For our constructed image we decided that we wanted to look at the element of duality. We started with this idea so that we could construct a more complex narrative to portray interlaced binary opposites. This lead us to construct our narrative around the ‘American Dream’.
The concept of showing this idea of a duality to the American Dream, is to use the stereotypical signifiers of the ‘perfect American lifestyle’ but our narrative would subtly also portray the extreme ‘dark side’ to this concept of ‘American Perfection’.
The visual focus of this shoot will be tailored predominately to the 1950’s America. We made this choice as the high point of the American Dream and it’s most iconic propaganda campaigns are post world war II, starting in the late 40’s and 50’s.
Our set build will be of the typical 1950’s family dining room, as the dining room is the heart of the family life. It is where the family meet every day, to share their home cooked meal and bond together.
Looking at the concept of ‘Blue Velvet’, there is the idea that behind the white picket fence, past the perfect mowed lawn, there exists an incredibly dark and twisted life that is hidden from the world behind this mask of consumerism.
Our narrative will look at the American mother, as the mother is the one that keeps the house clean and in perfect order and prepares the meal to hold the family together. Our perfect American mother however, will be replaced by a lonely woman gone insane and delusional through her obsession with the ‘American Dream’; desperately attempting to pursue this. She has set up the full family dining room ready for dinner but she has no family. She has masked herself and life in the products of the American Dream to the extent where even her skin and posture will appear fake, and constructed, to show a loss of the human side to this consumerists’ dream.
We will move away from the concepts of photographer’s like Gregory Crewdson and take elements of the lighting concepts of Finaly Mckay, where everything is lit meticulously to eliminate all shadows, making the person appear plastic.
The concept of showing this idea of a duality to the American Dream, is to use the stereotypical signifiers of the ‘perfect American lifestyle’ but our narrative would subtly also portray the extreme ‘dark side’ to this concept of ‘American Perfection’.
The visual focus of this shoot will be tailored predominately to the 1950’s America. We made this choice as the high point of the American Dream and it’s most iconic propaganda campaigns are post world war II, starting in the late 40’s and 50’s.
Our set build will be of the typical 1950’s family dining room, as the dining room is the heart of the family life. It is where the family meet every day, to share their home cooked meal and bond together.
Looking at the concept of ‘Blue Velvet’, there is the idea that behind the white picket fence, past the perfect mowed lawn, there exists an incredibly dark and twisted life that is hidden from the world behind this mask of consumerism.
Our narrative will look at the American mother, as the mother is the one that keeps the house clean and in perfect order and prepares the meal to hold the family together. Our perfect American mother however, will be replaced by a lonely woman gone insane and delusional through her obsession with the ‘American Dream’; desperately attempting to pursue this. She has set up the full family dining room ready for dinner but she has no family. She has masked herself and life in the products of the American Dream to the extent where even her skin and posture will appear fake, and constructed, to show a loss of the human side to this consumerists’ dream.
Looking at other films like ‘American Beauty’, ‘The Truman Show’ and ‘Fight Club, we wish to take their concepts of obsession with possessions, with the material objects, and in this action the possessions consume the consumer, and they lose sight of meaning in their self identity until they are no longer human. Another visual and concept film reference is 'Donnie Darko' for it's physiological aspects much like that of 'Fight Club'.
We will move away from the concepts of photographer’s like Gregory Crewdson and take elements of the lighting concepts of Finaly Mckay, where everything is lit meticulously to eliminate all shadows, making the person appear plastic.
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