Queen Elizabeth I Sketch book research and inspiration

The Virgin Queen - BBC Tv Series

The first episode depicts Elizabeth from her imprisonment in the Tower of London by the Queen, her sister Mary I, accused with plotting the Queen's demise, to her accession to the throne following Mary's death, and her coronation. Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower, accused of participating in Thomas Wyatt's rebellion to overthrow Mary. The episode strongly hints Elizabeth's participation, though evidence of this remains highly conjectural. The episode also establishes Elizabeth's relationship with Robert Dudley, and they are shown to be greatly in love, despite Dudley being married. Elizabeth's frustration at her later house arrest at Woodstock Manor is emphasised to somewhat comic effect. She is shown being held at Woodstock from her release from the Tower until her sister's death from cancer, when in reality she was only held there a year, before being recalled to London so Mary could keep a closer eye on her. The episode also depicts the legend of Elizabeth being told she is Queen of England under an oak tree, depicted as being in Woodstock but which in reality is claimed to have occurred at Hatfield House, and her utterance of the quote "This is the work of the Lord, and it is marvellous in our eyes..."

QUEEN ELIZABETH I FASHION VIDEO

FASHION FILM!

FASHION FILM – THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A QUEEN AND MANKIND

(To be done, finished and edited by 15^th November

DATES OF THE FILM:-

Friday 1^st November 2013 or 8^th November 2013

·       one model

·       one director

·       two locations - apartment 2, 19 Catherine Street, Liverpool (my apartment), Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, St James Mount, Liverpool

·       one costume

·       Knowing the location.  Since moving in to a Georgian house recently my idea for a photo shoot or film would be in the lounge because of the Georgian windows.  The room is filled with light by lunchtime so if you wanted to do a photo shoot or film or screen testing you could do it in this room because the light is perfect.  I will be doing half of the film in the lounge near the windows and in the back of the lounge where there is a plain white wall so that the model can have a scene of showing feelings of depression and artistic movement.  I would also like the other half of the film to be set in Liverpool Cathedral to give the background effect of it looking like she is in a famous building such as Westminster Abby or a Castle.

·       The model.  The model is Vicky Holmes.  I have known Vicky for about five years and straight away when I first met Vicky I could tell she is a very professional get to the point kind of girl; she isn’t scared and is very straight forward in photo shoots and films.  The best bit is you can ask her to do something and she is very professional, she will just get on and do it without question.  I have worked with Vicky on a few photo shoots with clothes that I have designed.  I picked Vicky because of our past work and also because of her facial expression connect very well to the facial expression that Queen Elizabeth 1 has shown in previous films and photo shoots and also in old fashioned paintings.

·       Hair and Make-up.  First reaction was wig, I needed an orange wig; I logged onto eBay and bought a £15 wig.  The wig is a going out type of wig, straight fringe, wavy locks but when it is on Vicky’s head I am going to try to be creative with the wig and curl it as much as I can and add pearls to make it look like an Elizabethan hairstyle.  The make-up is a very simple task; I don’t think it needs to involve a professional make-up artist.  It’s an extremely pale face, no eyebrows visible, very strong lip liner and orange or red lips.

·       Bed scene.  I want the bed scene to show a link with the title of the Virgin Queen where I believe that Queen Elizabeth 1 was a very depressed, lonely, distant woman not just with men but from the whole world.  She never consummated a relationship and after the hurt she felt after Robert Dudley married someone else because she was not ready to marry him, changed her as a person and her views  on marriage, she mistrusted men and this lead on to her appearance change and she made herself unattractive and had the belief that marriage was not for her, this meant sex was not for her, no children could be born and no Heir to the throne and that resulted in a change in history as she was the last of the Tudors.  The thrown was passed to King James after Queen Elizabeth 1 reign which resulted in the birth of the United Kingdom.

·       Film Director.  Craig Charlton is a freelance film maker based in Southport.  I came across Craig about one week ago on his Facebook page where he has videos and images of photo shoots that he has previously done.  Half of the videos that he has done are music videos not really fashion films but keeping in mind the effects that he uses and the different angles and the blur and vibrating effects are just what I really want my video to be.  Hiring Craig as the film director/producer is because I believe he is very professional and well educated in the effects that he uses.

DEVELOPING PLAN FOR FASHION FILM

LOCATIONS

·       Apartment 2, 19 Catherine Street, Liverpool (my apartment)

·       Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, St James Mount, Liverpool

MODEL

·       Vicky Holmes age 21

PROPS AND ACCESSORIES

·       Pearls

·       Diamonds

·       Diamond rings

STYLING

·       Elizabethan

HIAR & MAKE UP

·       Ginger wig

·       Pale face with orange/red lips

MUSIC

·       Violin sound track

NARRATIVE

·       To set the film out focusing from her appearance moving up from diamonds, pearls, rubies, going higher up until you reach her face which is striking, in deep depressing thought.  As the films goes out from start to finish the quiet noise of a violin increases, getting louder and louder every five seconds going into the use of artistic movement with a plain background which follows onto another scene where she will be walking around her castle (Liverpool Cathedral) where she will become scared and emotional, thinking too much; she will begin to run down a corridor and as she runs some shots of her running will be in slow motion increasing to fast pace again; the violin will increase as she runs, trying to get away from everything and it will start to build up the audiences adrenalin wondering what will happen keeping their concentration on the film.

·       At the end the music stops, she stops running and either she could walk back and away from everything but she stops again and turns back around because although she felt she wanted to give up her whole lifestyle of not trusting anyone and being the most important woman in the country, she comes to her senses and realises there is no way that could happen so she turns around as she resigns herself to who she is.  When she turns around and is walking back there could be a sense of slow motion, slowly blurring out but as it blurs you can hear her footsteps very loudly.  Or I could have her exhausted almost collapsing before getting up and pulling herself together and walking out the doors with her head held high.

LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

·       To ring up to ask permission to use Liverpool Cathedral and also to book a date

POSSIBLE ISSUES

·       Model and Director not available on the date I need

·       Darkness

EDITING EFFECTS

·       Contrast with colour

·       Blur

·       Vibration

·       Slow motion

·       Echo

·       Custom sound effects

My final report describing the fashion film

FILM

Filming effects were:-

·       Edited on a software called ‘Final Cut Pro’

·       I used slow motion in parts of the film to make it look more dramatic when she was crying

·       I also made some parts faster when she was in scenes of anger

·       I did fast cutting with eclipse to fit in with the music in the anger scenes

·       I used the colour correction tool in Final Cut Pro.  Not much was changed as the lighting was quite good anyway from the Georgian windows

·       I made the saturation a bit lower so it was more authentic

·       I turned the brightness up and the contrast down so it made the models face and the wall and background look paler and to bring out the colour in the red dress and the lipstick to give a bold effect

Issues:-

·       With the window scene, the outside was exposed and so if I was to film it again I would film it at a different angle

·       The angles that I would use would be bird’s eye view or a worm’s eye view

·       The windows were the main reason I did the photo shoot in my apartment; I wanted to capture everything about the window but I think I went a bit too far and there were a lot of clips that I couldn’t use because of the traffic and people walking by

·       I should have used more accessories, more pearls and diamonds and also I really wanted to make a ruffle to go around her neck and I should have done more with the make-up.  I added the eyebrows in but I think if I wanted to take the eyebrows out I had to take them out of the film I couldn’t just do them by editing the pictures as it would have looked too weird so if I did it again I would take her eyebrows out for the film

·       Throughout the film you do notice some of the outer props that you could see like the lamp that I used to create lighting

·       I think I should have put more sheets on the floor to hide the carpet

·       I thought that if I filmed portrait style on the IPhone it would turn to landscape but it didn’t.  Even if it did go wrong I thought I could edit it by rotating the film around to the correct position but when I was editing it I found out I couldn’t change it

Does it fulfil the brief:-

·       My purpose for this film was three aims, one to show the mood and the atmosphere of Queen Elizabeth 1 and to show my perspective of how I feel her life was and how that era was and how that kind of iconic image that she created was made with the emotions and the pain throughout her life.  The second aim was to make sure that I captured the image of Queen Elizabeth 1 with the orange hair and the glamorous velvet dress, the pearls and the make-up so I will carry that on with my collections.  The third aim was to develop my skills with CAD/CAM with the filming, the editing of the film, the photo-shoot and editing the images on photo shop, the made me progress more in CAD/CAM to really understand what was needed to produce at a professional level.  I don’t think that I would have been successful with my thought process about the film if I hadn’t of had my research, I think it would have been very difficult to visualise that kind of era as it was a very confusing era and a very prominent era.   Looking back to the issues of the 1400’s and there was a woman in charge and that woman was incredibly strong and that is what makes it so prominent

Target audience:-

·       For this film my target audience would be directed towards an artistic view of emotions.  It’s not a fairy-tale but it is a story which starts from beginning to end with a narrative, its more to be viewed as an Avant Garde film in not just promoting fashion  but also reliving her life from the past.  The film connects with anyone at any level as it could be personal or it could be an interest in talent and how it is put together and how it reflects the meaning of the project

·       I chose this particular style because I wanted to show the atmospheric projection and make people understand that person in showing it through an artistic way

Film scenes:-

·       Even though I wanted to use the Georgian windows a lot in this film I did have the camera in the first scene looking outside of the window through Queen Elizabeth 1 eyes

·       The next scene is of her looking out of the window in despair.  I think the scene has captured that modern day effect were people would presume it is a modern Queen Elizabeth because of the street outside and the street light; the street outside was accidently captured in the scene.  If I was to do this scene again I would do it from a bird’s eye view or looking up so to capture Queen Elizabeth looking out of the window but you wouldn’t really see the street view

·       I was more focused on trying to get the movement in front of the window so my thought process for avoiding capturing the street view was of low priority, I didn’t really think about how capturing the street in the scene would make it look more modern

·       When it goes into the next scene even though it’s at the window I have got her sitting down which I think is much better, as she is sat down there is nothing much in the background, nothing modern; it gets better as it goes along

·       The next scene is more about showing her dramatic pose and it connects with the beat of the music quite well; her head snaps into place when the beat hits and it shows the image of her completely with the orange hair, pearls around her neck and in her hair and the velvet dress, it captures what she looks like and this is her and starts off the story

·       As the film goes on the next scene you begin to think is this the way she is thinking or is this her fantasy; the way she dances and moves is a sexual kind of movement, it is not erotic but it the positions she poses in are quite sexual and when you look at her face she always has a stale reaction on her face

·       The mattress scene is the next scene.  This was of key importance to the film; I changed the curtains to the Georgian windows to be in the centre of the scene to give a more symmetrical effect and the model was right in the centre of the scene.  It captures the head toss which I repeated and the movement of her arms; the reason why I repeated the head toss is through the inspiration I got through Nick Knight fashion film ‘Fantasia’.  The reason for the repetition is to capture the movements and people would see this.   In this scene the model is grabbing her head and now the film starts to get very personal and dark, it is slowly building up, the depression that she feels.  It was really important for me to capture the depressing side during this scene, I do obviously want the collection and the feel of this collection to be glamorous and feminine but the real issue about Queen Elizabeth 1 creating the iconic look was through the depression and pain that she went through in her life and I definitely wanted to capture this in the film, I didn’t want it to be a fairy-tale

·       The next scene is from a bird’s eye point of view looking down at the model as she uses an artistic movement.  I knew the music would be quite strange and dramatic and almost like a ballet dance, very flowing and out of the moment.  It continues on to the strange movement against the wall where the model starts off in a more elegant walk and it flashes back and forwards to the mattress scene and of the sudden look with her face up and a look of realising what she is all about; it is kind of going in and out of different moods.  I sped up the scenes beginning with the movements against the wall to the mattress so the movements go faster and then the model started to give an angry expression and screams as she looks at the camera.  I used the repeating process for the scene when she tosses her arm around her back to give the impression of her giving up and what’s the point feeling.

·       The next scene is a scene with the model on the chair posing in a kind of ballet pose; the moods go in and out and are constantly changing because she is so confused.  From then on it is the build-up of anger that you can see throughout the film, her face is constantly screaming and she starts to punch the bed, because I didn’t want it to be totally angry and dramatic and in your face, I edited a scene to show only her moving, it swings around and lifts into the air with a kind of possessed feel.  Throughout the film I then shot her from the bird’s eye point of view on the mattress her face staring into the camera with quite a disturbed look of somebody who is possessed, the only part of her body that moves is her arms and legs, her head is still.  It’s almost like uncontrollable movements.

·       The next scene is my favourite scene.  Each scene captures how she is feeling or what she has kind of become, and this scene captures her loneliness and hurt, it has the effect of when somebody dies and when you are on your own, most people would curl up, hold themselves tight and cry as they feel disconnected from everything; in this scene the model gives this impression and I think it works really successfully.  The only movement is her arms opening out as she moves to the other side of the bed

·       The film continues to carry on that expression in the scene where she is constantly moving but her head is still.  The film gets faster as it continues, I have sped it up and the sound gives more of an echo, giving the impression of changing the mood and the music becomes more distorted.  As the film goes on the model is doing more angry fast paced movements, hitting the wall and hitting the bed, it shows towards the end of the film that the pace is picking up; it is a definite kind of atmosphere and that she is totally saddened by her own life

·       The next final scenes are her crying; her make-up is smudging and her pale face is getting more of a smoky kind of colour.  I wanted to slowly introduce this, I wanted to break this scene up by going backwards and forwards showing her building up to the final shots; I did not want to create a complete crying scene.  It kind of goes back to the scene in the middle of the film where she is screaming again but more viciously; you can tell now at this particular scene that she has lost the plot, she can’t go back.  The scene continues with more and more of her make up getting smudged.

·       The next scene I captured her mood on the mattress where I wanted her to really scream as loud as she could with her arms flying in the air and again I repeated that movement to capture the main atmosphere of that scene.

·       The next scene was the final scene where she started to shake her head, scream, cry and shout, capturing the full effect of her pain.  It shows her wig coming off her head and her not caring that is has fallen off; this also connects with my research in the findings of knowing that she used to wear a wig and that she created this stale, unattractive look about her because she did not want any men to find her attractive.  It also gives a kind of exposed look with no wig on and smeared make-up and that she is going crazy, all her walls have been broken down and at the end of the film the music starts to slow down and focuses on the woman singing in the background and for one last time it catches her on the mattress in the lonely position she lays in.  In the last nine seconds of the film I capture her in a more elegant pose, how she has always been, with a more conservative attitude.  Within my research I found that she was very famous for her hand pose to her face.  She held her hand with her middle finger in her mouth in a concentrating fashion, as though she is in thought and I wanted to capture that movement at the very end of the film.  Again I used this scene three times but in different ways, this one was still in the same position but it was very slow motion and it looks to show her very resigned to her fate, she came into this world alone and corrupt and she is going out of the world alone and corrupt.  In the last two seconds of the film it shows a shocked look on her face as though she has just woken up from a nightmare; I wanted this to be a very quick scene, a very quick look giving the impression of ‘it is to be continued’ before shutting off the scene

Target Market Profile

TARGET MARKET PROFILE

Name – Eve Anderson

Demographics/Additional information of my average customer

Age range: 35

Gender: female

Location: London, St James Park

Level of education: Law degree, Studied in Westminster University

Occupations: Lawyer

Income level: £90,000

Family structure: Single (Looking for a man)

Other: Early Adopter

Lifestyles & Hobbies

·      Goes to the gym

·      Has a healthy eating pattern doesn’t eat junk food

·      Drinks occasionally

·      Heavy smoker

·      She goes to charity functions/diners to meet other likeminded people

·      She likes to smell good she always buys Chanel products

·      She reads quite a lot of books and also reads magazines such as Vogue for the pictures rather than the articles

·      Love to swim after work to chill out

·      Charity events

Morals & Values

·      She perceives herself as a strong independent attractive woman but only because her job makes her like that

·      She is very dedicated to find a man and so she has to keep her appearance up

·      Her attitude is kind but straight to the point; she is a no nonsense kind of person

·      She is an atheist

·      She has a strong  belief in humanity; she thinks everyone should be treated equally that’s why she went into law

·      She doesn’t understand why people have beliefs if not sure

·      She is always questioning people

·      Her ideal future she has in mind will be that she hopefully meets someone before she is 40, the sooner the better; she has always wanted to have someone to love as she has spent so much of her life studying for her career; she wants to settle down and have a family. 

·      She has doubts in her mind, she worries if she doesn’t find anyone it will change her whole life, will she give up on love, will she give up on having a family, will she continue with law until retirement

Pain Points

·      Knowing that she is using her fashion sense as a weapon to meet main is her main issue

·      As she has such a slim body it will work really well to create tight, quality, fitted professional garments with a hint of detail; using lots of silk for blouses, using reds and bold colours; mixed with the dark conservative colours.  The use of lace is good as it is very feminine, very vogue and can be very thought provoking

·      Looking at the problems in the present for example if she found a man and had children her whole fashion sense would be affected.  She couldn’t wear exotic garments that she was used to; she would need to spend a whole lot of money on a new more practical wardrobe to suit her new life.

Shopping Habits

·      Over time she has learnt not to pop in to shops for a quick buy; she has bought things quickly that may not fit

·      She has learnt to schedule her shopping time so that maybe twice a week she will shop

·      She will always take advice off the designer

·      She would spend quite a lot of money between £50-£200 at each shopping trip

·      The main items that she would buy would be bags, boat neck sleeveless dresses, she doesn’t feel she wants to be totally designer but likes the influences of the likes of Christian Dior where the waists are very over exaggerated; she would like to see suits in my shop with a similar effect; a traditional conservative fitted suit

·      She would browse on line and be constantly browsing on her IPhone; she will screen shot and save products she will want to buy

Other important information

·      The only way to get information to develop your garments in the shop is to collect information from your clients as to what they would always want not just what they want right now. 

·      Building a good relationship with a client is very important; building a trust; meeting up with them.  As a customer having someone in the fashion industry that you can really connect with over a bottle of wine  helps to develop your customer base

·      Always keeping ahead not just of trends, what’s in and what’s not, but also keeping up to date with your existing clients and what they want will definitely keep a flow and will develop your ideas and career.