Kicks Portrait Film Series

Kicks turned to us studying Communication Design at Berghs for inspiration. They wanted to fill the campaign name “Set beauty free” with meaning. Together with three girls in my class, we came up with a series of portrait films. We decided to meet the target audience where they are, taking a more realistic approach to beauty than what’s often seen in commercials.

My main responsibilities: filming and editing

 

The film

 

Displaying the audience

Set beauty free immediately spoke to us. This was a concept name which we all agreed had potential to break out of the norms. Neither of us like the norms set by the beauty industry. The models and editing of them sets unreachable standards of what beauty should be. We wanted to take beauty down to earth and display what it really is. We wanted to display how different it can be from person to person and even from day to day. Everybody is different and so is their definition of beauty.

Our idea is to make a series out of this, releasing one video every month during the campaign period. Everybody interested to participate can apply on Kicks’ website for their chance to be in one of the portraits. No influencers will be picked for this project. Our aim with these videos is to display somebody who might as well be your neighbor, not somebody who is famous and has a media identity. That wouldn’t be much different from the retouched models.

The structure

Every part of the series will be portraying to beauty routine of the person it’s about. May it be a long makeup routine or a short one, somebody with a detailed skincare routine or maybe an hairstyling interest. Whatever part of beauty it may be, as long as it’s compatible with Kicks’ sortiment.

Home movie feel

How can you show somebody’s daily life in an accurate way if you cram in an entire film team with lights and mic boom in their homes? You couldn’t. A life is always a bit messy and imperfect, so the production should reflect that. We choose to work a lot with handicam, zooming and focus change - capturing the moment as it plays out. There are no retakes in life so there shouldn’t be in a documentary about it.

 

Limited packaging

 

Displaying the audience

Building on the concept of displaying one person and their soul, I created packaging for Ida Vera and her video. I wanted to add more value to the campaign and give it a deeper ground to stand upon. I made two collections, each based on important quotes from Ida Vera’s documentary. Ida Vera (together with Kicks) will decide what products will be included and of course, in which colors.

My technique

Since Ida Vera likes when you can see the texture of the skin through the makeup, I choose to work with water colors. They have that transparent, humble feeling I was after. I choose to sprinkle salt over the wet paint for a crystalized effect, reminding me of skin cells. I let the water paintings take place on the packaging, and minimized the text and other elements as much as possible.

 

Söndagsmiddag (Sunday night dinner)

Ida Vera said that she could create a crazy vivid makeup look whenever. She doesn’t limit it to raves, it was just as possible for it to be what she created for her Sunday night dinner with dad.

Välbefinnande (wellbeing)

When Ida Vera is wearing colorful makeup she feels most like herself. For her makeup isn’t a necessity, but it’s something that makes her feel good and happy.

How we collaborated

In this project, we created the plan and the ideas through discussion. I took more responsibility for filming, though all of us filmed a bit. While Helena and I edited half of the movie each, Johanna was more responsible for the print ads. Rebecca was in charge of contact with Ida Vera and making sure our collaboration ran smoothly.

I enjoyed working with this group since everyone had a collaboration mindset, being open for all ideas lifted and happy to build upon one another’s ideas.

The team

Movie: I collaborated with Johanna Åhling, Helena Stjärnström and Rebecca Helland.

Packaging: This part is my own.

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