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Notes and Commentary By: Robyn Barnette
After the success that resulted from the first set of photos in "The Bratz Have Arrived," and after the success of having created a video slideshow devoted to the "Elite Eight" Bratz dolls, I thought that it would be a great idea to devote my next Bratz Photography Project to one Bratz doll. In this case, I decided to devote this next project to Fianna, since Fianna has that natural and playful beauty to her where you cannot help but fall in love with her. She is just so damn lovely, and the first photo of Fianna in the photo album emphasizes this. In addition, I knew that my primary objective in creating this set of Bratz photos and its corresponding video slideshow was to amplify what I had done previously and present a whole lot of new things for everyone to enjoy. And some of those new things that I attempted for this Bratz Photography Project were not conceivable or achievable in real life. For instance, a shot where Fianna and Jade are laying down on a bed of M&M's candies? A creative idea if there ever was one, and it is included in this project. In fact, it is one of my most favorite shots in this set of Bratz photos devoted to Fianna, much less one of my most favorite shots in all the Bratz photos that I have captured. Fianna is right side up, Jade is upside down, and the cool thing about this photo is that if anyone rotates it 180 degrees, Jade is staring back in the same way that Fianna is staring. It is quite an amazing feat for me to accomplish this task, and even I am astounded as to how incredible the photo came out. The inspiration for the photo came from the movie "Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory," but I am not sure what inspired me to set up Fianna and Jade in the manner that I did. I used over 2 lbs. of M&M's in the shot, and although I wanted to eat all of them, I figured that they would make great Halloween treats. So I gave away the M&M's candies. The M&M's shot also indicates how totally unfair it would be if I devoted the project entirely to Fianna. Thus, the concept arose where I wanted to include other Bratz dolls in the project, such as Nevra, Meygan, and Dana. Cloe was also considered, but problems with styling her hair and posing her in the correct manner caused her to be rejected from this project. Eventually, it was decided that Cloe would appear in a future Bratz Photography Project devoted to the First Edition Bratz dolls. Another favorite shot, and one which is also considered an amazing feat, is where Fianna is standing in what looks like a ring of fire. The ring of "fire" that Fianna is standing in is not fire at all — it is a reflection of light bulbs coming from a chandelier. But there is actual fire in the shot, as is I used four Glade Fragrance candles, to emphasize Fianna's nickname "Fragrance" (which was the primary inspiration behind the shot). As amazing as this shot was, however, I did suffer a headache from it, primarily due to the strong scents of the fragrance candles. One candle emits a strong scent as it is. Imagine being in a room with four of them, and I think it is quite apparent what that experience is going to be like. Just like "The Bratz Have Arrived," all the photos were shot on either cloudy days or either during sunrise or sunset. This is because the sunlight created unwanted shadows on the dolls' faces. The only photo shot during a sunny day was the photo of Fianna in the meadows, with the sun shining behind Fianna. The wheat stalks helped reduce the amount of sunlight that was shining and added a much more awesome effect to the shot. Normally when I take photos of these Bratz dolls, I take about twenty or thirty shots, adjusting the positions of the dolls and camera movements. And I analyze each of the photos before deciding on one that I believe is the winning shot. For that photo of Fianna in the meadows, that shot was a winning shot nailed in one take. It is pretty obvious that Bratz is the crown jewel of the toy industry and has entrenched itself as a jewel for the photography that I enjoy doing. I could not imagine doing something like this with any other doll line. "Funkin' Out Fianna" was a much larger and more massive scale project, requiring me to utilize my imagination and creativity to a degree where many of the ideas were original and requiring me to travel to locations that were upwards of 100 miles from my house (since the best locations I wanted to capture the shots at were either nowhere near my house or deemed private property). It was much more extensive than what I had done previously, but I am very happy with how the photos came out and how the video slideshow came out as well. I do regret that it took a lot longer than expected to complete this project, but there was plenty of extensive post-production that involved reshooting photos and retouching work. I also insisted on such absolute perfection and aimed for something much higher for "Funkin' Out Fianna" that by the end of the first week, only two out of sixteen photos were shot. Ironically enough, the two photos were shot inside my house: The M&M's shot and the ring of fire shot. Yes, this project was a bitch, but was it worth all the trouble I endured? Hell yeah. | |||||||||
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