Week 3 Reflective Journal - 6th February - Schedule Plan, 2nd Tutorial with mentor and Research

Time Schedule: 

On above, I have created a new schedule plan for this project and I will follow this schedule throughout the project. 

2nd Tutorial with mentor

During the second tutorial with my mentor Sebastiane, I have discussed with him about my project research and progress. After the first tutorial from last week, I have done more research on Surrealism and look into more details on the different meanings about Red Color in Chinese culture. I have explained the themes and some ideas about the photo shoots that I would like to focus on with Sebastiane. For the first photo shoot, I would like to focus on making something creative with Chinese red pockets, while the second photo shoot will be focusing on Chinese Opera. The reason I have chosen those two elements from Chinese culture because they symbolise the uniqueness of Chinese traditional culture and when those objects combine with Surrealsim idea, I could experiment and explore more possibilities, provides me opportunities to develop something innovative and interesting. For the third photo shoot's theme, I am still at the stage of gathering more research on Chinese culture and I will need to confirm the theme as soon as possible so that I could start doing test shoot. 

Next Step...

• Do further research on Surrealism and Chinese culture
• Start designing the looks and develop concepts for the photo shoots
• Think about the idea for the third photo shoot and the fashion film

Research 

DIRECTOR: TRUNK XU (Surrealism in China) 

I have started to do research on watching some fashion films and films to get inspirations and learn the techniques of how to film in different angles, lightings and their editing effects. On below is a fashion film, "Surrealism in China" and I found it is similar to my idea of this project since it takes inspirations from Chinese culture and Surrealism and features contemporary elements that combine with the concept of Chinese Opera. I like the way how there are irrational scenes and music playing suddenly in between two different scenes so that it helps the model to change to another look. The music is powerful while when combined with some still movements, it creates a unique and fascinating outcome. 

Film - Red Sorghum

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/mo-yan-and-the-power-of-movies

"Red Sorghum" is a Chinese film directed by Zhang Yimou in 1987. It is about a young woman's life and her experience in working on a distillery for sorghum liquor. 

Film - "Raise The Red Lantern"

http://www.chinawhisper.com/top-10-best-gong-li-movies/

"Raise The Red Lantern" is a feature film in 1991 directed by Zhang Yimou. It is about several concubines of a wealthy family fight against each other and shows the tragic stories in between them during the period of the Republic of China. 

Both films on above show the importance of red color in Chinese culture and it allows me to understand the camera angle, the layout of the scene and also how to present the red color within the scene. 

Film - The Last Emperor

http://akns-images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/2015328/rs_1024x759-150428123054-1024.The-Last-Emperor-Chinesse-Costume-Film.jl.042815.jpg

http://ilarge.lisimg.com/image/5311687/1118full-the-last-emperor-screenshot.jpg

The Last Emperor is a British- Italian epic biographical film in 1987 directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The film is about the life of the last Emperor of China, Puyi and in the film, I have seen many ancient Chinese traditional costumes which will help me to understand and get inspirations for the styling of my project. The film has features many red and gold colors which show the importance of those colors in Chinese culture. 

Photography

Man Ray

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/414894184394909417/

http://www.fotogpedia.com/man-ray.htm

Man Ray was an American visual artist who was a significant contributor to Surrealist movements. The photos on above show aspects of Surrealism and I have learnt from his works that I could use different shapes of objects to combine with another object with similar shapes. This is one of the interesting facts in Surrealism that you could explore your creativity and create irrational creative art pieces. 

Guy Bourdin

http://fotografiska.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aac308988.jpg

https://candidmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/9.-Charles-Jourdan-Autumn-1979-%C2%A9-Guy-Bourdin.jpg

Guy Bourdin was a French fashion photographer and artist who is best known for his provocative images. From the images on above, we could see there are elements of Surrealism within his artworks. He has used red colors a lot in his work and I like the way how he presents his creativity in an innovative way and has got his own style. From his photography, I have learnt how to use color effectively and stands out the bold red color on a photo. 

Reference:

• RICHARD BRODY, (2012), MO YAN AND THE POWER OF MOVIES [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/mo-yan-and-the-power-of-movies [Accessed 11 February 2017].
•  PETER WANG , (2015), Top 10 Best Gong Li Movies [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.chinawhisper.com/top-10-best-gong-li-movies/ [Accessed 11 February 2017].
•  Il Giornale, (2015), Unknown [ONLINE]. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/414894184394909417/ [Accessed 11 February 2017].
• FotogPedia.com, (2014), Man Ray [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.fotogpedia.com/man-ray.htm [Accessed 11 February 2017].
• fotografiska, (n.d.), Guy Bourdin Avant-Garde [ONLINE]. Available at: http://fotografiska.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/aac308988.jpg [Accessed 11 February 2017].
• Candid Magazine, (2015), Guy Bourdin: Image-Maker At Somerset House [ONLINE]. Available at: https://candidmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/9.-Charles-Jourdan-Autumn-1979-%C2%A9-Guy-Bourdin.jpg [Accessed 11 February 2017].
• Severin Severin , (2013), Picture of The Last Emperor [ONLINE]. Available at: http://ilarge.lisimg.com/image/5311687/1118full-the-last-emperor-screenshot.jpg [Accessed 11 February 2017].
• Columbia Pictures, (2013), CHINESE COSTUMES IN CINEMA: FROM MULAN TO CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER THE LAST EMPEROR [ONLINE]. Available at: http://akns-images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/2015328/rs_1024x759-150428123054-1024.The-Last-Emperor-Chinesse-Costume-Film.jl.042815.jpg [Accessed 11 February 2017].
• Red Sorghum, 1987 [film]. Directed by Zhang Yimou. China : Xi'an Film Studio
• Raise The Red Lantern, 1991 [film]. Directed by Zhang Yimou. China: Orion Classics
• The Last Emperor, 1987 [film]. Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. United Kingdom: Columbia Pictures