B.A Workshop Post Production 12th October 2010

Today we had a workshop with Susanna and Jake. It was mainly to show the benefits of retouching, it was a long but productive day where I learnt how to make further additions to pictures and blend the colours so that these additions look natural. The more I learn about post-production techniques, the more I don't mind looking at the near perfect images in fashion magazines. Over the last few years I have seen the Before and After so many times that I know all is not as it appears. I was, true to form, a little distracted by the fact that the model looked like Katie Waisel from the X factor and Jake the photographer/retoucher looked a bit like Leonardo Di Caprio, now that he has some hair anyway. Pretty sure when he taught us Photoshop in year one, he was bald.

Goldwell Project - Pink Group

We have decided our groups for the Goldwell industrial project and have been given the group name PINK - Not a chosen name but the whole year group are divided into colours. Our group should work well together as we all have different strengths that will hopefully produce a creative set of images.

Team Pink: 

Me! Julie Kerr:  Hair and Makeup with a great interest also in special effects.

Sophie Surridge: Styling and Photography - focusing more on styling

Elliot Dollie:  Styling and Photography- focusing more on Photography

Tereza Bila: Makeup and Hair, a highly creative member

SuJin Jung: With a great flare for amazing results with hair 

Sky Anderson: Makeup and Hair with a strong art background and love for colour

Kirsty Coleman: TV and Special Effects: A creative member who reproduced an Avatar makeup for her  final project last year 

Fran Boyd: Styling and Photography - Focusing more on styling for this project


We had a group meeting before class yesterday and all showed each other Power Points and images of our initial ideas. A lot of our ideas seemed to blend well together, main influences coming through were strong colours to represent a strong woman, such as red and white and black to contrast. The 1970's were also very influential.




We looked at images of half images/half sketch. I feel it is almost a metaphor for how you can be as creative as you want with Goldwell - as though your almost able to sketch out the perfect hairstyle/cut/colour, and Goldwell could create it for you. 

Briefing at Goldwell HQ

This morning we had the a presentation at The Goldwell Academy on Sackville Street in Green Park. We were given an outline of the company's history and values by  Michelle Cox- Brand Marketing Manager for Goldwell.

Key points I took from the presentation were the companies main claim "Dedicated to Colour Perfection"  --- which they achieve by the use of

• Product Initiatives
• Ongoing Education (within the academy and its salons) 
• Icons (Brand Ambassadors) 
• Events such as Colour Zoom - the worldwide hair colourist competition.

Their Philosophy is "People don't buy brands, they join them"

 Afterwards, we were introduced to the 'Play It Strong' theme by William Wilson - the Head of Technical and Creative Direction at Goldwell. 

William showed us the new video that showcases the new trends coming through in 2011. We were seeing this even before it went live to industry as the outline for the year, as that will happen on Monday. 

The Video highlighted  a lot of trends that Goldwell deemed key and influential for 2011. The main theme running through was one of:

•  a chess game 
• The colours black/white/red (Good news as we favoured these colours in our initial Pink Group brain storm)
• Strong, independant yet playful characters. 
• The girls were often boysish, whilst still retaining their femininity
• The focus was on hair, but all aspects of the image (styling, makeup, model, photogrpahy) were now being considered - this is fairly new for Goldwell as a company
• Focusing specifically on Hair colours, Blackened tones were prominent.

A name that keeps being repeated over and over is GEORGE LAMB, who seems to have done the impossible and made grey cool :) We will try to not imitate this, but to be inspired to create the NEXT influence and be trend setters rather than followers.

Why am I blogging???? :)

This blog provides a year-long opportunity for me to reflect on my learning which will support my personal career planning and future aspirations. This will encompass my experiences on all units during my specialism year, and will enable me to make links and cross references between them. 

I will be able to identify the different factors that have helped shape my progress and the ways I have responded to these.

Through the evaluation of my final assignments, along with broader skills related to areas such as enterprise, practice and professional/career development, I will also identify and evaluate personal strengths and aspirations and establish clear strategies for future planning.