Sportswear

We started off the sportswear project by visiting well known sports shops such as LilyWhites, Nike Town, Adidas etc… We had to take note of things that interested us in each shop and how each brand is promoted differently. In Nike Town (where all of the images have been taken) the layout and design of the shop is very extravagant and interactive, where as in LilyWhites everything is very basic and not very creative. The things that interested me the most in Nike Town was the variety of interactive and creative displays. There were images of iconic sportsmen/women, films, sculptures, installations, games and well thought out advertisements and campaigns (old and new).  When we had finished photographing inspirational ideas in each sports shop we were given a quick styling task, were we had to pick a range of different outfits and take "selfies". I feel that this task really did improve my understanding of sportswear, from shape, fit and material, to sport, colour and combination. The images did not have to be creative but it  was for us to get a clearer understanding of sportswear. After this exercise we had to choose a sport or brand to promote and look in to previous adverts, campaigns, films, editorials etc… That could potentially inspire us. 

I started off by looking at Nike adverts and noticed that there is mostly a hidden meaning behind the brightly coloured and technology inspired clothing. I became aware that Nike tend to touch on dreams, culture and poverty a lot which is very contrasting due to Nikes very American wealthy status. 

I have demonstrated some of the Nike adverts that interested me, they are both fairy different styles, but there are certain aspects of both that I could incorporate into a video of my own. The first advert particularly interests me, its very stripped back and simple, the production is far from contrived and the American wealthy connotations Nike adverts can have (like the second one) are not at all present. Its just one boy, in an open field, jogging and achieving a goal with a pair of nike trainers on. Now that I was set on the idea of filmmaking in a Nike style advertisement, I had to choose a sport to base it on. I wanted to stick to the unusual social matters that Nike sometimes touch upon and use a really unexpected sport that most people are not familiar with. A friend of mine suggested the Japanese Martial Arts, Aikido, because her brother was  practicing at the time. I had personally never heard of Aikido before, so this was perfect for my concept. I wanted to use an uncommon sport to utilise the idea of contrast, most people think of popular sports when they hear "Nike" such as football or running. I thought it would be interesting if I could combine a obscure sport with a brand known world wide. The idea isn't to promote Aikido, but to echo the fact that Nike can in fact be worn for the majority of sport, training or practices.  To continue on from this idea of "Nike being worn for anything"  I thought the video would benefit form showing before and after training shots. These would include street style nike trainers, clothing and gym bag contrasting with the traditional wrap around jacket and black trousers. I also came up with the idea of using an untypical ethnicity for my model to exaggerate my initial contrasting idea. 

Aikido is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Aikido is often translated as "the way of unifying with life energy or as the Way of harmonious spirit." Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attacker from injury. Aikido is performed by blending with the motion of the attacker and redirecting the force of the attack rather than opposing it head-on. Aikido training is mental as well as physical, emphasising the ability to relax the mind and body even under the stress of dangerous situations.

合 – ai – joining, unifying, combining, fit

気 – ki – spirit, energy, mood, morale

道 – dō – way, path

I also decided to review the work of Marina Abramović, she is a Serbian performance artist who's work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. I thought that Abramović's style would be complementary to my idea because of its personal connection and thought provoking messages that run throughout. 

Frank Uwe Laysiepen is another performance artist who worked and had a relationship with Abramovic in the ’70s. In 1988, the two artists decided to make a spiritual journey to represent the end of their relationship. After several years of tense relations, Abramović and Ulay decided to make a spiritual journey which would end their relationship. Each of them walked the Great Wall of China, 
starting from the two opposite ends and meeting in the middle. Ulay [Frank Uwe Laysiepen stage name] 
would start in the west in the Gobi Desert, and Abramovic would jump off from the far eastern end 
of the Wall at the Yellow Sea, after more than 1,000 miles each, they would meet in the centre. 

 “We needed a certain form of ending, after this huge distance walking towards each other. It is very human. It is in a way more dramatic, more like a film ending … Because in the end you are really alone, whatever you do.”

Abramovic and Ulay had fallen out of love by the time they actually took their walk in 1988. In fact, they had stumbled into a kind of hate or, at least, distaste for each other. The Lovers no longer loved one another. The Wedding which was to have ended the Walk had become a Divorce. As well as the story behind the video, the camera shots, angles and way of displaying these shots really interest me. Showing Ulay and Abramović on their separate journeys in the same frame creates a real sense of contrast. I think that I could use this method in my final video to show the contrast between nike street fashion, Nike Aikido sportswear and Traditional Aikido-wear.