Here we go again! When I started this blog five months ago, I wouldn’t have dreamed, that it would take off as it did… It has become one of THE places for everything fashion and cool films on the net. Thank you very much for that.
However… I got really busy in the last few months and it looks like I just don’t have the time anymore to keep this blog running at a constant level, let alone promoting, expanding, improving it. At least not as solo dolo… So, from now on, Ravished will become a team effort. Some very talented and dedicated people will join me, more on that soon.

And now for some year-end reviews…

Some highly subjective picks in some highly made up categories…

Best “it’s not a fashion film!”-fashion film
“Rabbit Hole” by Mundi Vondi

Most fancy
Alvaro de la Herrán’s “Alumbramiento”

Most sensual
Miguel Jacob’ sleek “Now I Need You”

Most heart-warming
Stéphanie Di Giusto’s film for Vanessa Bruno featuring puppy-dog-eyes-Gonzales

Best viral campaign
French Connection films by Leila and Damien de Blinkk

Favorite music video
El Guincho’s “Bombay” by Nicolás Méndez

Funniest
Ryan McGinley’s “Entrance Romance”

Favorite fashion-digital-art hybrid
“Q” by Daniele Manoli

Most on-the-go-director
Sharif Hamza

Best out-of-the-box
“Act da fool”, Harmony Korine’s film for Proenza Schouler

Most sumptuous fashion project
Emil Klang’s “Weeks of Dasha”

BEST FASHION FILM 2010
Barnaby Roper’s “Iris”




Some more highlights from last year’s output, in case you missed them…
Interview with Emil Klang, Creator of “The Weeks of Dasha”

Interview with Tarik Malak and Tim Douglas from SWELL, NY

Interview with director Jacqueline Castel


Portrait of creative agency FLY 16×9 Media

Portrait of music video director Simon Owens

Portrait of creative agency LEGS Media, NY

• Tweet

Wish you some laid-back days and ravishing nights! This blog will be back in 2011, some changes ahead…


Best,
Cristian

• Tweet

DERVISHES IN SPACE is a fashion film trilogy revolving around three futuristic space travelers. When their space station crosses an unknown energy field, the astrogirls are transcended into a hyper-reality where their inmost desires and fears become uncannily vivid…

Here’s the first glimpse into my new project (which may or may not get a new name in the coming months). Perfect cast, perfect team, perfect pictures… = feeling blessed.
We shot in three different formats (RED Camera, Canon 60D, Olympus i-Speed 3), which is one of the reasons this one will stay in post-production-hell for another 6-8 weeks. But be assured the result will be so much more than this little teaser is hinting at…

If you like to see more of my work, check out my homepage.

• Tweet

Hey guys, sorry for not posting last week and the chances for this week aren’t sky high, either… I am very, very busy with my own project, which we shot last week and is now in post production and of which I’m very proud of. Believe me, this is gonna be one of the fashion film highlights of the season. Just stop by in a week or so (or probably just in time for X-Mas) for the first teaser film…

• Tweet

Director: Cristian Straub
DoP: Jakob Suess
Featuring: Inga Busch, Michelle Malter
Make-Up & Hair: Giovanni Rivas (Close Up Agency)
Sound Design & Mixing: Pablo Paolo Kilian
Color Grading: Mike Friedland (NHB)
Production: Riese Farbaute

Since I’m setting up the production for my next big fashion film project, I guess it’s a good time to showcase my last major production, a film for German high fashion designer Anna Fuchs.
“Journey to the other side” was a very ambitious thing, loosely based on Cassavetes’ “Opening Night” and citing in part 80s commercials and music vids (visually speaking). Together with designer Anna Fuchs, who’s very into film noir, DoP Jakob Suess and myself, we wanted to broaden the idea of what a fashion film can be. We wanted it to be more narrative, more cinematographic, with a better mise-en-scene, but also daring/experimental… Like I said, quite ambitious.
Therefore, and despite our moderate budget, it was the only logical choice to shoot on film stock (Kodak 16mm Vision2 and Vision3) and in the “dated” 4:3 format. We had some nice locations in Hamburg and a great team to begin with. Maybe not the most obvious choice was casting famous German actress Inga Busch for the leading role. Inga worked with the greats of German film and stage directors and it was quite a risk putting her in an “superficial” fashion environment. That as well as pairing a top notch actress like her with Michelle, a model, who had never acted before. In the end, both of them delivered some very convincing performances and I was very happy with the overall outcome.

But decide for yourself…

If you like to see more of my work, check out my homepage.

• Tweet

The beta phase is over and hooray to a new start! What’s changing? Less talking, more film watching – now in large scale!
Also: a new section, which will be launched by next week called VISUAL AUTEURS, in which I’ll be interviewing some of the finest creative talents as well as well-established professionals.
Also, feel free to participate! You’ve seen a cool film or – even better – made one? Tell me about it at: pr@ravished-by-illusions.com.
Also, if you wanna keep up with this blog, you should consider joining the ever-growing facebook-I-LIKE-crowd. There’s a big blue box to the right. I know, easy to overlook. Of course it couldn’t hurt to tell some of your creative friends about ravished, too.
OK, that’s it.

Thank you for your attention.

• Tweet

Hey guys.

My name is Cristian Straub. I’m a Romanian born film director, currently residing in Hamburg, Germany. To cut a long story short: this blog is a by-product of my research into the nebulous realm most people call “Fashion Film”. No one really knows what it is. I don’t either. I don’t even know if it really exists. And if it does, will it stay or if is just the current belle de jour?

But I know I will direct some fashion films in the near future. So it’s time for me to up my game and seriously get involved in this … genre.

Wait.

A genre? Is it? Wikipedia doesn’t mention it. And people call it many names – Fashion Film, Fashion Video, Mood Film, Fashion Cinepornography… ok, the last one I made up. Wonder where it comes from. You have a lot of stuff under this umbrella. From very arty to artsy to totally avantgarde stuff to (half) naked girls in sleazy poses dancing (in slow-motion) and trying very hard to look sexy in front of a photographer turned film director/cameraman/editor over night…

You see where I’m coming from. I’m a film guy. I made lots of short films and some commercial stuff as an director and editor (»> my homepage). So, yeah, there already are some people exploring this “genre” already. Most prominently, there is Nick Knight’s Showstudio project (“The home of fashion film”) and Diane Pernet’s Blog turned film festival A Shaded View on Fashion Film. And there are some very cool blogs like Coûte que Coûte or personal blogs from fashion film directors like Zaiba Jabbar and Jason Last.

An now, there’s this one. After lots and lots of hours talking to fashion designers, going to exhibitions, rifling through hundreds of blogs, youtube and vimeo channels (and in doing so also exploring the bordering regions of this foggy and obscure realm) i think i got an idea what THIS could be. Could eventually turn into.

Well, firstly, I’m aiming for some kind of compendium… something like a continuously updated database with all the classic examples and all the new exciting works from the field. A harbor on the net for all things fashion film. I couldn’t find one, so I’ll do it by myself.

Secondly, it’s time to write about it from a different point of view. And even my modest English is better than not to verbalize it at all. Most of the stuff that already exists has it’s roots the fashion world. I think it could be interesting what a filmmaker thinks and sees in it. Maybe it’s not. We’ll see.

Lastly, I really love film. From any genre, era and from every part of the world. So, I won’t stick to the genre formula. I’ll include anything worthwhile and any visually interesting stuff coming up my way. This blog will help me keep track of all the wonderful cinematographic stuff floating through the net.

So, here we go. I really hope you’re into it. Or rather, i really hope you’re so much into it, that you like to take part in this quest for a new and vibrant film genre. Yeah, i really think it is one. I’ll write the Wikipedia entry soon. Anyone wanna help me? My English sucks.

So, please feel free to comment. Any corrections and complements are very much appreciated.

Cheers,

Cristian

• Tweet