#basement

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wacky//weird//creative//patterns//tactile//textures//neon//colour//monochrome//art//culture//fashion//urban//style//individuality//hipster//lazy//internet//twitter//hashtag//instagram//facebook//social media//technology//apple//dj//turntables//digital age//hats and trainers//docs and skulls//crosses//peace signs//trends//symbols//icons//taste//slang//friends//festival//basement party.

Portraying contemporary youth culture in one single, iconic

photograph proved to be more of a challenge than expected. The

process became more significant to us than the final outcome itself,

a creative journey exploring all the different aspects of our

generation. This book exhibitsthis process, the direction we

took and the people we collaborated with in order to reach our final resolution.

EMILY BALL & LISA BURNScreative directors

CONTRIBUTORS

AMY PRESCOTTmodel

NIKKI PROCTORmodel

JAMES FALKDJ

JAMIE MERCHANTvideo

KATE BROOKSmodel

ED NELSONDJ

PIETER SYNMANvideo editor

MEGAN ASHLEYmodel

SAM HUTCHINSONassistant photographer

MITCHELL PRICEgraffiti artist

GLENDA ASHLEYmodel

#1

the experiment#1 Before we executed the basement photo shoot Lisa and I decided to organise a few test shots to see how we can build upon our ideas and broaden our range of photos when selecting one final image.

The style of these photos intentionally contrast with the photos we took for the final shoot in order to represent a variety of themes and trends observed today. Festivals were our main source of inspiration, creating an environment to take photos where the models are acting naturally, aiming to capture a more realistic image of contemporary youth.

“everyone’s bummin’

vintage fashion”

Vintage revival is definitely a key aspect of today’s youth fashion culture as vintage

shops become popularised and old trends re-surface and re-new themselves.

JEWELLERY & ACCESSORIES

Contemporary symbols within fashion range from peace signs, to moustaches and even to religious symbols such as the cross. These symbols were a strong influence within this project, incorporated into our designs and ideas in order to convey the trends observed today.

TRENDS & SYMBOLS

As street art is such an important and recognisable aspect of youth culture, spray painting the walls seemed apt and gave us the opportunity to reflect the trends and grafitti culture observed today. Animal print has become popularised amongst recent fashion trends and the stencils we used enabled us to create patterns inside the basement. We encouraged others to interact with the space also, which added to the variety of different aspects of youth culture we wanted to convey through the space.

For our first test shoot with the girls we created a festival

inspired set-up in the garden and incorporated different props into

the photography. We concentrated on portraying the

atmosphere and emotions present during a festival,

encouraging our models to dance about, interact with the props and

express themselves in their own individual way.

THE GYALS

Inspired by Secret Garden Party festival and their coloured powder paint fight, we recreated our own version for the photo shoot. The

colours created by the powder contrast against the white clothes

worn by the girls and produced these colourful clouds in the air

as they were thrown at each other. The facial expressions

during the paint fight was another key aspect of this part of the

shoot, capturing the emotion and intensity of those few seconds.

“It’s difficult to define the style of a generation in

one. There are always going to be different sub-

cultures and stereotypes co-existing together.”

#2

the basement#2 For our final image, we created an event in order to capture youth culture in an appropriate environment for the photo, focusing more specifically on music, fashion and the underground party scene that exists today. The event, entitled #basement, was set-up as if it was an actual party where we invited our friends to come along and take part in the photo shoot whilst being in their element and enjoying themselves.

In order to capture a photograph that contains enough significant information and detail that surrounds youth culture today, the space itself became our blank canvas. We treated it as an installation space in order to give the basement additional elements and produce dynamic and varied photography.

select ing our spray paint colours for the basement set-up

contemporary animal print stencils for the basement walls

we decided on four colours in order to maintain a colour scheme- turquoise, pink, silver and whi te

preparing the suspended typography for the basement space

Mitchell’s space; each individual’s input into this project allows for a range of ideas and themes

our suspended hashtag, our main theme recurring throughout our ideas

THE SET-UP

wayfinding; suspended acrylic arrows and LED wire en route to the main room

DJ set-up suspended typography for the feature wall

a lazy, can’t be bothered at t i tude is far too common amongst the youth of today...

set t ing up the light ing, experiment ing wi th di f ferent colours

basement

We took full advantage of the space, ensuring we captured a range of photos using different cameras, photographers and settings. This included the use of two GoPro cameras for the evening.We experimented with the GoPro’s, trying out stop motion images, video footage and using different equipment for varied shots which produced some interesting results. Featured, are some of the time lapse stills from the set-up.

We’ve showcased our favourite series of photographs taken from the basement, which was our selection before narrowing down and making a decision on which would be the final image. Collectively, the photography conveys a dark and almost slightly sinister effect, especially through the manipulation and layering of each image. The distorted faces and neon light patterns reflect the movement of each individual in the basement, contrasted against the grainy textures of the space which create more of an atmosphere than you would expect at a student basement house party.

THE PHOTOGRAPHY

THE PHOTOGRAPHY

The music was a huge part of the photo shoot and enabled the people within the space to engage, dance and be natural as if they would at a party. The inclusion of technology, Apple products and turntables is an important aspect of the digital age which we wanted to emphasise as part of the photography. This epitomises the contemporary DJ sets played on a night out or at a house party.

After a great deal of deliberation, we made an ‘executive decision’ to select the most appropriate and iconic image in the series.

This photograph, contains all the elements we focused on when setiing up the space and the atmosphere; the neon aspect through the lighting, the use of colours to create a psychedelic effect to reflect the hazy, distorted perspective when on a night out. The most important aspects were the movement and facial expressions driven by the music from the DJ set. Furthermore, the animal print, spray paint and typography, reinforce contemporary youth culture today in this single iconic photograph.

Meh.

Meh.