Chante Johnson Reflective Journal

IMAGE: PHOTOGRAPHER: KEIRAN MCMULLAN STYLING: CHANTE JOHNSON

In an attempt to understand..

BA2B REFLECTIONS BY CHANTE JOHNSON

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MY INITIAL THOUGHTS AND IDEAS

I had this idea about manhood and masculinity, I think it has become a small obsession. I keep thinking about how it has changed and is still changing, how the feminine and masculine are merging and becoming something new . I am going to bring it up in a research report lecture we have at uni and get some feedback and ideas about that. I am not 100% confident in the idea so i think getting some feedback and notes on what style report it would fit into will help me develope .

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“IF

YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE DOING IT WOULD NOT BE CALLED RESEARCH, WOULD IT?” - ALBERT EINSTEIN

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WITH KAT EASTHOPE

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When i told kat my idea she said it was original and was enthusiastic about it, i wasn’t too sure on the basis of what style of dissertation it would fit into still, plus I found it quite hard to commit to an idea and research it whilst having other time consuming projects along side it, however I kept my ear to the ground listening out for things that may relate to my subject.

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“TODAY

I AM EXCITED ABOUT EVERYTHING” - UNKNOWN

C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T Day

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The

first

meet

up

We were briefed and given our groups. Thank god I already knew two people from my group. I jumped right in and suggested we make a group chat so that we could easily communicate with each other and I proceed to make a group chat although i was very nervous I guess I’m not as completely confident as I think I am.

We sat down and discussed how we find working in groups and what we thought of the brief. We very quickly all seemed to land on the same page. We thought social realism was the best section to follow through with. We all were drawn to the image of the four boys on the train, I cant quite remember the back story of the image.

We researched into social realism and what it meant to our each individual practice. We looked to them combine those elements, we mostly gathered narrative and meaning were important factors . That mixed with real life issue, The images we found where artists had used social realism we noticed they would reflect the issues of society mostly revolving around war. I thought we could use this angle to start our narrative, I suggested the womens march . This is something real, it has a lot to go on. Everyone seemed to like that idea there was not much excitement about my idea therefore i suggested everyone go away do more research and if anyone came up with any more concepts to share them with us.

I like to assume a certain role when I work in group projects, I want everyone to have their fair turn to speak and I want everyone to pitch in . I try to keep a clear line of communication and set small deadlines. I wouldn’t say i assume a leadership role but I like to keep things as simple as they need to be .

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“ALONE

WE CAN DO SO LITTLE; TOGETHER WE CAN DO SO MUCH” - Helen Keller

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A trip to Cambridge

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Cambridge University was next level posh and I cant say I was a custom to it, however the talk was worth the trip. The panel included Jane Shepherdson the former chief executive of whistles and former brand director of Topshop. Pandora Sykes a freelance journalist, stylist, consultant and former fashion features editor of The Sunday Times. Kerry Taylor fashion historian and owner of Kerry Taylor’s Auctions. Ellie Pithers who is a fashion features editor at Vogue, although the commentators voice was most likely one of the most annoying I have ever heard, I found the talk to be very insightful and interesting. I made an effort to ask questions, I like to think I may run into them again one day and they may remember the girl with the afro. Its something I do whenever I meet someone interesting, it intrigues me to know what industry professionals have to say on things I think to myself. I asked if they thought who has the most power in the industry, was it the big brands or the consumer. No one really had a definitive answer for me it was more about a combination of the two.

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“HERE’S TO STRONG WOMEN, MAY WE KNOW THEM, MAY WE BE THEM, MAY WE RAISE THEM” - UNKNOWN

C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T Day

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Group

Chat

Our tutors set up drop in tutorial sessions to help us with our groups, we decided it would be best too have a second meeting before we decided to have a group meeting to discuss development ideas and research everyone has done; We planned to have the group meeting on Thursday and our tutorial on Friday. Separately I went away and thought about what i already know about the womans march and what draws me in. Something I remembered was a spoken word poem, #Nasty Woman, research told me her inspiration came from where Donald Trump had called Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman” and the poem evidently is also about trump. Its very powerful and I found it very moving. I wanted to recreate this anger and emotion. A feeling of going to war , I devised a moodboard ready for Thursday and was going to deliver my Idea.

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“EMPOWERED WOMEN, EMPOWER WOMEN.” - UNKNOWN

C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T Day

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Second

meeting

We met at St. Georges and everyone agreed to go forward with my idea of the womens march, I showed them my mood boards and everyone started to get my vision and added in there own bits of research in terms of ways we could do lighting, Kieran suggested to create more urban and rough images that we desaturated them, him and Jemma discussed shooting on film and digital to get a range of shots. Kieran suggested a location that was local and easy assessable and I gave myself the job of finding the models.

“TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK�

- UNKNOWN

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C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T Day

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Troubleshoot

Getting everyone available at the same time to get this content created was already proving difficult. We were going to attempt to shoot the film and stills on two separate days, i raised my concerns that I didn’t think that was reasonable in terms of being able to get models who will be free on the same days. Also the fact that an activity day “interchange” had been slammed right in the middle of our project was enraging.

I tried to find models who would fit the look and who were free on both days and I was coming up empty. I decided that we would have to do the film and the stills on one day if we wanted the footage to work best, we would have to shoot it on the same day, We made adjustments to timings of the shoot and agreed on a day.

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“YOU HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED THIS MOUNTAIN, TO SHOW OTHERS IT CAN BE MOVED” - WORDTOTHEWERD

C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T Day 4 - Troubleshoot Round Two

When your not paying your models and you are only giving them a couple days notice on top of the fact is starts at 9:30, trouble.

From my idea of five models to give diversity, I was down to one.

Luckily our film pair had been working on the narrative which we found we could easily mold around one model.

“I DONT FIX PROBLEMS, I FIX MY THINKING. THEN THE PROBLEMS FIX THEMSELVES” - LOUISE. L HAY

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C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T Day

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Tutorials

Im not one to like making excuses for things, but I have too admit so much pressure to get something done in a short amount of time with a good amount of depth. I found that I struggled with that, I found it made me very frustrated and I am not sure if I work as good as I could with more time. This proves problematic for me as I know working in industry you could be given deadlines even shorter. However I do think this is a learning curve because I always assumed I worked quite well under deadlines.

“STOP THINKING SO HARD ABOUT EVERYTHING, STOP OVER ANALYSING. JUST GO. JUST DO. AND IF IT FEELS RIGHT, GO WITH THE FLOW” - CURIANO.COM

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C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T Day

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The

shoot

We met up at 9:30, some of the group were running late but mostly on the whole we were running on time. The weather was nice and It seemed everything was running smoothly. Getting to the location was easy as it was a two minute walk. Everyone was set up and rareing to go. I found it easy to work with everyone I asked if everyone had everything they need and if they needed me to help with anything; I find the best thing todo on a shoot is make sure that everyone is communicating. Discussing shots and what they are thinking, I didnt want someone to go away feeling as if they didnt get to have a say in how the shots looked. We all spoke about shots agreed on what worked and what didn’t. I directed the model, mostly because i knew her and she was comfortable taking direction from me, helping with the poses , the attitude we wanted, I also gave direction as to what shots I thought would look good. I also kept us on schedual, asking where else everyone wanted to set up around the location, what props were needed ect. When everyone had the footage they needed we made a plan to keep eachother updated with progress of when the images and first drafts of the film would be ready.

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“COMING TOGTHER IS A BEGINNING; KEEPING TOGETHER IS PROGRESS; WORKING TOGETHER IS SUCCESS” - HENRY FORD

C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T Day

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Masterclass

Day

Meeting the fashion editor of Vice was the main reason I attended the master class day, her insight in the industry is invaluable. We also had a talk with a set stylist and designer, she also helped us by discussing some things that would maybe slip the mind when planning a shoot but also things to make the process easier.

What I found was some the smaller thing is that could easily be forgotten such as a call sheet, when in the rush to planning a shoot with the short deadlines we have. A call sheet could be something that although may seem like something small could make the whole process easier. Also bringing food to shoots, having something for models to eat during the shoot.

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“ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE A BEGINNER. NO ONE STARTS OFF BEING EXCELLENT�

- UNKNOWN

I N D E P E N D E N T P R O J E C T - DISORDER MAGAZINE

This year I really wanted to up my game, taking on the true say yes to everything and thinking about the logistics later, this is what i did when I heard about the disorder shoot, I knew it was something I had to go for because I have just decided to take all opportunities ones that are especially in my an area that could help me achieve my career goals. I chose an idea that i had been hanging onto for quite a while and decided to run with it. When preparing for my idea I took tips from interchange and decided to write everything down that I needed to do like what models i needed to get, getting the location ect, As I completed everything I would tick it off the list and move on to the next thing.

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“THE BEST THING I EVER DID WAS BELIEVE IN ME�

- UNKNOWN

C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T Day

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Instagram

Myself and Jemma had started to upload things to the group Intsagram however I felt that it didn’t look very appealing or looked very considered so I decided to delete everything and add some more images. I welcomed everyone to give me feed back on the feed and suggest more images to add. Again no one was really listening to me and just kept uploading random things however when I said im going to delete some and filter it down abit no one had an objections and I kept a few photos that everyone had put up. I reorganised the final images and in the end I think the instagram worked well.

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“I JUST WANT IT TO LOOK HALF DESCENT” - CHANTE JOHNSON, 2017

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- Nivindya Sharma

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I was beyond excited to meet Nivindya, the more clued up on trend forecasting and the more I read the WGSN website.

The more I know trend forecasting is something that i am seriously considering getting into. Nivindya could be a key element in getting me there, however when she came although she gave a very interesting talk about the kind of thing she does for WGSN I couldn’t help but be disappointed that she doesn’t work in the element of WGSN that i have an interest in.

“A WISE PERSON KNOW’S THERE IS SOMETHING TO BE LEARNED FROM EVERYONE” - UNKNOWN

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C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T F C P - First Meeting We have just been briefed on a new project called “display story”, we were put in groups and asked to create a pop up shop, in which we have to design a window display or a display of some kind which is what I have assumed, Im not really looking that forward to this brief I think its just because im not that interested in visual merchandising and we are coming super close to deadline. We were put in our groups which i was fine about, had no problem with my group members other than the fact that we might clash a bit. We went downstairs and looked around Online to look at pop up shops, and we also decided we wanted to set up a pop up store for a magazine. Starting off with being put in the group and then straight away starting to work on our idea, I think i am quite easy going in a group, im willing to explore different ideas. What I think im good at is maybe taking an idea that someone has come up with even if it isnt my favorite or something I would have come up with but i can develop it and add to it. This I think will work for me in the industry because you dont get to pick who you work with and sometimes what you work with.

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“TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR POINT ME TO THE NEAREST BAR” - UNKNOWN

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- Geraldine Wharry

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I have probably spoken about Geraldine in my work more than anyone else, but alas here we are again. This time it was In the flesh!, she came to give us a talk on her business and about her time in the industry and what she has accomplished. She gave us tips such as how she organizes keeping up to date with a variety of topics by having a spread sheet on excel for news, art fashion ect. She spealises in micro trends and mostly gave us a kind of how to and top tips on collecting/ collating data. After her talk I approached her because she had mention she takes interns, I took down her email and set up a skype interview.

“IF SOMEBODY OFFERS YOU AN AMAZING OPPORTUNITY BUT YOU ARE NOT SURE YOU CAN DO IT, SAY YES THEN LEARN HOW TO DO IT LATER” - RICHARD BRANSON

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C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T F C P - A Group Project or a Dictatorship

For me, a group project is something where everyone pitches in, in what we need to do. Their may be someone who keeps tabs on the groups progress and makes sure that things are getting done. However I dont think its up to one group member or two too give out roles to everyone and hand out jobs for everyone to do.

Myself I suggested what I could do, I didn’t wait for a job to be given to me which I felt is what other members of the group were waiting for. It does make me wonder about myself as a person and how others are, is it because im someone who doesn’t mind taking the lead that I find it easier to communicate in a group. I could have it wrong and people really didnt know what they could contribute to the group but for myself I think its my own job to let my group know what I can offer and what I think we need to have.

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“NOTE TO SELF: LET SHIT GO” - UNKNOWN

I N D E P E N D E N T P R O J E C T - DISORDER MAGAZINE

What proved the most difficult with setting up this shoot was the location, Biddys Tea Room worked perfectly with my idea and was the location I really wanted for my shoot, I first went in there shook hands with the manager and asked who i spoke to about wanting to use the space. She told me it was best to email the owner, a few hours later i did that and after waiting a few days i received no reply. Returning back to the shop I asked if there was a better way of getting hold of them they told me to just email again and thats what I did, eventually my deadline to get this shoot done was looming and I had to make arrangements for another location what was then my current place of work, I asked if I could use the upstairs floor as they didn’t use that throughout the day. With a yes and confirmation of the dates my shoot was set to go, a few days before my shoot I spoke to someone about the photographer I had chosen to my shoot and they told me that he was flakey and for them had dropped out of shoots a day before they were supposed to happen. I decided with that knowledge to not cancel on him but get a back up photographer. The second photographer agreed and with that I asked my first photographer if they were still good for the shoot. Just like you would have it they told me a day before the shoot that they would not be able to make it. I then told them that they were starting to get a name for being unreliable and that i had gotten a second photographer because of that. I hope he took the advice on board..

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“ITS GOING TO BE HARD BUT IT’S NOT IMPOSSIBLE” - UNKNOWN

C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T F C P - UPDATE

Oh dear, is my initial thoughts on my group, disagreements and arguments are making this project a lot more hassle than I think it needs to be. The idea itself is coming along nicely from my end, im getting my bits done to put into our presentation. I have been adding my bits to the group chat just to let everyone know what im doing ect. However when it comes to getting work from other group members this is when things start to get messy. I think its easy to blame everyone else for why you haven’t contributed your share to the group. To play the victim and hide behind life’s problems, in my opinion we are in a competitive industry. You lick your wounds in private, get back up and get your work done. This i can understand could be hard for others todo which as annoying as I may find it, I am still compassionate to it. I think people find it hard to hold there hands up and take accountability for things. If another’s work doesnt affect my grade, I dont find it necessary to cause an argument or any upset. I will however call a group member up on it, if i feel that they aren’t pulling there weight in the group which may not be the best thing to do.

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“BE KIND TO UNKIND PEOPLE, THEY NEED IT THE MOST” - UNKNOWN

R E S E A R C P R O J E C -Development With T. Doe

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As far as my research project goes, I changed my idea to something that i keep coming back to in my work. Which is the natural hair movement, I have been reading up on history of black hair which mostly revolves around slavery, using articles and documentaries by the bbc and collecting things on how the nature of black hair is changing now or remains the same. I have been using Instagram to get a sense of how big the trend is with accounts dedicated to teaching the maintenance of natural black hair as that has seemed to gotten lost in time where having natural hair was taboo, political and just overall not desirable. I sat down with Tamsine showed her how far I had gotten with my research and showed her a few questions and thoughts I had in terms of my dissertation question and she really got me excited about my idea. I had not been sure up until that point, because its something that I keep bringing up in my work but not fully developing or concentrating on. Also a lot of my most prominent work is centered around colour and I dont want to be known as this one trick pony. After talking about my idea i realized its just something that im passionate about and if that makes people uncomfortable or is something people may be sick of hearing about from me, I dont think thats a bad thing or makes my skills look limited.

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“DO IT FOR YOU, NOT FOR THEM�

- UNKNOWN

I N D E P E N D E N T P R O J E C T - Vogue Contest It was suggest to me by my tutor Harriet Posner to enter the vogue competition, I dont read much of the vogue magazines although I do occasionally visit their website. I have still never heard of this competition, I read into it and it was quite a bit of work to do, conducting an 800 word interview an 800 word article and 3 proposals for articles. However I decided that I may as well give it a go, I decided that I woud write my article on a question I have pondering around my mind which was who was more powerful in the industry, the brands or the consumers. I interviewed Kat Easthope, which turned out to be an amazing experience, it was more like having a conversation and I cant get enough of living my career dreams vicariously through her. To my shock I managed to get it finished in time for the deadline and I submitted it.

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“GREAT THINGS NEVER CAME FROM COMFORT ZONES�

- UNKNOWN

C O L L A B O R AT I O N P R O J E C T - PRESENTATION When a short two week project became awkward and painful HARRAH its over, presentations which I find to be quite decent. This one was different, maybe it was because we were the last group or for other reasons but it felt awkward and like no one was into it after I felt like I was trying to bring everyones moods back up, I failed miserably. Well, its over now and im happy enough with that, I think it shows when someone was counted on and demanded bits todo in the group and did not pull there weight. I think I will write this project off as a bad egg, it hasnt changed my views on being able to work in a group but just that sometimes you will have to work with different people.

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“I NEVER LOSE: I WIN OR I LEARN�

- UNKNOWN

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This project has kind of been abit of a rollercoster, doing loads of different things in s hort amount of time although was fun in the end. At the time felt unsetteling and busy, I got to work with people I usually wouldnt. I learned new things about my creative practice and learning but also confirmed things that I already knew about myself. Such as I do work well in a group, I have had too many good experiences to warrent me to think I dont know how to work in groups. However I learnt that as much as you can try not not cause conflict there will always be some if the person is looking for trouble. In terms of my creative practice and career im excited for the future/summer and the things I am going to be doing, I have alot to look forward too. It becomes more clear the more we move on through the course what I want out of my career and my time in the industry. I am looking forward to writing my dissertation weridly enough, Im excited by my idea and they said that would do alot in terms of getting through 5,000 words and it was true.