Creative Direction

Final Images for the Photoshoot I directed.

Concept: Asheck Ahmed.

Photographers: Nicola Devereux & Hannah Prentice

Concept:

'My concept to realign body shop's brand communication is "one world, one body shop". Body Shop have said in the brief that they have lost their market leadership to younger more estute and innovative brands, such as Lush who have took body shops ethical stance forward in the new millenium, leaving the ailing body shop looking like somewhat a stale behemoth of previous era.'

My Brief:

'To tackle this rather than trying to make it hip and young and ape it's rivals I want to actually use the fact it is an established brand and the fact it is internationally recognised. I want to do a sort of benetton/toscani style campaign, based around the fact that i is in 61 countries hence the "one world, one body shop" - to communicate the fact despite newer rivals with similar eithics, the body shop remains unique and different in the present day, carrying forward it's founder, Anita Roddicks original philosophy even under the stewardship of a multinational such as L'Oreal. The central idea of "one world, one body shop" is that it means something and is recognised internationally to many different peopel of many different background, cultures and lifestyles. whilst its a cosmetics company, people have been central to teh way it ethically operates, ethically trading things such as cocoa and the alike raw materials before "fairtrade" even existed. So my idea is to do photoshoot representing those cultures and backgrounds while subtley relating it cosmetics, to be used as brand communication ads on billboards, outdoor advertising and the body shops own delivery trucks - as outlined in the brief.'

At the beginning of The Live Project I was unsure whether to focus on Creative Direction or Illustration...Although I choose to concentrate on Illustration for that last project, I did learn quite a bit on collaborating on Photo shoots.

For this mini project my work consisted of :-

• Booking the Studio
• Booking the 'Models'
• Hiring the Photographer/s
• Sorting out costume & make up
• Working alongside the founder of the project
• Working with the 'Models' on poses

One problem I encountered during the Photo shoot was my role being almost taken over at times. We established at the beginning of the project that I would direct the photo shoot but working with a fellow viscommer meant the level of professionalism was brought down a notch and my job was not taken as seriously I would have hoped. However, I felt it was important to establish my role and make this clear. If I were to collaborate again, I feel that the professional level would have to be lifted.

Overall I enjoyed the experience very much and was happy with the outcome of the photos. The Photographers worked really well together and followed direction even better. I feel that the photographs answered the Brief I was set and the day as a whole moved swiftly and stress free.