Fashion photographers Nesrine Brikci, Alexander Denomay, Christophe Guertin, and Virginie Gosselin decided to work together on their final project before graduating from Dawson College in Quebec with a degree in Professional Photography. The result of the collaboration was an impressive black and white fashion film about the human body’s transition from blooming to its demise. We caught up with Nesrine Brikci about her and her fellow student’s film, Pathogen.
Could you describe Pathogen and the concept behind it?
The video is about the rapid birth and decay of the human body from its fetal state to its resting state.
Being so many participants, how did you decide on direction and inspiration?
Well, the main sources of inspiration were drawn from bits and pieces of all four members of the team. All four of us had a very distinct vision of what we wanted to create and by compromising and combining ideas, we came up with something unique that satisfied all of our expectations.
Have you all worked together on other projects before?
At school, sometimes we were working together but not that much. The only one I work with often is Alexander Denomay. We do some projects together to get better. His vision is more intense than mine that’s why we complement well each other. I like light colors, and everything that involves cupcakes and stuff that makes people dream. We are completely different but at the same time, it works perfectly. We are able to make compromise and it forces us to try new stuff as well. Working with him helped me to be more open about projects. Now I don’t mind taking a picture of a girl with no top, before, it bothered me.
Speaking of, model Lisa-Marie Charron did an exceptional job with her movements and expressions, how was she to work with?
The model did her own make up, she was really good and was trying weird stuff, but it was actually amazing. While we were filming, we were looking at the tv screen and were completely speechless…we were so happy with the final result.
Could you tell us a bit about the styling and props used in the film?
The styling in this video was quite simple. We focused more on using props and accessories that could give it an eery look. Using a tilt-shift lens allowed us to distort and give a new sense of uneasiness to what we were filming without necessarily needing a large budget.
