July 17th 2020: Brainstorming Ideas for Photoshoots

I am finding it hard to manage my time at the moment due to the stress of the dissertation. I am however trying to remain on track with IFCP, and not let the project get lost in the midst of everything. Today I was able to make lots of mindmaps, in the aim to get my mind working, and get back into a creative headspace. It was nice to have a bit of a break from so much writing- it was refreshing.

I have not yet decided exactly which controversial topics I will be basing shoots on for my final IFCP project. I am in the midst of writing the dissertation, after all. I have however been watching lots of videos and reading books for inspiration which have helped me come up with lots of good starting points.

I started brainstorming with the idea which came most naturally to me based on the research I am currently doing for my dissertation. Death is a prevalent part of work in art direction in Vogue Italia. It is evident through adverts such as the one featuring Hailee Steinfeld sitting on a train track, hinting at suicide which ended up being banned from Vogue Italia, that death seems to be a topic bought up in controversial imagery. The shoot ''Water and Oil'' for Vogue Italia Sep 2010 displays the models seemingly dying on the side of the sea, despite the shoot not being about people dying but a natural disaster. ''Horror Movie'' for Vogue Italia April 2014 is about domestic abuse, however there are many hints at a murder story, necrophilia and death in the work. It is evident that despite overtly what the topic is about, death seems to be an attractive subject to the art directors and photographers in Vogue Italia. It definitely encourages me to look into the subject of death further for a potential final outcome for a art direction heavy shoot for my work.

Not related to the dissertation necessarily, but in the past I have seen a couple of documentaries based on euthanasia and the stories surrounding peoples reasons why they have decided to take the option. They commented on a futility of life and the wish for death. Maybe I could look at death from a standpoint of choice, not just natural process.

Sex of course is a controversial topic and from my dissertation research is often a defining factor in what makes a controversial image. Tom Ford campaigns have been splayed through Vogue Italia throughout the years and have always been controversially reacted to. I often take a very sexual approach to the art direction I have done outside of university so I think this would not only be a concept which would be a good option for me to carry out, but one which would allow me to strengthen my aesthetic style. This being said I don't want to do something too similar to what I have done before.

The below few images of the brainstorms were more unrelated to the conceptual idea for the art direction for the shoots, but more based on my own personal aesthetic tastes, and I feel will give me a good starting place when I want to look into the styling, makeup, and set design of ideas to come in the near future.