# Scandalous - PIC HEAVY



## rub

This was a project with me and my hair and makeup team (we work together almost exclusively).  I had an idea for a 1920's silent film inspired series and contacted them to see if they would like to be involved.

The shoot lasted 17 hours, we had 15 involved and can out with a 160 image series.  Here are a few from the shoot - the short version can be seen at the link below.

Kristal Burgess Photography - Facebook

C&C is appreciated if you like. Enjoy.


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## LaFoto

VERY good.
I like the idea as such, the project, the models, the clothes, the make-up, the photography. Everything!!!


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## Robin Usagani

Nice!  The only way you can make it better, if you have Don Draper on the photo


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## mwcfarms

Very very nice. Well done, I would be proud.


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## Josh66

:thumbup:

Very nice series!


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## kundalini

Space Reserved.

I have a small nit, but want to look at the entire series before commenting. No time at the moment. Until then, very well done. :thumbsup:


*EDIT: Jan 2,2011*
I've had a chance to view the whole series and my initial nit is somewhat passified.  I was very curious  how the confrontation began at camera left, but the resulting epilogue showed the demise happening camera right.  The few missing frames from the series you posted left out that slight shift to the right. Image #7 and #9 lacked continuity, couldn't figure out the sequence..... why was he alone, being shot and then being in frame with the other victim at the end result.  But as your full series progressed, the connections were more apparent, yet still a bit muddy.

To add: great series.  Lighting is very good, wardrobe is spot on.  Thanks for sharing.


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## Patrice

The Balvenie: yum yum!

BTW, I really like your series, very imaginative and well executed, I think so anyway.


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## Cheffriis

Great photo's,a favorite period of mine the 20/30's. My fav would have to be the first photo..sums everything up quite nicely.


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## cnutco

Great show! Love the photos.

Thanks for sharing.


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## Trever1t

very entertaining, great visualization!


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## Rekd

Very good series. Thanks for sharing. 

Nailed the expressions in everything. One thing that drew my attention was the second to last shot. It should have been somewhere besides just a flesh and bone area so the death would be have more impact, like on her. 

Everything else was spot-on!


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## RichardAndrewsMedia

Great idea. Nice work. No.6 is stunning


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## GeneralBenson

Hmmm... Tons of thoughts flooding my head about this series. Got lots too say, but no time at the moment. Will return later on.

Cheers!


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## kaffrey

These are very interesting, neat idea


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## rub

Thanks for all of the comments.  

I have been very reluctant in posting this as I wasn't happy with the final outcome.  A bunch of extras didn't show up that day, we were all tired and time was running out and we had to cut an entire scene from the project.

I was trying to get the project done for a specific deadline, and I wish I had waited and done a better job.  Although the reviews have gone over well, when you dont match your vision it can be a let down.

I am also a natural light shooter most of the time, so this was a big stretch for me.  All in all I am glad I did it, but hope that the next series will be better.

Any other comments and in particular critiques are welcomed!

Thanks,
Kristal


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## RMThompson

While the photography and lighting and makeup all looks great, the lack of any real emotion from the models really kills the concept in my opinion.


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## PhillyPhoton

really cool!


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## Rekd

Rekd said:


> Nailed the expressions in everything.





RMThompson said:


> lack of any real emotion from the models



Emotions and expression are interpreted differently and clearly both POVs are correct in response to this series, but it still brings teh LoL :lmao:


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## Crystal

You have amazing talent, I really like the gun shot.


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## GeneralBenson

Ok, I've finally had a chance to sit down and think about this. I have lots of strong feelings about this series, both good and bad. I'll start with the good.

Things that I think are Excellent:
-The wardrobe
-The casting
-Accuracy of the mood/look for the time period

Things that I think are very good:
-The lighting 
-The staging

And now to the stuff that I think need work and could have been better.

I see this very much as a storyboard, which I assume is kind of what you had in mind. The problem is that it is very difficult to have a storyboard that accurately and completely tells a story. And that isn't really the point of a storyboard. In film, storyboard are menat to accompany a script. The script tells the story, and the storyboard adds visuals. In a comic book, the frames are always accompanied by dialogue or narrative text. In either case, the images don't really stand alone, and need to be accompanied by the script or text to effectively tell the story. So, in this format, it's leaves a lot untold. This can work, but I think it just really hard to present a story in a way that leaves the viewers ok with not knowing everything.

There were also come continuity issues, and therefore, lack of flow. Like you've got a beautiful women in a dress in a bed, then you've got a differently lit, beautiful woman in lingerie in a bed with a guy. It took me a while to figure out that those were the same woman. Then I notice that she was also in the frame before at the show. But none of this was obvious enough to just let it flow from frame to frame. And you've got a guy about to be shot in bed, and it seems that there is no one else in the bed. Then in the next frame you have the dead guy and dead woman in the best together, both wih bullet holes in their head, but there's not any blood all over the place. So first, where's all the blood? And second, how did the woman end up in the bed? 

Lastly, forthe most part, they all seems quite posed. And there are times where images can look posed, but I feel like this isn't one of them. For something like this, image should be slices of time of an event that was unfolding. And even though the object was always to capture frozen image, that represent a scene, it is still important for everything unseen before and after an action to happen. Particularly the scene of the woman reacting to the threat of being slapped, and the man reacting to the threat of being shot. They both look like someone was standing there posing like they were pretending to be afraid of being slapped/shot. When trying to capture this kind of moment, it's really important to play out the entire thing, and just take a frame of the real moment happening. Just because we're only trying to capture a split second of the moment, doesn't mean that the moments before and after what we want to capture aren't equally important. It's those moments that give the capture moment it's credibility. 

Most of all, I think you tried to tell too much in too few frames. I think you could have either used more frames, or better yet, simplified the story. I'm just barely beginningto explore video work, and I've learned so much about how different video and still work really are. I thought they would be much more alike than they actually are. There are lots of areas of overlap, but far more areas when if anything, they're completely opposite. One of the biggest things I've realized, is that it requires so much more variety of coverage to tell a story with video than with photo. If you go to a wedding and take really good pictures of the 15 most significant things that happened, it would be pretty good coverage. But if you did that with video, it would seem chunky, and have no continuity or flow. It's the little things in video that help things blend. But in this instance, I really think this is more like video work. Trying to tell a continuous narrative through stills. But without the little things that help the story move along, it feels like it requires too much thought to figure out what's going on. 

Great work all in all. I'm sure a ton of hard work went into this, and I'm sure it was a fantastic learning experience. I think the ability to tell continuous stories through still frames is the hardest part of photography. So don't feel bad if it didn't come out perfectly. 

Cheers,
Ben


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## rub

Thanks for the awesome critique Ben.  So much of what you said makes complete sense.  

As a whole project, the final book is 100 pages with 160 images, so it does fill in a lot of the gaps.  I had the book on display at a bridal fair, and people were completely able to put the story together.  With the few frames here and marginal amount more that are online, I can understand how if feels so choppy.  I think in selecting these images I went with a few favorites, rather than trying to really tell the whole story.

I am wishing I could re-shoot, but that is not possible.  I will, however, do something similar with a different story, different era, and I will put your advice to work.  Thanks again for taking the time - it really is appreciated!

Cheers,
Kristal B


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## PerfectlyFlawed

I think amazing is an understatement!... as you scroll down through the pictures.. there is a sort of suspense that keeps you wanting more. I love the stories these tell. The clothing, framing, PP and focus are all great IMO. Love them! Thanks for sharing!


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## ChadHillPhoto

Good visual story telling!! Very well done!!!


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## altitude604

very well done!

i like how there's a story to the series.


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## GeneralBenson

rub said:


> Thanks for the awesome critique Ben.  So much of what you said makes complete sense.
> 
> As a whole project, the final book is 100 pages with 160 images, so it does fill in a lot of the gaps.  I had the book on display at a bridal fair, and people were completely able to put the story together.  With the few frames here and marginal amount more that are online, I can understand how if feels so choppy.  I think in selecting these images I went with a few favorites, rather than trying to really tell the whole story.
> 
> I am wishing I could re-shoot, but that is not possible.  I will, however, do something similar with a different story, different era, and I will put your advice to work.  Thanks again for taking the time - it really is appreciated!
> 
> Cheers,
> Kristal B



Glad I could say something coherent and helpful. I think this is a great style of photography to be pursuing, and that you will learn a great deal as the projects continue. 

I didn't realize that there were 160 images in total. I'm sure that it all flows much better as a complete set. 

I think if you're into this type of storytelling, you would really enjoy and get a lot out of a book called Cinematic Storytelling by Jennifer Van Sijll. It's written for film making/video, but I think that you would get a great deal out of it. I've really been getting a ton out of it, not only for stuff related to forays into film, but also plenty of stuff that I think applies well, either directly or at lest conceptually to stills. I think probably about 50% of the stuff could be applied reasonably directly to the kind of thing you're doing, and 20-30% more could be applied a bit more indirectly. And even the stuff that is purely a video application, it can still be really helpful to understand the concepts of how the story would be told in a film, to better understand how it might work with stills.

Cheers,
Ben


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## Split Second Studio

thanks for sharing ! i enjoyed it very much.


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## R.D.

WOW!.. nicely done.. not at all what I expected but you really presented it well.. I love the expressions that you captured.


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## ghache

THis is REALLY well put together, i like everything about this.


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## simonydes

great story


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## ethan09

Great series and interesting storyline.


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## andwecarryon

The story is wonderful, I wish the model looked more scared though in the photo as he appears to be screaming at her with his hand raised


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## FoggyLens

Very nice! Love it!


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## Bourne

I love every single one of these! Fantastic sory!!


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## rub

Thank you all for the responses. This was by far my biggest project to date, and I think it has really opened my world up, both business wise and creatively. We are currently working on another story - and will be shooting again this spring.


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## fokker

Cool project, great results. I'm just curious as to who sponsored the shoot? It must have a cost a fair bit in time and effort (and money) to get it done - what was the intended final use for the shots?


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## camz

fokker said:


> Cool project, great results. I'm just curious as to who sponsored the shoot? It must have a cost a fair bit in time and effort (and money) to get it done - what was the intended final use for the shots?



Sometimes vendors such as make-up artist, clothing designers, photographers and models collaborate projects like these for free as an intended service trade to help each other's marketing exposure.  I see and become involved with these during the slow season usually. 

But I too am curious about the end product and on how KB funded the project.  I think it's pretty darn awesome.


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## o hey tyler

These are really well done. The only one thing that bothered me was the female's expression in #2. It seems very contrived. Other than that, no complaints. Nice work!


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## wlbphoto

wow very nice set i loved it.


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## Davor

nice series, love the mood and setting, and the makeup is just phenomenal. One thing i did notice which was odd was the pistol shooting 2 bullets even though its made to shoot only one.


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## rub

I sponsored the entire shoot, although the hair, makeup, and models all worked for free.  There were a fair number of expenses, including rental fees, and I picked up the tab for lunch for everyone.  

Thanks again everyone for your feedback!

K


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## wakamakulit

great photos...


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## raryke

I love that old photo look!


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## thierry

cool idea! nice shots!


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## DirtyDFeckers

This is some deep **** hahaha... Nice work, very creative.


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## randy!

NUCE work


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## Stanza

Awesome work!!! I loved it!


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## bennielou

How did I miss this?  These are amazing!!!!!!!


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## kousPhoto

LOVE IT, amazing- such a talented team


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## cgipson1

Rub.. I am glad somebody resurrected this thread.. or I would have never seen it!

 Awesome story, and very well done shots... and casting!

I think I LOVE YOU!  lol!


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## TwoTwoLeft

Those are really cool! Nice work!


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## nmoody

Love the series, very strong emotions and love the period of them. Very well done.


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## RDTague_Studios

Nicely done...period correct clothing, props, etc. Nice Job!


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## cgipson1

I still pull this up occasionally to look at... I really enjoy it! It is a very well done, visual story! And I love the way you shot it in such a "Period" fashion!


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## Audible_Chocolate

what a story! I love it!


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## rub

Thanks everyone!!!  We are planning another, but I cant think of a good story.  If anyone has a suggestion, let me know!!


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## cgipson1

rub said:


> Thanks everyone!!!  We are planning another, but I cant think of a good story.  If anyone has a suggestion, let me know!!



Redo the old classic Bonnie and Clyde story! You would KILL that!


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## rub

While driving to a wedding 1000kms away from my, I found a old western ghost town, so to speak.  I was thinking some kind of western would be fun, seeing as I know a lot of horsey people.  I'm thinking poker games and run fights and saloon girls, just to come up with a story....


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## cgipson1

rub said:


> While driving to a wedding 1000kms away from my, I found a old western ghost town, so to speak.  I was thinking some kind of western would be fun, seeing as I know a lot of horsey people.  I'm thinking poker games and run fights and saloon girls, just to come up with a story....



Ohhhh.. yes! Lots of possibilities!


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## DiskoJoe

I dig where you were going. It shows a good story but i dont think there is enough raw emotion coming through. It looks staged and not quite vintage enough. Shot two where he is about to slap her, his pose is really good but im not feeling hers. Then in the shot where she is about to shot him, his reaction looks kind of fake. The other shots were good but those two were really crucial scenes. My fav was the shot of the mistress. Thats pure rub magic right there.


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## daarksun

That's awesome! Great job!


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## MDaniels952

Awesome! Love the first one.


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