Fashion: Characterisation and Casting

Characterisation

Femme Fatale

We decided we wanted a femme fatale character in our photoshoot as they are a traditional character in film noir. The dictionary definition of a femme fatale character is 'an irresistibly attractive woman, especially one who leads meninto difficult, dangerous, or disastrous situations; siren.' Femme fatales are often described as being  mysterious, duplicitous, subversive, double-crossing, gorgeous, unloving, predatory, tough-sweet, unreliable, irresponsible, manipulative and desperate women.I researched into different femme fatale characters who are in film noir's to gain inspiration for our character in our film :

Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity 

 Ellen in Leave Her to Heaven

Margot Shelby in Decoy 

From the research into femme fatale characters in film noir I noticed how they all use there sexuality to control a man, many of the femme fatales appear shy and a friendly at first until there real side is shown. I also researched into fashion editorial's that use a femme fatale inspired characters in them : 

Paolo Roversi

'Style Noir' is a series of images by Paolo Roversi of the famous model Lara Stone for Italian Vogue. Every one of the images have references to film noir such as the characterisations, props and the locations. The model is acting as the Femme fatale character in film noir films, she is pictured in a very seductive way as Femme fatale's are known to use there sexually to manipulate the other characters. She is also pictured with a male character where she is using her sexuality to hold power over him. Even though 'Style Noir' is influenced by the film noir genre from the 40's and 50's Roversi has given them a modern twist by using bright colours in the styling. The lighting from this set of images is very similar to lighting used in the films, by creating shadows on the models face adds a mysterious feel to the pictures, this is an effect we will be using in our own image. I found the different poses the models in to be very inspiring as they all make her appear very powerful, If we have our model in similar poses it will help to create the femme fatale character we want to portray in our image. 

Kayt Jones

Photographer Kayt Jones spread in Elle France is inspired by the iconic film noir era. The images include references from the film noir genre such as venetian blind lighting and various props. Even though the model is photographed against a plain background you still get a sense of a location because of props that have been used. Smoke has been used in some of the pictures which adds a more dramatic feel and gives it a similar atmosphere that the films have. The models clothing and poses makes her look very powerful as it draws your attention to her sexuality like a femme fatale character from the film noir genre. In all of the images the model is not looking at the camera and is looking out into the distance, this creates a mysterious atmosphere as it makes you wonder what she is looking at and if she is planning something.

Peter Lindbergh

'Spell bound' is an editorial by Peter Lindbergh, it tells a story of a femme fatale from 40's film noir. The images look very elegant and atmospheric with the visual choices the photographer has chosen. Low key lighting has been used which gives the images a film noir feel. By dressing the model in furs and red lips makes her look like a femme fatale character. I was inspired by the choice of having a male character as well as a female as it emphasises the characteristics of the femme fatale and how they hold power over the men.  

Steven Klein

'Lara, Fiction Noire' is an editorial Steven Klein photographed for Vogue Paris. The images look as if they have been taken in a very small warehouse, however the props used make the images look as if they were taken in different rooms. The female model in the images, Lara Stone, has been characterised as a femme fatale from film noir. In all of the images she holds a lot of power over the male characters and the clothing she is wearing enhances her sexuality which are all characteristic of femme fatale's.Steven Klein's images have a very atmospheric feel, you can see the influences from film noir such as the low key lighting, and the crime story line.

Video's

Beyonce- 'Dance for you' music video

The music video for Beyonce's 'Dance For You' has a film noir style to it. Beyonce is styled in a way that characterises her as a femme fatale with the way she has control over the male character, who is dressed in a stereotypical way of a private eye in a detective film. From the moment you first see Beyonce you can tell she is being the femme fatale character because of the way she is dressed and by the way she starts removing her clothing to use her sexuality to gain power over the male character. By having the female character walking towards the male character makes the women appear more powerful especially as the male is sitting down and has to look up to the female. The setting of the office is a stereotypical set of a film noir, the props used in the video are also typical film noir especially the venetian blinds. The lighting used is very low key and adds a very mysterious feel to the video.

Steven Klein- 'Lara, Fiction Noir'

To accompany Steven Kleins editorial 'Lara, Fiction Noir' for Vogue Paris he has made a short film. The grainy effect used in the film gives it the same gritty feel as film noir's have. The model Lara Stone is acting as the femme fatale, she is shown pointing a gun at the male character which shows how much power she has over the male character. Klein emphasises the female characters relationship with the male by repeatedly showing her having power over him. As a group we could use this video for inspiration on how we can make our femme fatale character powerful. 

Men in film noir

Men in film noir are both masculine and have a sense of vulnerability about them. Usually they get in a lot of trouble because of women especially femme fatales. In our photoshoot we want a character that would look as if they would fall for a femme fatales charms. I researched into male characters in film noir's:

Casting

In our group Katie was given the casting role however myself and the rest of the group were on the look out for people who we think would be suitable for our two characters. We decided to focus our search around the univerisity as we thought students would be more reliable as they 

would regulary visit the university so it would be easier to keep in contact with them. At first we photographed people who we thought would be ideal for our photoshoot and asked them for there contact details, we then narrowed the choices down. 

These were the three girls that we thought would be best for our femme fatale character, as a group we decided the third girl, Jennie Douglas, would be ideal as she was very photogenic and suited the role. We liked the idea of the model having blonde hair and appearing very angelic but she has a dark side which is how many femme fatales appear in film noir's. 

We asked the model we liked to come in for some test shots so we could see how she photographed in a studio setting to see if she would be the perfect model for our photoshoot. In the test shots we had her poses in a variety of ways and asked her too wear something that shows her legs as we wanted to see how her body looks as she would be wearing revealing clothing. 

We found it difficult to find a male model at first as we thought all the people we found looked to young in comparison to men in film noir's. However our idea developed which meant you wouldn't be able to see the male models face, so we decided to use another student who goes to the university called Shayne Foskett. 

Styling
Our Styling idea is to make the femme fatale character look very provocative so she looks as if she has just used her sexuality to steal the mans money. We was inspired by the styling in this photoshoot, we liked the way the model was in underwear but had a large coat on her so she looks as she has just seduced the man outside to put him in that position. We also liked models hair and make up as it looks how the femme fatale were styled in film noirs.

To get the same effect as the images above we are going to buy the underwear below from Ann Summers, We liked how it was very revealing but was still feminine and looked fashionable. Marie also bought some stockings as we thought they would make the model look very provocative. We decided on a large fur coat as they were very fashionable during the 40's and 50's. 

Rosie had a pair of heeled shoes that she thought would be ideal for the photoshoot. The shoes were ideal as the colour matched the underwear and they were the same size as the model.

We had a clothing test with the model to see if everything fit her and too see if it all worked well together. We had the model pose with a cigarette holder but we felt it looked too theatrical and didn't suit her so we choose not to use it. 

For the male model we decided we wanted him in suit trousers as during the 40's and 50's men were always dressed smart and were in suits. We also wanted our model to appear rich to show why the femme fatale has left him in a street. For shoes we decided to get smart brogues as men during that era usually wore them.

Make-up & Hair

To gain inspiration on what make up to use for our fashion photoshoot I looked online at beauty and fashion editorials that have a 50's theme to them.

From these references and from our styling references we decided we wanted the model to have dark red lips to giver the image a seductive feel, we also want her to have dark dramatic eye make up to add o the provocative feel of the image. This is the type of hair we have decided to have for the model as it was a popular hairstyle and many of femme fatale characters in film noir had that hairstyle.