With support from the Adobe creative residency community fund, over the past month I have been working on my personal project Adorned Cinema. I have focused on creating cinematic editorials and still life inspired by Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson's, The Royal Tenenbaums. I chose this film because I never tire of the visual narrative. Every time I see it, there is a nuance I somehow missed, and makes me fall in love with it all over again. From the soundtrack to the dialogue, there is a joy and a sadness which imitates life. It is equally quirky, off-beat, cool and timeless.
This project has given me the opportunity to delve and experiment into the ways of seeing, try different techniques and editing processes inspired by the film, using the Adobe creative suite ( Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere Pro). The Royal Tenenbaums has worked as a creative road map for inspiration. Adorned Cinema is an emulation of key scenes as still life and my re-imagining of props that would fit within the film. In these uncertain times, this is a great opportunity to cement my photography with more focus, depth and personal signature, anchoring my work in more cohesive story-telling.
The Enigma of Margot
Margot's passions
Margot's secrets
Margot's talent
Why Margot? To me she is such an integral part to the Royal Tenenbaums. She is arguably a style icon, with her signature bob, heavily kohled eyes and forever pieces that she adopts from adolescence to adulthood. There is such a strength to her unapologetic introvert character. She is a paradox, she may not be a Tenenbaum by blood, but she fits right into the family of geniuses. Her father never fails to remind people of the fact she is adopted, so there is always that disconnect, that eventually leads into estrangement after his dismissal of her play at her birthday party.
Even her husband doesn't truly know her, it was through a private investigator that he discovered her past, which revealed a carefree spirit and experimental nature of travel and dalliances. Raleigh St. Clair is the 'sensible' choice, the father figure she felt she never had. She is the forbidden fruit for her adopted brother Richie, who tries to take his life when he comes to the conclusion that she will never love him back. Eli is infatuated with becoming a Tenenbaum, he wants to be part of that family, and through the years contnues to seek approval and reassurance, as he sends his clippings to Etheline. His illicit affair with Margot is the means to an end, of finally becoming a Tenenbaum. Which in itself is slightly sordid as all they do is talk about Richie. There is so much to her and her influence. With Wes Anderson’s style and David Yeoman’s cinematography as inspiration I emvisioned still life starting from her passions, her secrets and a return to her potential by the end of the film.
ADOBE WORKFLOW
I created patterns in Adobe Capture, using film stills. These patterns were used as the border in the Braverman grant certificate and the Tenenbaums book cover. The certificate and book jacket were part of the Adobe stock library, So I utilised them as templates and redesigned in Photoshop and InDesign.
