video will be from the book of essays “visuals and other pleasures” by Laura Mulvey which was written alongside the feminist movement .

I now realise after researching my topic properly I have become to feel quite strongly about my subject. I can see this 21^st century “fake” beauty culture turning into its own conformed mass sub culture and I don’t ever think I will be a part of. I think the use of social medias and Things shown in other medias are a continuing sub message that everyone has to be “perfect” to be accepted and its putting masses of pressure on the younger generations or the more impressionable to change their appearance to “fit in”. These sorts of things are leading to body dismorphia, eating habits , low self esteem ect.

My new video concept is to base my video on the readings from Laura Mulvey. “The gaze” is my main concept and I want to take it very literal in my filming. I want to create an “outside” arcwardness between my viewer and the subject being filmed. I want it to be close up and going past the boundaries of personal space. I want to create awareness that the viewer is looking (gazing) at my subject and that the subject is also comfortably aware she is being watched.

I still want to be the video to be shot around a young female’s beauty routine before going out clubbing. I want to include in depths the amount of make-up she uses, the oddities like body controlling underwear, stuffing her bra and putting in her hair extensions. Things that people wouldn’t normally watch other people doing. Its a very personal process I believe and I think it will be interesting to see how that comes across in filming. I want it to be a studio based piece purposely to isolate the subject from a comfortable environment.

I have gotten back in contact with Sonny-Jay Woodhouse, my audio guy, and have told him the updates that I have made so he will have a better idea of what I want. Its going to be louder and more invasive and I want to avoid it becoming light hearted like I originally wanted.

Shot List

Before shooting i decided to prepare a shot list so that i have an order to follow when i start my shoot , it will just avoid time wasting and so i have an exact idea of what i need , but i also want to experiment whilst going along. I have never used video before so if theres anything i can prepare before hand to help it run smoothly i will because i know ill run into problems technically. I have asked a number of female friend there beauty routine step by step so i could get a better idea of what shots i need and iv devised them into an order. Iv asked for them to tell me from the moment they get out of the shower. In post production some things may brake the order as i shuffle the clips around.

Underwear - knickers
Bra - Added umph. Padding inserted
Fake Tan application
Pants - Control pants
Foundation
Powders
eyebrow - drawn on
Eyelashes- fake ons applied
Mascara / eyeliner/ eye shadows
Cheeks - blusher and or bronzer
hair separated
Hair extensions put in
hair styled - straighten or curled
fixed - hair spray
Fix face - hair spray on face to fix makeup
Dress
Nails
Shoes

Lets hope it goes to plan :)

Martha Rosler 'Body beautiful'

Martha Rosler - "Body beautiful" &"Bringing the war home"

I have looked at Martha Rosler an awarding winning artist and educator working in video, photo- text , performance and installation. The series " body beautiful" particularly relates to my project for obvious reasons But also "bringing war home" showcases the female form , technology,war ,politics all in the domestic  the domestic setting. I find a number of her photo montages interesting and i have used pieces as inspiration for example the one above of the body parts on the wood. She has isolated body parts that she has cut away from a men's magazine . I think her deliberate isolation of the body parts has made each section more provocative. I would like use this as inspiration when I'm filming and try to isolate my models body parts to heighten the appeal. i want the video to be close enough to the model to create an awkwardness which is what i feel when I'm looking at Martha Roslers montage. I think that because the body parts are separated you become very aware of what you are viewing, the fact you are looking at these personal details  and this also heightens that there is a slightly awkward factor.  ( The gaze ) .

I also think this image "cleaning the drapes" from the series "Bringing war home" is worth mentioning because of the relationship exploration between technology and the female form. Iv been reading up on both series and John Perreault interesting wrote:

 " A model prancing with a cell phone (shown in multiples of herself) is in a way an update of “Beauty Knows No Pain.” But in spite of the still-thriving use of the objectification of women’s bodies as sales tools (to both men and women),"

I like how he describes the series as an "update" adding in technology's effect on the objectification of women which is what I'm trying to achieve.

 

 

 

 

Facebook evidence

Ethics ...... Do i have them ??

My reaserch has come to a bit of an ethical stand still . I want to post evidence of the 21st century beauty and "selfie" culture on here to show the solid evidence that it exists because to date all i have done is talk about the subject . As i have previously mentioned I'm only involved in one of the Major social media platforms , Facebook. I use my facebook account more as a living photo album rather than a social site. Iv never conformed to the selfie craze either , i couldn't think of anything worse that scaring the public with my face so close up on a daily basis. When reading through my news feeds there was evidence in almost every post about the subjects i an exploring but i feel its un ethical to take them out of the mass context and discuss them on my online blog . I know these people have publicly uploaded that image of themselves and really theres nothing stopping me using there images but i know if i was online and came across a blog where somebody had used an image of me and discussed it without permission i wouldn't like it . Also when it comes down to appearances it is a very personal and sometimes sensitive subject ,i don't want to come across judgemental or be offencive. I have recently read an article on the guardians website, further discussing what i have said above but instead of using it for public space i am interested in whats acceptable to do with the content people post online . I found the article open to debate and its spurred alot of ethical question within my own practise. Is it moral to use and discuss somebody elses face without permission even though it was publicly accessible ? I feel uncomfortable doing it .

 

Is it ever OK to photograph strangers on a train?

 Nell Frizzell 

 

Boris Johnson is willingly photographed on the tube … 'You do not, legally, have to get permission from those you photograph in the street, on the train or sitting on a bus.' Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters

As a lifelong cyclist, I'm usually spared the horrors of public transport. Suitcases (and worse) pressing into my coccyx, Metro horoscopes, vomit, delays and the smell of someone else's sweaty armpits – I happily avoid them.
But one new public transport phenomenon has recently crashed into my consciousness. Tumblr accounts dedicated to secretly photographing, uploading and then critiquing fellow commuters, have spored like bed bugs on a bus seat. From the apparently flattering to the supposedly endearing to the allegedly hilarious, there seems to be a blog to capture every kind of commuter.
British law on photographing people in public places is still quite malleable. While the European convention on human rights codifies everyone's right to private and family life, you do not, legally, have to get permission from those you photograph in the street, on the train or sitting on a bus. Meanwhile, despite a European court of human rights declaration that the stop-and-search powers granted under section 44 of the 2000 Terrorism Act were being wrongfully used to target photographers, the law is still apparently misunderstood even by the police themselves.
Frankly, the whole legal issue is murkier than a dimly lit pub toilet selfie. But while the legal argument is fraught, the moral debate surely is not.
Every day, blogs like Men Taking Up Too Much Space On The Train post clandestine pictures of commuters, under the snide and self-proclaimed mission of public shaming. Frankly, if I had a loose assemblage of bulky, heat-sensitive genitals hanging between my legs, I would probably sit with my knees hip-width apart too. Most of these men are doing absolutely nothing wrong. And yet their image, including their faces, is being uploaded to the internet and they are being judged by thousands of strangers, all without their knowledge.
Turn that gender picture on its head and perhaps you'll see why this is unacceptable. Were a man to secretly photograph me – a young woman – upload that photo to Tumblr and invite comments from other users, I think my sisters would be throwing up their hands in horror. And rightly so – the Japanese iPhone has a shutter sound that cannot be turned off, specifically to guard against snap-happy perverts. And yet, I rarely hear the same language being applied to women who upload submissions to Hot Guys On The Train. Last week I saw a man tweet: "Girl sat opposite on tube tried to take a sneaky photo of me. Her flash went off. She was mortified." Mortified she might have been, but was he not also angry?
There is also, of course, the question of money. If these blogs are sufficiently popular to gain advertising space, then those photos are no longer not-for-profit, amusing, public-realm snaps. They are a commodity. And the people in them, by extension, are no longer just strangers on a train – they are models.
As with all photographs, context and composition are key. While it is one thing to take an unidentifiable snap of a fellow commuter's footwear it is quite another to upload a full portrait of a total stranger accompanied by the comment: "Here is the picture of the homeless guy who threatened to kill me after I took his picture."
Of course, some photos taken on transport are funny. Who among us didn't snicker at Hitler on the bus? But that doesn't make it right. Because that wasn't really Hitler, it was just a man, in Plymouth, who got laughed at by millions, without any hope of recourse.
Call me a ludicrous old libertarian. But I, for one, just don't think we should shoot strangers in public spaces.

I 100% agree.

Opening statements ideas

As discussed with Sonny-jay Woodhouse before i have started to look for quotes to begin my audio. researching feminism and the male gaze i have decided i would like to extract my quote from Mulveys book 'Visual and other pleasure'. I have hear looked up relevant chapters and extracted the statements below. I could have gone on forever doing this as virtually the whole book is relevant now and to my project but below are just a few gems i will be sending as a voice recording to get worked into the audio. I have bolded the ones that i think will defiantly work.
ALL extracted From Laura Mulveys "Visual And Other Pleasures"

" Now I'm looking for the ideal man to marry"

"Born to be defined by their physical attributes, born to give birth, or if born pretty , born unlucky; a condition which makes it possible and acceptable , within bougeois ethic, for girls to parade ,smiling silently, to be judged on the merits of their figures and face"

"Pretty girls dont have those problems, that is , the problems that plain girls have in finding a husband or making a successful career.Womens liberation girls must be plain, because only plain girls would have an interest in attacking the system." Bob Hope

"Women may seem to be the subjects of an endless parade of pornographic fantasies, jokes, day-dreams and so on, but fundamentally most male fantasy is a closed loop dialouge with himself."

"They are being turned all the time into objects of display, to be looked at and gazed at and stared at by men."

" Ways of seeing and pleasure in looking"

" The human face, The human body,the relationship between the human form and its surroundings"

"In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been splitbetween actice/male and passive/ female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simutaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness . women displayed as sexual object is the leitmotif of erotic spectacle: from pin ups to strip tease, from ziegfeld to busby berkeley,she holds the look, and plays to and signifies male desire."

" The fantasy of a privileged insight that tears the mask away from perceived reality gives way to another reality, that of the mask itself and reality of fantasy ."

"The aesthetic qualities of the photography are to be sought in its power to lay bare the realities."

Voice recording

I was asked to send the audio clips via an apple i phone because that's what Sonny is used to working with . I had three women including myself to read the statements above so that he had a variety to choose from. I also got all three subjects to say the words 'Hashtag' and 'oh my god'. This was an interesting exercise to partake in because until you read Mulveys book aloud you don't realise how difficult it is to say. Defiantly a mouthful so this took much longer than anticipated but we got there in the end. Here are just a selection of the audio clips we sent off so you can compare how these sound to the finished audio.

Audio for my video

Well iv given alot of thought to the audio in my video . Iv been toying with the idea of voice overs , silence and music really. I attended a meeting with salford music students about working together to create this audio, but i felt the meeting was very slow paced and i didn't really get the out come i was after. I want to work with somebody on a personal note where they can give me some ideas because I'm not a pro on audio and i have no distint outcome . I have a friend from Morecambe who i have known for years and iv always liked him style of music, Hes studying music at Liverpool university and he has agreed to produce my audio with me. When i gave a rough idea of the sorts of things i wanted to include and what my video was about our conversation quickly became a brain storming session with ideas flying around. I found this extremely help full and motivational. Below i have included snips of our conversation so you can see the development and process we are undergoing together. All in all I'm really excited to be working with him . Sonny-Jay Woodhouse is a talented god send and I'm starting to get really good expectations for my final video edit.

I apologise for the unprofessional language used in the conversation below but because we have been friend for a while that's just how we chat. These are snippets that i thought might be interesting to view for the development process so you can get whats going on. I particularly like his opinion on the "Selfie Craze"

Sonny-Jay Woodhouse

Just a few things I need to have in my head in order to get a workflow going. Could you draw me a brief outlining the elements of the video that are going to be there. Slapstick moments such as that comedy factor (Ill have to source some SFX for enhancement etc)

A few songs that fit the vibe your describing?

Length?
Maybe a list of key descriptive words an shizzle.

 Sally Jenkinsthe overall quite reveiw of the video is how the 21st century beauty routine ( aka false eye lashed , fake boobs , fake hair , fake tan ect.) are developing into a new kinda reverse sub culture where everybody looks the same . im poking fun at the idea women are doing this to either a appeal to the oppisite sex or b fit into a club enviroment. Yet if you strip away the club enviroment they actually look slightly odd and weird.

Sonny-Jay Woodhouse
 

bit geordie shore?

 

Sally Jenkins

it needs to be about a minute but if if was a minute and a half it would give me some editing space if i shoot more than antisapated :) . yes the geordie sures effect of inpressnable young girls hahahaha

god i sound like a feminist !!!!!!!

Sonny-Jay Woodhouse

You are a feminist. Could take a quote from geordie shore to start it thats utterly ridiculous? Recognisable etc.

Then im feelin like a jackass party boy style tune (obiviously not the same) with funny almost pornagraphic SFX and cheeky hits of lip smackin etc.

But feel good at the same time. have you got any images your going to use availiable?

Sally Jenkins

sounds sweet to me sonny :) i also want to touch on the photographic subject of the dreded 'selfie crazy'

 Sonny-Jay Woodhouse

I delete people that constantly post selfies. Attention seekin ugly bastards.

Sally Jenkins

so at the very beggining and end will be a still picture and all that hashtag crap . wonder if we could incorporate that into the sound ?

i know thats why im touching up on it because it annoys the fuck out of me too hha

 Sonny-Jay Woodhouse

haha g'lass. even more of a nightmare when ya see fellas doing it lookin like joey fuckin essex. Daft bastards.

Sally Jenkins

i couldnt agree more sonny jay :)

-Jay Woodhouse

But so far this is what im working with : emphasis on hashtag, camera clicks, club bass sound, military elements, makeup sounds. Oh do you have an iphone.

are your transitions going to be similar to that of the dexter title too? cause i can base my arrangement on that

 

Sally jenkins

yeah the transactions are going to be very dexter like . well if i can . iv never worked with film before hahaha

Sonny-Jay Woodhouse

Ill go mad once I get going tbh brucey! If you could....get an iphone or someone with a dictaphone and record some voices of what you want like and send me them, Ill edit them and add them into the audio. And as its recorded on a phone it will sound like a phone which is where most of this selfie craze took off (Y)

Sally Jenkins

 yeah that would make the video origanal alright . I wonder if i could get almost the geordie accsent (dumbish) and get them to say a quoted femanist remark . So making say the 1970s femanist writter laura mulvey quote .sound really odd and almost clashy

bringing some contexual referencing into the mix ? 

Sonny-Jay Woodhouse

Find me some quotes I can work wonders with acapella.

 Sally Jenkins

im on in ! ill scan through her books now and see what i can come up with . its all old fashion talk about women being objects and men being comsumers. like how women have to look persentable in the chance of a marrage proposal !!!

Sonny-Jay Woodhouse

haha. It will be great. If you listen to http://youtu.be/yeh6jhHLgtg?t=3m30s

Elements of that through the image, but where the vocals are it would be your quotes.

in conjuntion with the hashtags and OMG and the tune of which is to be created. and in a completely different vibe obviously. Morely focus on the effect of how the vocal is appearing in the music.

 Sally Jenkins

that was the kind of thing in my head to be honest

 Sonny-Jay Woodhouse

sweet, will be better. remember that.

Ill look at some early 20th century classical pieces around the time of your feminist bird. Add elements of that for the introduction, then in an almost skitzophroenic fashion pull it into the 21st centure.

romantic classical pieces actually as that was the 'in' thing for a female.

Leland Bobbé- Half drag ... A different kind of beauty

I have found this series "Half Drag... A Different Kind Of Beauty" by Leland Bobbe extremely interesting and actually quite comical. These fabulous drag queens have aloud to show themselves as males and there female alter egos in the same unstitched picture. I think the style of these images is beautiful and tastefully controlled but what i find quite amusing about these photographs is that the female side of there persona's are actually the same as what most women look like when glammed up. Its almost as if the women's 21st century beauty routine is inspired by drag . Excessive make up , fake fair, extravagant jewellery nails ect.  

 

 

 

Underneath The Half drag image by Leland bobbe i have placed an images of Geordie shores holly to look at the resemblance in styles. Geordie shore is a massive hit reality show in which are influencing a large population of its watchers. I just wanted to show the comical similarities of this young Drag male and young female. I think this is first time in fashion history where the majority are using Drag as inspiration possibly without even being aware of it .