Designing my Wash & Dry Advert

Setting and Styling

I was finding it difficult and confusing when choosing what colour I wanted for each prop and the styling so I decided to put together a collage of each prop and piece of clothing I wanted in the correct colours; this way I could see if they complimented each other or not. I decided to use candy, sweet colours and summery colours to reflect the bright and sunny setting the model will be in. I want all the colours to be very bright and fun, but I didn't want to use too many colours because I didn't want the shoot to end up looking messy. I predominantly used warm colours like pinks, oranges and yellows, with them other pops of colour, to keep the colour scheme limited. 

I decided on the blue background first because I wanted it to represent the clear sky and the blue of the pool water. I then went on the hunt for the perfect swim suit that looked slightly retro, but also modern, inspired by the structured swimsuit the model is wearing in Jamie Nelson's shot with the umbrella, and I found this peachy pink colour swimsuit from MissGuided.com. I like that it is modest and that is has the black structured lines to give my model some shape. I also like that the lines make it look almost cartoon-like, so go with the staged, fantasy setting. I wanted my model to wear bright, patent shoes to add to the plastic look of the shoot and I decided they should be bright yellow as I thought the exaggerated colour would add a cartoon-like touch and a fun pop of colour. I also like how the yellow and peach compliment each other but still clash to make it look dramatic. 

I decided to use inflatables in the back drop of my image, which was inspired by Jamie Nelson's shot of the model laying on an inflatable lounger and surrounded by beach balls. I liked how everything in the image looked plastic and shiny, which I thought reflected the doll-like model I wanted to use. I chose to use a range of colours and shapes so that the background didn't look too staged and flat; however I did keep to the colour scheme of pinks, oranges and yellows to keep with the girly, candy theme. I decided that I wanted my model to sit on a shiny, plastic chair to represent a deck chair and then I wanted her to be facing all the inflatables with her legs possibly resting on them or in a static position hovering on top of the them. I was inspired by Miles Aldridge's very staged, perfectly positioned models because they almost looked like dolls, which is the plastic look I am after. My model will then be holding an inflatable ice cream to add a fun and playful element to the look, inspired by Annette Wahl's research image; however I will experiment with this to see if I can still get a slightly Stepford-like wife look out of the model, again inspired by Miles Aldridge. 

Lighting Set Up

I want the lighting to be very bright to reflect the heat of the sun, but I also want to include a blue gel to represent the blue reflection off the pool or sea water. This was inspired by Jamie Nelson's lighting in his shoot with the blue tones projected onto the models and the backdrops. I like the blue gels used; however the lighting over all is too dark for the bright and sunny setting I want to create. I like that a blue light hasn't been used all over the model and that another light with no gel has been used because I think it would be too overpowering if the whole image had blue lighting. I will experiment with how much blue lighting to use in my shoot until I get a ratio I am happy with. I want the image to look very bright, clean and sharp with the lighting being very bright. I was inspired by Miles Aldridge's images for Vogue Italia where the models almost look like dolls in a bright show room because I wanted my advert to have the same plastic and perfected look.

Jamie Nelson
JAMIENELSONFASHIONANDBEAUTYPHOTOGRAPHER, 2011. Emirates Woman fashion magazine editorial with Model Vesna Parcina [viewed 6th March 2016]. Available from: http://jamienelsonphoto.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/shoot-with-model-vesna-parcina-at-muse.html?view=magazine

Miles Aldridge
ALDRIDGE, M., 2016. Selected Work [viewed 7th March 2016]. 
Available from: http://www.milesaldridge.com/selected-work/