Lecture Five (rescheduled): The Photograph as a Document

Lecture Eleven: Creative Advertising & New Media

New Media 

The aim of this lecture was partly, to engage in current debates, surrounding the impact of new media on both communication and creativity. 

New media can be defined as media that work through engagement and involvement as opposed to persuasion or impressions. It is important to break with the past media model in order take full advantage of new media. The emotive advertising strategy required speaking to the masses and involved the audience emotionally. The old communication model transmitted idea's to an audience whereas the new communication model engages with an audience via computer. The new media model exhibits a shift from mass to my media. its generally a lot more targeted and requires audience involvement making it more personalised overall. The definition of viral, unpaid advertising is unpaid peer-to-peer communication of content originating from an identified sponsor using the internet to persuade or influence an audience to pass along the content to others. The communication buzz is dependent on seeding and scale of placement. 

The study of systems is known as cybernetics and can be applied to any system be it mechanical, biological or social. 

The internet enables lots of small idea's to circulate. Viewer-generated content allows audiences to actively manage media culture. Soon, mobile phones will become the greatest persuasion tool in advertising and are one of the fastest growing markets in the creative industries. This is primarily due to their Kairos factor, which is the principle of presenting the desired message at the opportune moment. Mobile advertising will soon become the fastest growing promotional channel. Big ideas and craft remain important. The new model of creativity involves larger teams, collaborative online creativity and ebrainstorming. Research has shown that the design process is enriched by online conversation rather than relying on visuals alone. 

To conclude, the introduction of new media has enhanced entertainment, presented new models of communication and creativity and created an experimental, engaging, social and tactile third layer.

Lecture Ten: Fashion as a Photograph

Lecture Notes 

Exhibiting products in context is often far more persuasive than flat images are. The ghost mannequin gives customers an idea of how a particular garment would fit a real person without running the risk of the mannequin or model pulling the focus away from it. 

In 1839 Henry Fox Talbot invented the calotype process, which used paper coated with silver iodide. With the improvements in the halftone printing process came the ability to reproduce photographs in magazines, which meant drawn illustrations no longer had to be used. The designs of Paul Poiret (1879-1944) signified the freedom from corsetry and introduced signature shapes such as the hobble skirt and harem pants. His designs were heavily influenced by antique dress-draping. In the 1920's and 1930's Vogue and Harpers Bazaar were leaders in fashion photography. Some of the more notable photographers featured in these two magazines at the time were Hoyningen-Huene, Horst P. Horst and Cecil Beaton. 

The work of Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) featured primarily in British Vogue and Vanity fair. She was a member of the "Bright Young Things" of the 1920's and 1930's and photographed numerous British Royals. Additionally, she designed sets, costumes and lighting for Broadway. 

Lee Miller (1907-1977) was an American photographer and fashion model at the age of 19. In 1929, she travelled to Paris with photographer Man Ray and became involved in the surrealist movement within photography. In 1944, she became a correspondent accredited to the US Army and worked with photographer David E. Scherman. She was, in all likeliness, the only female combat photojournalist to document the war in Europe, witnessing events such as the siege of St Malo and the Liberation of Paris among others. 

Louise Dahl Wolfe was a staff fashion photographer at Harpers Bazaar from 1936 till 1958. From then onwards she worked as a freelance photographer for Vogue and Sports Illustrated alongside numerous other magazines, until her retirement in 1960. Her work can be categorised as environmental fashion photography. 

Richard Avedon (1923-2004) worked at Harpers Bazaar till 1966 followed by a stint at Vogue. German photographer Juergen Teller has had his photographs published in both The Face and Vogue. He has worked with Vivien Westwood and Marc Jacobs as well as a number of musicians. Corrine Day (1965-2010) is a British model and fashion photographer who has worked for The Face  and Vogue. Her Vogue cover with Kate moss is often credited with the beginnings of the trend for the 'waif' look. In 2003, the introduction of Adobe Photoshop substantially changed fashion photography and gave way to a number of new photographers such as Terry Richardson and Nick Knight. 

Fashion blogging democratises fashion photography in the sense that it allows anyone to write about and photograph fashion. Some examples of this are Streetstyle Copenhagen and wiwt.com.