TUUDI...
TUUDI (Scarlett Ash-Ingley) is an alternative pop artist based in London who crafts immersive narratives and storylines with a retrospective and futuristic electronic sound.
HOMETOWN
GLORY
PHOTO
SHOOT
A PROJECT SET BY MY UNDERGRAD COURSE AT UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS LONDON, IN WHICH WE HAD TO CREATE A SERIES OF IMAGES FOR THE FILM CAMERA SUPPLIER, PARALLAX PHOTOGRAPHIC.
EACH MONTH, PARALLAX’S WEBSITE FEATURES A 'FILM REVIEW' EDITORIAL WHICH SHOWCASES THE WIDE RANGE OF LOOKS WHICH CAN BE ACHIEVED BY SHOOTING ON DIFFERENT FILM FORMATS, UNDER DIFFERENT CONDITIONS. FOR THEIR COMMUNITY OF FILM ENTHUSIASTS, THE REVIEWS ARE A KEY WAY TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH NEW TRENDS, INNOVATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES IN FILM PHOTOGRAPHY.
THIS BRIEF TASKED US WITH SEEKING OUT AND THEN COLLABORATING WITH AN UP-AND-COMING MUSICIAN, TO CAPTURE A SERIES OF IMAGES CENTRED ON WHAT HOME MEANS TO THEM. THE FINAL IMAGES NEEDED TO EITHER BE SHOT ON FILM, OR SHOT DIGITALLY AND THEN EDITED TO MIMICK 35MM, INSTANT, OR MEDIUM FORMAT FILM STOCK.
THE DELIVERABLES
THE CASE STUDY
TUUDI is an up-and-coming alt-pop singer who wants to develop new ways via social media to push her upcoming songs successfully. From TUUDI’s perspective, a photoshoot demonstrating her concept of “home” will help her fans feel that parasocial bond tighten. A parasocial relationship is one-sided between a performer and the audience members who watch. It’s one-sided because the performer doesn’t know any of their viewers, yet despite this, the relationship feels authentic to the audience members. From my perspective, film photography has a very nostalgic feeling attached to it. TUUDI could relate to having all her childhood photos shot on film. The format feels like a series of memories - like home.
TUUDI grew up in the county of Bedfordshire before moving to London to study at a university and making the city her home once she graduated. The two of us could relate to each other, moving from small towns with little support as creatives to the largest hub for those who adore the arts. Her interests in fashion, movies, travelling and music allowed her to build up a found family in this city. They’re the things she finds solace in, making them her home, and that’s what we captured. Travelling across London, including thrift and record stores in Brick Lane and a cinema in Peckham, visualises how easy it is to become soaked in the city's culture. The locations are an externalisation of the internal feeling of home that TUUDI has presented to her audience. Her passions are her home, as is creating her music - hence the visual motif of her laptop and headphones throughout the different locations, given she makes her music electronically on her computer.
Film photography offers these imperfections that you can’t get rid of. Developing film adds a layer of tangibility to punctuate the intimacy of TUUDI sharing her life, culminating in a way that’d endear her more to the audience she wants to capture with her music. They can relate to her through the interests they share with her, delivered in a nostalgic, tactile manner that reminds them of home. Parasocial relationships are built on likability due to perceived similarities between the influencer and the audience member.
This photoshoot was done digitally but edited to give the illusion of film photography. The equipment used was my own because my lens is from when film cameras were the norm. Hence, the lens creates this natural softness immediately, making the images seem more like film photos before I even had the chance to edit them. The colour-reversal film Kodak Ektachrome 5294 inspired the editing process - specifically how it was utilised in season two of the HBO drama Euphoria (2019-present). Developing Ektachrome as a negative instead of a positive creates these visually attractive green tones you wouldn't typically get, so the colour mixer tool and colour grading wheels in Adobe Lightroom achieved this green tint, mixed with yellows and oranges. Adjusting the amount of noise via Photoshop also washes out the images slightly, and the “dust and scratches” add slight distortions. The aim was to have the aesthetic of dirtiness, with the vibe of a rough texture, like matte paper, being scanned onto a computer.
The lived-in aesthetic of tactile dirtiness to heighten emotional intimacy demonstrates how film can be used to elevate a concept.
TUUDI grew up in the county of Bedfordshire before moving to London to study at a university and making the city her home once she graduated. The two of us could relate to each other, moving from small towns with little support as creatives to the largest hub for those who adore the arts. Her interests in fashion, movies, travelling and music allowed her to build up a found family in this city. They’re the things she finds solace in, making them her home, and that’s what we captured. Travelling across London, including thrift and record stores in Brick Lane and a cinema in Peckham, visualises how easy it is to become soaked in the city's culture. The locations are an externalisation of the internal feeling of home that TUUDI has presented to her audience. Her passions are her home, as is creating her music - hence the visual motif of her laptop and headphones throughout the different locations, given she makes her music electronically on her computer.
Film photography offers these imperfections that you can’t get rid of. Developing film adds a layer of tangibility to punctuate the intimacy of TUUDI sharing her life, culminating in a way that’d endear her more to the audience she wants to capture with her music. They can relate to her through the interests they share with her, delivered in a nostalgic, tactile manner that reminds them of home. Parasocial relationships are built on likability due to perceived similarities between the influencer and the audience member.
This photoshoot was done digitally but edited to give the illusion of film photography. The equipment used was my own because my lens is from when film cameras were the norm. Hence, the lens creates this natural softness immediately, making the images seem more like film photos before I even had the chance to edit them. The colour-reversal film Kodak Ektachrome 5294 inspired the editing process - specifically how it was utilised in season two of the HBO drama Euphoria (2019-present). Developing Ektachrome as a negative instead of a positive creates these visually attractive green tones you wouldn't typically get, so the colour mixer tool and colour grading wheels in Adobe Lightroom achieved this green tint, mixed with yellows and oranges. Adjusting the amount of noise via Photoshop also washes out the images slightly, and the “dust and scratches” add slight distortions. The aim was to have the aesthetic of dirtiness, with the vibe of a rough texture, like matte paper, being scanned onto a computer.
The lived-in aesthetic of tactile dirtiness to heighten emotional intimacy demonstrates how film can be used to elevate a concept.