Research - Analysis of "Picture Me : A Model's Diary".

"Picture Me : A Mode's Diary" is a documentary made by (now) former model Sara Ziff and director Ole Schell, which charts Ziff's rise to acclaim and discusses well and lesser known controversies associated with the modeling industry. It was released to audiences in late 2010, and won several prestigious awards, including "Best Fashion Film" at the Milan International Film Festival.

US Release Poster for "Picture Me".

As the poster above suggests, the movie looks behind the scenes at the lives of the models featured in the glamorous advertisements we come into contact with every day, exposing both the highs of the career (representing and walking for some of the world's top fashion houses, the Fashion Week after parties, and a six figure salary) and the lows (maintaining an abnormal shape to suit the industry's unrealistic demands, the degradation, the exhaustion, and the more common low salary - making it hard to cover even the rent alone in one of the world's fashion capitals).

It's interesting for our group to look at, as it touches on and gives examples of the themes we will be representing in our fictional film/trailer, but in a non-fictional context. It is essential that we look at documentaries like this to find factual inspiration, as we would like our film/trailer to have as high a level of realism and verisimilitude as possible.

Themes from the film that we are discussing showing in our own include:

• Differences between the lives of the few top models and an aspiring model.
• Issues with image.
• Sexual harassment.

We have also looked at the film's trailer, to learn from its construction and the editing of those scenes which present similar/the same themes as those that we will be exploring.

(Trailer analysis.)