METAMORPHOSIS

I missed todays session as I had immense pain and my left cheek was swollen because of my wisdom tooth and I could not bear it so I had to miss class. Although I did ask Nandini to tell me what happened in class. I spent the day writing my blogs and finishing a few SDS work that I had not done before and just rechecked all my work if it went well together and started working on my PR PACKAGE. The rest of the day I just took some painkillers and slept it off. I hope I feel better and am I able to go back for my classes.

In today’s session, we had to try to create a short film for a PR event so that we could create one for our individual zines. It was a group task and so Tish, Khushi and I were in one group. We decided to make a short film for a shoe brand. We went around campus doing different clips of 30 seconds showing anger and rage. We shot around eight to nine clips. We did different shots of tearing paper, a sign which said ” beware of the barrier”, crushing a bottle, kicking and stomping a phone and many other clips. We then quickly had to edit the video as we had very less time for that we added a song which had upbeats which went with the vibe of the short film and gave it a glitchy effect which also matched the vibe. I am quite excited about creating the short film for my zine as I had taken a lot of behind the scenes videos of my zine shoot and i have decided to also add a transition video in it so I hope it turns out the way I want it to.

https://youtube.com/shorts/skHeS08S_b0?feature=share

In today’s session, we had to create PR squares I was so excited about this as I love creating feeds for social media and I used to handle my mother’s Instagram account for her clinic as she is a dermatologist and I saw how her account got so many followers and how it reached so many people. Social media can really make a big difference for a brand or company. I started creating my six squares by adding a few of my old shoot pics and a few pictures of the sunset I took on my trip to Brighton during the Easter break. I used the hashtag sunset and makeup. I wrote sundowner on one of the squares as my PR event is going to be a sundowner event, and on the other one, I wrote makeup tutorials as there are going to be free makeup tutorials at the event. I really liked how these turned out and I have already decided what I am gonna do for my SDS task I hope it turns out just the way I have thought of it. I also had my tutorial with Carlyn and I showed her all the work I had done till now I had not really come up with a way to portray my story through a shoot so Carlyn helped me with the idea of doing a makeup tutorial and taking screenshots from it as I would do each step to cover up my flaws and then the final outcome would portray my current self, which is truly happy from the inside and not just from the surface. I really loved this idea and did a shoot that perfectly fits well with my story.

Today’s session was about PR and communication looking at different aspects of PR such as collaboration, posters and inventions. We then had to look at the zines made by previous students it was called TRENDITIONAL it was a zine that focused on styling and photography as there was no writing in it. It had this dystopian effect to it as it was very dark and dull. As a group we decided to work on a few PR ideas together we each came up with one idea and then decided to upload it on Padlet. I came up with an idea to project the pictures on the wall of the chapel as that is what I had thought for my zine PR event as well. For my zine, I decided on the chapel as my family is very religious and since a young age, I have believed in God and it’s been an important part of my life hence since the zine is about self it made more sense to do it around a chapel. I also decided to add a makeup station where people could come and get a free glam look done and a few screens where easy makeup hacks would be shown to make it easy for people to do everyday glams which would look chic and simple. It would be a sundowner event as my zine has a sunset makeup look that I had done as I love sunsets and often find myself clicking pictures of the sky. There will be a range of personalised cocktails served at the event like whiskey shine and capriosa. There will also be a small bag of goodies given out which will consist of makeup brushes, a beauty blender and a few makeup products. I feel really good about this idea and I hope Carlyn and Suzzane agree.

Today we had a trip to Barbican we had to explore it as we had to plan a PR event and do a photoshoot there. I was really excited to explore Barbican as I had never been there before. I reached late due to some misunderstanding and hence the four of us Khushi, Kaushiga, Nandini and I had to figure out the way to the Barbican centre since our start was time-consuming we finally reached the place and began exploring it. We went to the other side of the lake and discovered a chapel and did a shoot there and I decided to make that my PR location. I clicked pictures of the chapel externally and got a very good idea for my PR event. I really liked some of the pictures I came up with but I couldnt really potray my makeup in it so I cant really use the pictures in my zine. I wore a very street wear outfit and I really liked how the pictures turned out with the chapel in the background. I also really liked the water front area but then I felt it was too main stream and wanted to come up with something unique. We then walked over the pathway over the water where Harry Styles shot his recent music video “As it Was”. We were really tired after walking around and decided to eat something there and then called it a day. Over all the experience was amazing and something very different and I am so glad I could explore this new place in London.

Today’s session was the first session back after our Easter break it was a little weird as we were in class after a month back in the routine and I was excited to be back! We had to create a concept board and so I used a few pictures from my camera roll and a few secondary images from Pinterest. I got my peers feedback on my concept board. I was really happy with the outcome that I created in class and it went really well with my zine. I added this phrase in the middle of the concept board which said ” I am manifesting my dream life”. It also featured a few sunset pictures and a few pictures from two trips I took to Brighton and Dubai. I discussed my zone ideas with Nandini and how I could make it more of a makeup zine but at the same time portray my self-journey through it we decided on a few factors and thought of running it with both Suzzane and Carlyn. I am really excited to go to Barbican as I have never been to that area and I would really like to look around and explore and do a shoot there and also come up with a PR event there.

We visited the JPS campus for this session and looked over the Zine archives from previous students. I’ve never had the chance to go through zines and this was the first time I had heard about something like this. I had never looked at them or investigated what it meant to create them. I like seeing how creative they could be, particularly in terms of presentation. We were given a variety of zines with various topics, such as a lookbook, a photography one, and a mental health one. Alice discussed the various factors that go into creating a zine, such as its aim and content. She also showed us how to fold a zine, which was a fun and helpful skill to have for not just next term’s submission but also future endeavours. One of my favourite zines was the photography one in which there was a lingerie shoot and I loved the rawness of the shoot and the way it was portrayed.  Looking at these zines, I’m a little scared by their work and believe there’s no way I’ll be able to pull it off, but I don’t want to start the term with this attitude and I’m looking forward to receiving my final results next term and simply enjoying the last minutes of the course.

I was really stressed about my resubmission during the Easter break and had to work on that for the first week. I then had three weeks left to work on my Easter SDS. I started off by creating a mind map of what self means to me and how my journey has been about finding genuine happiness within myself.

The idea of naming my zine METAMORPHOSIS came from the journey of a butterfly. For such a long time, I had become so used to hiding every negative emotion I felt. In the same way, when we look at butterflies, we only see the beauty and many times we forget the caterpillar that they once were. I then began to create my audience board with images of all my friends from my camera roll and I was really happy with how it turned out.

For my styling shoot, I got the idea of doing a shoot showing my journey of attaining true happiness and I decided to run it by Carlyn and Suzzane but then during my tutorial with Carlyn she gave me an idea of doing a makeup tutorial and taking screenshots from it as I would do each step to cover up my flaws and then the final outcome would portray my current self, which is truly happy from the inside and not just from the surface. For my second shoot, I decided to use one of my friends in the building and I tried using rhinestones to make a butterfly shape eye look which I was really happy with we did the shoot in her room and it turned out amazing as she had these coloured lights in her room and that created a very euphoric vibe and I edited them a little blurry to give that euphoric vibe.

I’m looking forward to starting this semester and seeing where my zine takes me. I am confident in my abilities and the topic I have decided to concentrate on, and I am excited to see the results.

MY PROPOSAL

Growing up in Mumbai, Bollywood culture has been a big part of my life growing up. Seeing the glitz and glamour of all these Bollywood stars combined with my mother’s profession in dermatology sparked my passion for makeup and prosthetics. 

My zine will be very personal to me. It is about my story of growth – coming from a broken family and moving to London alone at the age of eighteen to now being in a happy and content place in my life. Throughout my life, I have always hidden my emotions, even whilst I was struggling. Initially after moving to London, I was struggling mentally without any support as I did not have friends in my accommodation which made me feel lonely and depressed as I am naturally a social butterfly and an extreme extrovert. However now, I am happy to say that I have found a supportive circle of friends that make me feel loved and at home. I will be making this zine as an expression of my journey from depression to my current self which is happy and content.

My zine is titled “Metamorphosis” because I feel makeup is about transformation and concealing your flaws. For such a long time, I had become so used to hiding every negative emotion I felt. In the same way, when we look at butterflies, we only see the beauty and many times we forget the caterpillar that they once were. Like a butterfly, I have taken my time in my “cocoon” and now have emerged happy. I believe that all personal growth takes time and that the journey is beautiful.

The zine will consist of screenshots taken from a makeup tutorial I will be doing on myself. Each step of the makeup tutorial will be a visual representation of how I have concealed my flaws emotionally and use makeup to portray that visually. For example, when I cover the dark eye circles around my eyes, I am using concealer to hide that I have been crying. I am a naturally joyous and bubbly person that loves to socialise. I believe that human beings are all social creatures. I do not want to visually represent myself as someone who is sad, tired and lonely. The tutorial is my transformation to better represent my natural self which is loving and sociable. The zine is an explanation of the symbolism of the steps I do for the makeup look in the tutorial.