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What do Magazines Mean by "Story?"
And why do so few fashion stories seem to have any discernible "storyline" in the traditional narrative sense? -------------------- EDIT: Looks like I'm ahead of the curve. http://www.juxtapoz.com/design/no-fuckh … toryteller As usual  May 18 14 11:41 pm Link NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: I have often wondered this myself and curious about people's opinions. May 19 14 12:09 am Link Are you talking about an editorial storyline? May 19 14 12:38 am Link At least one factor is context. A picture story in a fashion sense puts the clothes into places and onto people where you get a certain sense of purpose. Even when all the clothes are different, the style remains the same to provide a linkage among images. Any idea of a direct narrative of this happened and then this and then this has pretty much gone out the window. But you CAN tell the story of places, of people, of fashion. The images are each a facet of this same story, none attempting to tell the whole thing. It can be as seemingly simple as a Better Homes and Gardens set about an Easter brunch, with recipes attached. The pictures are more lyrical than literal, but they help you get in touch with the concept that's being put forward. May 19 14 12:50 am Link Sal W Hanna wrote: Like a 'fashion story,' which seems to have as its plot, 'hemlines are low this season.' May 19 14 08:13 am Link It just seems like it started with the movie directors, and worked its way down to the commercial spot directors, and now everyone wants to call what they do 'storytelling.' I feel like cake decorators are going to start saying, "this is my cake story." May 19 14 08:18 am Link NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: Magazines/Fashion "stories" are in business to sell magazine exposure and the products of their clients to specific demographics. This is advertising. May 19 14 09:38 am Link May 19 14 09:47 am Link A set of images that are coherent and clearly produced with the intention to keep them together. Practically it means that you don't have 10 completely different moods, via art direction, styling, retouching, etc. For example: if you submit a set called "Future of the Planet", and half of your images have elements that are related to the 60's, they might be awesome, but wrong. Here is one that conveys a story, or at least gives me as a viewer that sense: http://www.paulbellaart.com/gallery/tush/ May 19 14 09:53 am Link NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: and...... there is something wrong with this??? May 19 14 10:00 am Link Mac Intosh wrote: If the string of events is fairly neutral and straight-forward, we might call it a narrative. A narrative might not be more than a sequence of things that happened, one after the next. May 19 14 10:24 am Link A story is a visual depuction of well... A story... Do all your photos combined develop a coherent story? It doesnt get simpler than that... May 19 14 10:32 am Link Giuseppe Luzio wrote: But that's not really the way magazines use the word. Michael McGowan wrote: May 19 14 10:40 am Link the truth of the matter as I have experienced it is that "story" in the sense of journalism is not at all what is in play as much as is creating a mood and a connection with the intended audience...... May 19 14 10:52 am Link NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: there is quite a bit of storytelling in food and product photography... May 19 14 11:05 am Link Giuseppe Luzio wrote: Nope. Not at all. May 19 14 11:10 am Link NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: Perhaps the "problem" is that you're looking at it to make traditional narrative sense. May 19 14 11:20 am Link A point, brain-jab or message is not a story. Creating an impulse to buy a product is not telling a story. A photo equivalent of a sound bite leading a viewer to a conclusion is not a story. A photo that captures interest or conveys a feeling is not a story. A bunch of photo fragments stuck together as a washed out sepia collage is not a story. --- This is David Ury practicing story telling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgf1r2Fpiug Could this story exist in a magazine? Sure. Is this how fashion mongers flog their clobber? No. May 19 14 11:22 am Link NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: Giuseppe Luzio wrote: But that's not really the way magazines use the word. "Food Photography is storytelling now?" May 19 14 01:25 pm Link RINALDI wrote: Yep. May 19 14 07:15 pm Link Giuseppe Luzio wrote: Is there any way you could find a larger image to post? May 19 14 09:26 pm Link K I C K H A M wrote: I agree, it blows my mind what I've seen (like wtf?!)... May 19 14 09:46 pm Link RINALDI wrote: +1 May 21 14 08:19 am Link NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: Basically an editorial story should have cohesiveness, though some fashion editorials do tell an narrative story. May 21 14 08:24 am Link Alannah Jones Styling wrote: It's actually based on someone posting "Take a Look at my Nude Story," and everyone jumping on him for having a story with no story. And I said, "stories don't need an actual story," and everyone says, "oh, yes they do," and I said, "no they don't. Watch. I'll ask in the model forum," and that's what this is. May 21 14 08:30 am Link NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: Ah I see. May 21 14 09:33 am Link Giuseppe Luzio wrote: NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: All good photography, imho, is storytelling. Especially in advertising. But it can be a VERY simple, subtle story. May 21 14 10:13 am Link Alannah Jones Styling wrote: NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: HA! Yes, you're right. May 21 14 10:23 am Link In my mind, and from what I have seen, the story is just an overall theme / feel. I recently had an editorial accepted where the 'story' was a woman who stayed at home all day reading. There's no story in a literary sense... but with 8 pages all hinting at the same thing, in a subtle sense, with similar feel, atmosphere, and elements - the reader can get what we're trying to convey, just by looking at the pictures. May 21 14 11:05 am Link No Fuckhead you are not a Storyteller Design // Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 http://www.juxtapoz.com/design/no-fuckh … toryteller Austrian designer Stefan Sagmeister, creator of the firm Sagmeister & Walsh, talks about the transformation of the term storyteller in to a meaningless buzzword. “Story-teller” has been swept in to the lexicon of trendy art-speak, which bears many similarities to corporate jargon, in that it is a way to say something that sounds good without having to think too critically about it. ----------------------------  Jul 30 14 10:18 am Link NothingIsRealButTheGirl wrote: True true hahaha ^_^ Jul 30 14 10:37 am Link Giuseppe Luzio wrote: Could you have maybe posted this in a way that would not fuck up the page layout? Jul 30 14 10:49 am Link Model available for 'cake story' editorial. TF considered for a year's supply.  Ok to the question. I think there's some misunderstanding. What is an editorial? Well, it's not an advert for a start so yes the pics can go I don't care if they do tell a story. That isn't what editorial is....and so it's nit what magazines mean by 'story'. I wrote editorial for a magazine for two years. It wasn't a picture based mag though I also selected pics for some of it. It was an international journal. A bit like National Geographic but more academic. I wrote the lead 'story'. So, should I have been writing "Once upon a time there were 3 explorers, a hundred scientists at a conference, and a bad witch that ran an industry making the whole of fairyland a bit warm....: No. Because editorial , though we may refer to it as the story, is not necessarily narrative. It's THE lead story, the overview, the main feature, the magazine opinion, etc. With picture based magazines its similar but in a picture feature. So for fashion it's going to be about the clothes for the season or coming season, set into some kind of context. Can be narrative, but not necessarily. The important thing is the clothes. It's THE news stories if you like to the mag, not a narrative story. Though it can take that form which is what I think may cause confusion. With fashion mags, it's not about the photos or the model as such, though they ate important. But the main thong I'd the clothing. That's why women buy the magazines. So it needs,to be current or future and feature the current trends, what's coming etc. So the story could be about new woollens, or hemlines, or some overall vision eg some dominatrix theme if one if the,trends is leather. So context can be important, though fashion.magazines often just leave much to the reader to add narrative to the fantastic, or it could just be pure studio shots featuring a theme across it. Always there are several designers/stockists and prices given, and it could gave a title reflecting the 'story' and with devices like alliteration , or quotes, or simply ethereal evocative prose. Eg "Lavender Leather and Lace" or "Empire of the Sun" for say some Japanese inspired summer frocks/ hats. Or it can just be stripped down to the bare bones of just the clothes and the model like a mannequin and the only writing is the stockists. So it's the theme, the fashion vision for the season to come, etc. which may or may not include a narrative. But has ti have some cohesion, theme style and point which connects the clothes and images. With lifestyle mags it may be more than the clothes. The narrative may be more abstract than a narrative, but the setting and imaginary lifestyle presented may be as important as the clothing. Here's one I helped with the writing of. We met as a team under the overall project and vision of photographer Carl Ryan, talked about the overall vision for the shoot based on the clothes we wanted to feature. So we had influences in the clothing from 19th century hussars and the Crimea,equestrian inspired clothing, and sixties influences.eg the suit Chrys wears. So we thought about The cult series the Prisoner and sourced some huge sphere sculptures. We wanted a sportscar reminiscent of the one in the Prisoner, and a period hotel. The latter three also added lifestyle interest to the story. So here we have an invite to narrative. Who are the women, who has arrived in the Morgan, why no men, what may they be dressed for, etc. Daywear. Then evening wear which took the form of vintage Dior dresses (complete again with stockists etc) in a luxury period room, then lingerie as it was Valentine's day issue, with a contrast between romantic and powerful lingerie statement which brought it back to The Prisoner with the giant chessboard and surreal head pieces. Around a dozen designers involved, and we had to give the 'vision' plus the team to press offices and magazine. Though fashion based, as a lifestyle mag it has to inspire people to ideas for living on this case romantic weekend getaways. The wonderfully supportive editor came up with the story title, made some additions, but much of it was my input re text, with all the team feeding in. http://html5.pagesuite-professional.co. … d7534aaa9f Pages 183-187. So hope that's a help to the process involved. BTW.....why are you making this in the MC? I can only answer because I have a little experience in writing editorial , am able to see it in wider magazine/newspaper context; but I'm guessing most models won't, and also the 'story' is not generally ours. We usually are just players on the stage of the production. Jul 30 14 01:36 pm Link  Kim Alexis who was on 12 Vogue covers, and once was on the cover of Vogue three months in a row! Today, unless your name is Kate or Gisele, no model appears on the cover of American Vogue. Anna Wintour can't retire soon enough I should wait for the second page so this can be read properly! Anyway, if you can get your hands on "September Issue" (the documentary on the making of the September, 2007 issue of Vogue) you will get a look at how editorial stories are designed and shot. There is a difference between the color blocking editorial and the work of fashion editor Grace Coddington. It's worth watching if you have any interest in shooting editorial fashion (I have seen it at least 15 times, and I pick up something new every time) and when you see the images they are throwing away, you realize there is no chance! Coddington is the greatest living fashion editor, and tells her stories in the traditional sense, beautifully. In contrast, it's fun watching Mario Testino trying to deal with a movie "celebrity" who was picked five months in advance to be on the cover. She hacks up the entire editorial, and frustrates Testino to point he fails to get all the clothes and locations shot properly. The cover winds up being a heavily Photoshopped composite of three different images. And don't tell me Vogue isn't selling it's covers to the movie studios to promote one of their current movies. "Celebrities" my ass, these are paid promotions plain and simple. I remember when Cindy, Naomi, Christy, Linda, Tatiana were "Celebrities" because THEY were on the covers of Vogue (and Elle, and Bazaar, and, and, and.......)? John -- John Fisher 900 West Avenue, Suite 633 Miami Beach, Florida 33139 (305) 534-9322 http://www.johnfisher.com Jul 30 14 07:51 pm Link John Fisher wrote: Indeed. An interesting life story too. Jul 31 14 02:17 am Link |
