Evaluation of my Self Portrait

Overall I am very happy with my end product for my self portrait, although I do wish I would've followed through with my original idea because I feel like it was an interesting concept and I would've liked to have seen the outcome. I knew from the start what I wanted my project to look like, often when working I have an idea in my head, its just a case of creating that vision. When I decided to make my image based on semiotics, I thought of all the things I wanted to add to the picture to represent myself and I felt most went successfully. I wanted the image to look like a film still to represent film as a part of my life. I added the Halloween banner to represent my favourite holiday and my love for things that are creepy/horror related. I chose the outfits to look trashy yet elegant to represent alternative fashion, the make-up on the girls is dark smoky eyes with heavy contour to look Tim Burton-esque and high fashion. I did a skull half face make up on my own face to make my character stand out and to represent media make up, which has become a hobby of mine since last year. I wanted my character to be lighting a cigarette with my jacket on the back of chair, to represent the characters calmness and relaxed state. In my mind this gives the idea that we have either been out and just come back or that we are waiting to leave. I also added elements to the picture that could build up some of the story like the sweets which could generate a more innocent storyline and a fake gun on the table that was meant to give the picture an eerie feel. Unfortunately you couldn't see the gun but I believe the sweet added an element to the picture. When arranging the picture I imagined the picture to be the opening scene of a horror movie, where the main characters are the bad guys. If the scene were to move, I  imagined the camera slowing tilting diagonally upwards until the characters are in shot and tracking in. That is the reason why I cropped the image in this way, so the floor is what you see first and your eyes go from that up to the characters. After trying many different edits I think my final one if definitely my favourite and I felt confident handing it in.