LAUREN/ TYSON
01
Is Narrative in Fashion Short Film Imperative When Used for Promotional Purposes?
This written piece was about pursuing an ongoing fascination with film and fashion’s involvement and evolvement with it. I continually keep up to date with the new developments with fashion and film, in particular those that are regarded as short films. This study focuses on how fashion films are used as a promotional tool, particularly honing in on the presence, or absence, of narrative and how successful they are in delivering the right message to their consumers. It looks at the differing market levels and techniques used to create these films and touches on how receptive consumers are on this relatively new addition to promoting fashion as digital technologies rapidly develop as the competition heightens. I found this module to be extremely motivating and I look to further my passion in researching fashion as an academic subject.
CASE/ STUDY
ABSTRACT/ This study explores the developing genre of fashion short films, whilst analysing consumer engagement with fashion film as a branding tool, it investigates the characteristics and differences of narrative and non-narrative structures within these moving images when used for promotional purposes. Previous research suggests that brand experience itself could be seen as a narrative. Consumers react in different ways when receiving manipulated texts as part of marketing strategies, these reactions include, but are not limited to; engaging to act – consumers who are inclined to buy the product, seeking identity – emotively connecting with the text, transportation, actively engaging with the story and finally, the act of immersion, a consumer that omits admiration and appreciation for the aesthetics and creativity that has gone into the image. Storytelling is an important element of marketing and it is suggested that brands reach optimum consumer awareness when their brand is instantly recognisable, presenting an aesthetic that is synonymous with their brand. To assess the rise of fashion short film and its impact on its consumers, this case study looks at the many different creative outlets that are used to promote fashion, film and the product within it. Through analysing and conducting primary research on four short fashion films; Chanel’s ‘Train de Nuit’, Free People’s ‘Roshambo’, H&M’s 2015 Sport Collection film and Rhys Frampton’s fashion film for Haizhen Wang’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection, consumers gave their perspective on how well they understood and were likely to buy into the brand after viewing each text. The films represent different market levels for similar consumer profiles to obtain a more accurate result. Findings from this research highlights positive attributes of both narrative and non-narrative structured texts, contrary to initial thoughts that narrative structures were more favourable. The results outline that the absence of narrative is similar to that of an advertisement and this is a familiar text that consumers engage with. Films with narrative were attractive to the consumer although it could sometimes result in getting lost within the story detracting from the products the brand was promoting. As a result of this study, the findings confirm the interest of fashion short film as an emerging genre when used both as a promotional tool and as a creative medium for image-makers. It also confirms that as a newer type of image it is still in its experimentation phase and it is leading to exciting new developments in the fashion industry.