Lost Beauty in Derelict Spaces

As summer is in full bloom, The Lost Team is restocking, rethinking, and getting our camera gear prepped to shoot specifically for ourselves over the next two weeks. Our goal will be to create content for the various existing lost sites and the upcoming photography site, showcasing Lost Beauty in Derelict Spaces.

With an aesthetic goal in mind that will fit with future TV project plans, we are looking at simple clean beauty for our Lost Girls and Lost Boys. Thankfully we have the Sons of Adonis brush (and soon concealer) to help with this and with our pro accounts all up to date, we can create something fresh and test run products before we go for the really big projects that will focus on darker elements and more chills than beauty.

Our plan is to bring some new talent into the mix and open the door to creative opportunities as we progress lead by our creative director JamesC, we are going to be announcing further collaborations and partnerships officially as we finetune the scripts and ideas fully.

Stay tuned for more news and updates.

Updates From The Creative Sphere

Over at the Lost Creatives home office, we have been plugging away at our work and will have some project announcements and cast/crew requirements going live very soon. While this is being worked out, we have some announcements that as a team we are really excited about and wanted to share.

As creative director and head of makeup, JamesC, has been instrumental in the development of his new site and working on a consultation basis, for Sons of Adonis makeup (it will be added to his working kit), as part o this a limited edition brush was created featuring his logo and the brand: available from the Sons of Adonis site.

In terms of production and editorial, we have decided to add to our site holdings and will be launching a separate photography site that will feature the work of JamesC both his commercial work and the behind-the-scenes stills on film and TV shoots. The reasoning for this is to allow an expanded sense of his creative work and offer a different perspective on the work of a makeup artist.

Lost Agency is being formed and set around the needs of the main business and will handle the overall marketing, banking, and other elements of our work as an umbrella creating an in-house and full-spectrum setup that is own, controlled, and managed for the needs of the Lost team.

Over the next few weeks, we will be releasing additional details on what is happening and casting/crew opportunities for smaller festival entry projects.

Festive Thoughts From The Lost Creatives

Featured brand Lord and Berry (UK)

A slight departure from our normal scheduling but we wanted to get this post out before Christmas day and say a big thank you to all our supporters, the brands, and of course our readers as we share our final thoughts for 2020. From here we will be focusing heavily on the future and what will be happening for the team in the new year. We have been busy over the last few weeks setting in motion concepts, finalizing and in some cases reediting images for the various websites we run, there will also be a run of work that is designed specifically for editorial (we have some really fantastic magazines we have shot work for). We do want to look at the festival circuit, there will be an announcement of a new film festival media partnership in the new year, the goal of this will be to boost our video content and bring a little attention to talent. Naturally, these projects will be small crews/cast to keep the costs down and very much in the kitchen sink drama territory which will develop into other areas and our ultimate goal of tackling the horror/thriller market for TV, scripts are already earmarked for this.

One of our biggest supporters and our favorite writer, has offered us a development contract that will expand our portfolio to include video games for a variety of platforms which is an exciting prospect.

Our creative Director; JamesC, is working around different ideas and is editing, shooting, and managing our background work such as the brand placement and of course stock levels.

We will of course keep you all in the loop of changes and updates through the website and till then we want to, again, thank you for the support and wish you a Merry Christmas.

The collective Push of The Lost Team

In the last few months, we have been able to build some interesting relationships with brands and companies, taking steps toward our ultimate goals and aspirations slowly in light of the market changes that are underway to the film and TV market in particular which have opened our eyes to other potential avenues that The Lost can explore and has given us a collective push to work around boundaries. There are some interesting updates that even we are waiting for updates on as contracts (with non-disclosures) are being drawn up to affirm a new and exciting partnership.

Over time we intend to build a host of new creative images incorporating some of our favorite makeup and brushes that will be used on our creative director JamesC’s website as well as our own, with our magazine work coming to a close on the written side to focus on the massive backlog of shoots to be edited and curated across our multiple sites and blogs. Editing processes have been slowed down but are still happening and by mid-December, we will have new additions to the galleries and a new fashion/editorial specific gallery for the JamesC Website.

Nepal as many will be aware plays a large part in our work and we are very proud of that with the NCIFF (Nepal Culture and Film Festival) alongside our partners Nepal Film Production, it is interesting to see the work coming together so cleanly.

The Lost Creatives shoots are going well and while not yet public (magazine deadlines and release scheduling outwith our control) we will be working on the much more comprehensive Lost Boys/Girls concept which we are going to shoot exclusively in North Ayrshire and have already picked out some significant spots that fit our brief. As much an intellectual exercise as it is a photo project it will be the focus of our energies and a chance to clear some cobwebs.

Editorial Makeup Submission Featuring World Fashion Media News

Frustration is really kicking in for a lot of the creative talent out there (understandably) and it is gratifying to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for those who are returning to salons and for the photographic community this also means we can push forward with plans and marketing strategies with fresh, exclusive content for the digital market. The online magazine and long-standing supporter of the Lost Concept, World Fashion Media News has been hard at work creating new avenues for creative talents and revamping the website to better showcase artistic work from catwalks to individuals. Submitting your work has become a much easier prospect in the last few years and we (like many others) are getting our work collated ready to submit, promote and showcase our inhouse creative talents such as creative director JamesC.

While we are going down the exclusive route there are options to have editorials, covers, and tears with magazine logos that can be used to create not only a stellar portfolio of work at a low cost but a chance to experiment with new ideas and stretch your artistic muscles.

Our primary focus is going to be about exclusive content and will be shown across websites and as you can imagine with our ties to the HOD TV team, Horror concepts will be played alongside some other fashion portraits and of course we will be doing a full series of images and conceptual work with exclusive to our websites in amongst this.

In our capacity as a creative team and with the support of our partners in Nepal Film Production, we are structuring this to be a wider campaign based concept with a series of long and short term goals to be met over the next 12 months.

*To learn more about submitting to World Fashion Media News Click here.

Project Planning With Nepal Productions

We really do owe a debt of gratitude to our team in Nepal especially Digbijaya Bharati from the Nepal Film Production team, who has been patient during the lockdown and happy to continue working via Whatsapp so we can as a team which gets our work moving forward, not just with media but other elements and promotional avenues we are exploring. As our regular readers will be aware our plans are geared toward Intenet TV, in particular, the horror and Thriller genres with a sideline in the editorial market to boost marketing via social accounts and strategic placement of ads.

For us, it has become planning and strategy that allows us to focus our energies in new areas of business and develop further as a business although at heart we still love makeup work and our creative director JamesC is part and parcel of the ongoing plans, we are all on board with changes being made to the business and have some smaller elements such as the facecharts being brought back in (the JamesC facechart will be available again via his site soon).

We already have several scripts in play for development in the realm of TV and will be working on a range of new images and behind the scenes work while the weather is good and allows us flexibility, the new guidelines for production work will be a big part of how we move forward ensuring everyone involved is safe and the work is handled carefully.

As our previous blog has stated we are going to also look at skills development for our in-house team to allow us to multitask and keep the crew requirements to a minimum and safe.

*Change in how the media and fashion industry will be massive and we are doing all we can to ensure that our staff is safe, the team (both the UK and South Asian) are up to date on the latest changes.

Keeping The Creative Flow Going

While many are rethinking their place in the industry and how to progress, ranging from selfies to blogs, we at The Lost Creatives are working hard behind the scenes and taking time to reevaluate (as you will guess by our previous blog). A complete overhaul is underway and along with our partners in Nepal, this is pushing us to think about how we want to be seen in the market.

As you can imagine, social media plays a heavy part in this and it is really exciting to see Nepal film Productions opening a new account with Instagram which is a step forward as we see the restrictions being lifted and people slowly returning to normal and business becoming a part of their thinking again.

We are also putting the social media plan into action and will be reviewing our work and creative plans, led by our creative director JamesC, with a view to pushing forward which as we have previously stated means we will be looking at investment into editorial marketing with tears and covers which we are excited about and have to admit the design process alone is worth it to help clear our collective headspace.

Our film and TV plans are on standby and we are extremely grateful that we have HOD TV on our side with their platform for horror and thriller distribution. Which we fully intend to make use of and recommend those who have projects they want to sell check the link here for submissions.

As time moves forward we are going to push to show more of a commercial stance and stay away from more theatrical styles as we just feel it doesn’t suit the working look we want to create. From the portfolio plans to the film and TV projects we have in mind our goals are strong and we are pushing forward progressively and with mutual support from our remote partners.

Choosing our Editorial Path

Editorial is often used as a means to test new styles, try new techniques and work with new people but if you are smart it can also be a way to create new business and a smart proactive tool that will draw attention to your business and bring new clients to the table. Which for us is the primary reason we are being selective about the magazines we are choosing and calculating our approach carefully and strategically to ensure we get the maximum from the work. When we look at a magazine we have certain criteria that we are looking for and markers that will put them higher on our list:

• Branded tears.

• Covers.

• Minimal costume requirements.

• Minimal image requirements.

• Cost of submission.

Starting with these factors we then spend time pouring over their content and style as part of phase two, of our plans, we prefer simplistic and clean looks with priority going to men’s magazines at a ratio of two shoots for our male models to one for our females. *The reasoning for this is simple, we have core team members who are actors and models and they are our priority in marketing as this will have a knock-on effect in the spread of our work over time with social media advertising. Our preference is for digital magazine first but we will (for certain clients) be working toward print at a later stage. The reason we prefer online is fairly straightforward: reach. A print magazine can have an overall reach of 20,000 in terms of people buying the magazine whereas digital can move into the millions of views between social feeds and website stats, which for us makes it a more profitable and farreaching prospect.

At this point we have it broken down to a total of 2 magazines that are being marked as priority for us and will be used to promote the business overall building to what will be a series of shoots with our remote team headed up by creative director JamesC.

Choosing our editorial path is in truth is 1 part art and 2 parts commercial with our team plotting out how we can maximize the potential of the work undertaken.

Using Editorials and Tears To Market The Lost Concept

Creative frustration is starting to kick in for many of us in the arts and while we are all on hold it is a good time to plan for the future and marketing your business once the restrictions are lifted and we can submit fresh work to the various online and print publications out there. For us, we do have several concepts that are part of a larger-scale and ultimately long-term project around The Lost concept.

Our goals are split into two areas:

1. Photo Stories and editorials.

2. Single image and portrait.

There are magazines that we are looking at with very specific designs and concepts, thankfully we have talked to a few of them and they have opened up the single image option (tears and covers) that will be integral to our marketing over the coming months along with our partners.

For us its the single image option that is the biggest challenge as we want that image as a standalone to tell a story or at least inspire the imagination which is the intellectual challenge part that we are eager to get into, none more so that our creative director JamesC who has been instrumental in much of the marketing planning underway and has offered insight based on his experience of the industry both good and bad.

Our style of work is going to change dramatically and we will have a more refined and focused look that is a different creative stream than what we would do for our private sector and commercial clients. Conceptually The Lost Concept is a mixture of styles and will strangely, benefit from the current lockdown as it has forced us to reassess how we look at images, models and who we will book for shoots especially for our in house projects.

We fully intend to keep the team small on shoots and make the maximum use of the locations around our current base with an emphasis on simplicity of look touching on the more creative with darker touches brought into play.

From a marketing stance, we are enjoying the plans being put into place and our budget is going to reflect this across our 3 main sites of JameC mua, Lost Project, and of course Lost Creatives.

Marketing and the Lost Concept

While we have been a little quiet over the last few days it has not stopped the work thanks in part to Facebook and Whatsapp we were able to continue meetings and even showcase some of our past work in line with our creative director and founder JamesC. The crux of much of this has been discussing marketing strategies. Many people are unaware of the pages and sites involved in our marketing just for the Lost Concept and our core team and we are now in a place where we feel that the sites and pages (in most cases) are sufficiently “liked” enough that we are collating all the backlog of work into a folio of work and with certain magazines offering open submissions of single images (we are going for exclusive but this is not a requirement for many digital magazines) and once the lockdowns are sufficiently lifted we do have plans to do a full marketing campaign with more work built around the Lost Boys and Lost Girls concept as outlined in the Lost Project blog.

Marketing is something we are really keen on and we do work with our partners in Nepal (the Nepal Film Production team), on campaigns and this will be revised again at the end of this month in line with changes to the market as it stands.

One of the main reasons we are looking at this now is we have time, the blogs are keeping us busy along with various other elements but like many in the creative fields, we really are keen to get back to our real work. The focus of our upcoming campaigns will start with the two lost sites and then the actual artists who are working on the creative side such as actor Raj Srivastava and of course JamesC.

Digital Versus Print Editorials and Tears

As the economic and social climate changes the digital magazine market is going to be where we find our fix of fashion and beauty news for the ease and convenience of access through our mobiles and other devices which for makeup artists, photographers and creative staff (designers, stylists and so on) will change to some degree how we all work and require multi-tasking. For the lost team, that is not a big hassle as we already work small and aim high with the work we are doing, the goals in place and will be back to work as soon as possible tackling the list of magazines we have decided to shoot for.

Focusing your mind on goals is key to finding a path and putting your business into a new arena. With editorial for the lost team, it is a secondary consideration to our real goals of TV production but we do have a clear sense of the value of a tear sheet or cover with a good magazine that can be promoted which is why we focus on digital over print.

The big advantage of digital is overall social media reach, an image and a link to a website that can be shared and has more value (to us) because it becomes simpler to promote and has exponential reach with either paid postings on Facebook or Instagram or if you have a good audience and SEO through your website (ideally you have all three in place).

We have of course mapped out a plan of action and thankfully there are one-stop-shop sites that offer a creative outlet that is managed: you can find the submission terms, costs, and image requirements in one place with the option to handle multiple submissions. A major plus and reduces the amount of time you have to spend on research.

*See our previous blog on Luminar Photo Editing for a good option for editing images on a budget.

Our creative director JamesC makeup is itching to get started again and has a book full of concepts and ideas ready to roll and we are happy to see he is keeping busy not just with the blogs but also with his creative work.

A more focused plan and set of goals are being worked with our overseas contacts (primarily South Asia) for casting and of course production which we will talk about in another blog very soon.

Luminar Photo Editing Software

Something that we have talked about frequently and have in hand at the moment is our editorial work since much of this is done in house, we wanted a simple, easy to use photo editing software that would make the flow of work easier for the team and we found Luminar. Designed to work independently or as a plugin with other photo editing software, the Luminar Photo Editing Software is a dream for someone like our creative director JamesC, who likes the control aspect of being able to work with a small team which in the long term may be a good thing.

Naturally, at the moment we are holding back on further work (we do have some work in the can for publication later), the time we have has been set into doing other elements of business and the process of editing images, in some cases reedits has allowed us a little flexibility and changed the dynamic of what we offer. Which is positive all around for the creative process. Based on artificial intelligence the Luminar Software is designed to smooth the flow of work and reduce time spent on editing and will change the game for many people not just for the ease of use but the cost factor. With a series of deals available at this time and the added bonus of a donation from each sale going to Corona Virus research, the Luminar packages are excellent value and have the bonus of lifetime ownership.

To learn more or to purchase the software see:

Luminar Website.

*Affiliate Link Included in this article/blog.

The Changing Face of The Lost Business

While we are restricting our movements and only going out when we absolutely need to, we decided to look at the future and what will become of business as time goes on. It is fairly positive and we can see already changes to the market that will be making massive waves to how we view the media world.

There will key aspects of the current climate we will be maintaining such as having smaller shoots and focusing on story rather than just an image which we have talked about before but never seemed to find the time, from a photographic stance it really is interesting working out how we can do this and still have a cohesive narrative.

On a film and TV side, our favorite writers are working from home happily and have taken it under advisement that we want thrillers and horror that can and should be creatable on a smaller budget to fit with the requirements of the current market, will offer us quick turn around for shoots and of course minimal cast and crew requirements which will be a challenge in and of itself that we as a team we look forward to. The Lost Concept is something we are immensely proud of and can see the potential to take our initial idea of moving The Lost Boys and The Lost Girls as a story for stills and to turn this into a storied TV series with a dark edge built around individual stories and characters.

In the interim, we are working on designs, talking to our remote teams as best we can, naturally, we are very worried about our Indian and Nepal contacts and wish them the best at this time of full lockdown in their countries. However, everyone is in good spirits and has been positive so far.

The future is something we cannot solidly control or predict but we do know that we will continue our work for as long as we can. We will finish this by asking that our readers stay safe and well, keep positive and we will all be back to work soon and entertaining the world.

Commercial Shoots and Editorial Goals

We are really excited about the upcoming photo project we are creating and have been carefully selecting clients to work with to augment this and take it in a more commercial direction, with a deal being worked alongside a Scottish clothing designer and a fashion media house in London that will see The Lost Creatives and The Lost Project, taking massive strides toward the creation of our goal of multimedia work.

Structuring the planned work round behind the scenes capturing the collective work of the Lost Creatives and the brands we will be working with to give an increased sense of cohesion and showcase not just the in house talent but also the brands and creatives we meet on our journey.

Within the next few months, we will be adding to our South Asian Stable of clients and collaborators with a new casting service that will be based out of Mumbai, one of our creative director’s favorite places to work incidentally. We will be continuing to work with the team at Nepal Film Production and pushing boundaries with them in what is set to be a hugely important aspect of the business we do. More on this soon.

Our business is naturally evolving and we are starting to see more and more interest from companies and we plan to offer packages for brand placement within the various behind the scenes for editorial/advertorial shoots, our TV series plans (we have 2 fantastic scripts in place) and on a smaller scale 3 short films we are currently planning for the festival circuit combining our in-house artists and actors with talent from other fields.

If any brands are interested in knowing more then please drop us an email to discuss.

Product Placement and Behind The Scenes

While we have been slow in going public with much of what we are doing, we are always working. Not just on the blog aspect but other elements and it has really started paying off for us in terms of a photo project and 2 short films with other aspects still in negotiation or set to be discussed soon.

In terms of the photo project, it has been split into different elements and lengthy calls and meetings have been held over the actual content in terms of how it will be shot, managed and promoted across the varying networks we have open to us and this took us down the path of product placement (which we are working through already and have a provisional interest for the editorial side from a designer in London).

Our creative director JamesC, has found a series of deals and offers with his preferred format of online magazines that will give us tear sheets and covers that will be promoted across the board, with a view to utilizing our resources in the designer realm and with our other contacts across South Asia at a later date, allow us to shoot editorials and submit with a higher percentage chance of publication with some careful structuring and planning at the creative director level.

Brushwork cosmetics code JamesC 10% discount

Something we are going to push is the “behind the scenes” element, capturing the team at work, focusing on the creative aspect because our talks are taking us down the line of makeup with options and avenues that we are keen to pursue heavily.

In the coming months, we will open this to allow for smaller packages and individual project support giving placement in the behind the scenes, in the projects themselves (for film and TV) and looking closely at building our own magazine.

The Lost Concept has been building slowly and we are really proud of what we have achieved and will be showcasing this in more detail soon with a series of new sites and public projects.

*featured image example of product placement is for Brushwork Cosmetics (promo code JamesC 10% off).

Marketing using Magazines and Behind the Scenes

With the creative development work being done and a much more solid sense of the future of the Lost Concept, we are shooting content and work that is specifically tailored to marketing and will be slow-released as we set out our editorials and other magazine elements in the coming months.

Our goals have become really clear and we are determined to push forward with an agenda of creative commerciality that was our goal from the start of our journey.

All the strategies we are using require a certain amount of investment both financially and in terms of time but will ultimately bring into place what we want and can be used by a wide range of people to accommodate their own business model from makeup staff to the filmmakers themselves.

For us, we are focused on film and TV with a minor but none the less important aspect in fashion and print for the marketing value. *There are sites that are dedicated to magazines that offer different packages that with careful checks and a little effort will make good marketing tools for business.

The logic we are using to work this is we are a business, we want to create content that sells and promote ourselves in the best light with key members of the senior team organizing and looking at the different aspects structuring the photoshoots around the magazines to maximize the potential of the work across the board; this does mean we have had to calculate a budget to cover the costs and will be talking to a Google rep this week about SEO.

Our preference overall is for digital magazines and online content sites as the overall potential reach is higher when you combine the magazines reach and our own social networks (this can be a smart method of driving home your brand and giving validity to your skills).

From cover images to interviews, the options are endless and we are going to be adding behind the scenes stills and video to our arsenal with our script work in motion and a solid sense of the future of our company it is going to be a fun few months as we finish our additional sites and creative director JamesC reopening his portfolio site with fresh content, after 20 years in the job and his various travels the time feels right to relaunch his site, he will still be a heavy influence on our blogs but will also be influencing the direction of the business more strongly in terms of the look which we are all very excited about.

Digital Magazine Research

In the grand scheme of editorial, it is a great tool for marketing when you handle it correctly and put a little effort into the background work of creating and then the marketing after the image(s) are published. Over the last week, we have been really carefully planning around this idea and thanks to certain websites, we have pulled together a list of potential magazines we will shoot Marketing content for.

We are putting together a budget for this, as its a marketing tool, we will be spending a little extra time and money to make this work the best for us as a team.

looking at this as part and parcel of running a business, we decided that alongside our social accounts, website and film plans (a separate blog will come soon on this), editorials are a great tool for putting out your information and showcasing the work we do and what we are planning for 2020.

Each of our planned shoots will be built around themes that suit the magazines we are targetting and interestingly there is an option that will give us front cover style images that can be showcased across the board on our social media accounts.

An option we are looking at which a few of the magazines do look for is behind the scenes stills and video to be included in the submission, which admittedly is a great concept and allows a greater degree of marketing to the images and opens up an interesting dialogue about shoots that we do love.

As creative director and head of makeup this also allows flexibility in changing up the products used, JamesC is looking to downsize some elements of his kit and bring in new products including the My Beauty Brand range for one shoot, in particular, offering an overall experimental feel to the shoots we have planned.

More updates will be coming soon on the forward momentum of The Lost Creatives.