John Smith here with a new model interview
The young lady that I interviewed today is an established model in the Edmonton area, appearing in many high profile bar advertisements within the past few years. I guaranteed the model total anonymity within the interview, so for this reason Ms. S will be referred to as.... Ms. S,. Let’s begin shall we?
J. Smith: So Ms. S, when did your billboards, and posters for this specific unnamed bar appear within the City of Edmonton, what year?
Ms. S: The billboards for the bar were up about 3 years ago, in 2007.
J. Smith: When you were doing your photo-shooting, did your photographer direct you in the posing? Or was it something that came naturally?
Ms. S: Well during the shoot it was definitely a little bit of both...
J. Smith: Both? So you did have a specific posing style. Did he ask you look down, or look away from the camera, what did he have you do?
Ms. S: Yeah, there was definitely lots of instruction from the photographer. He told me for most of the shots to keep my eye focus away from the camera.
J. Smith: So it was intentional to hide your face in the shots?
Ms. S: Yeah it was intentional, forsure. He really stressed keeping my hand on my hat, and my hat over my face. I had much more choice in the pose of my body than the view of my face.
J. Smith: Ok, interesting. Did you have any choice at all with regards to choosing a photo?
Ms. S: Nope, not at all. That was all done after the shoot was finished.
J. Smith: Did you have any choice in the styling of the photoshoot?
Ms. S: No, that was all picked out beforehand. None of the clothing was my own, I don't have a country style, and that was the look they were going for. There were a lot of makeup and hair stylists on set to make sure I was ready.
J. Smith: What did you think about the billboards when you saw them up? Did you like them, dislike them? Why?
Ms. S: I liked them, and I was totally fine with them. They also brought lots of good publicity as well, a good way to get yourself out there.
J. Smith: Did the shots bring positive attention to you? Would people come up to you on the street and say that they recognized you from the billboards?
Ms. S: Yeah it did, some random strangers would sometimes come up to me on the street, and tell me that they recognise me from the bar billboards.
J. Smith: And were those instances positive experiences for you as well?
Ms. S: Yeah absolutely, there was nothing negative about them.
J. Smith: Were you ever approached inside the bar that you posed for, by a stranger that said they recognised you from the billboards? Did they mention anything about the billboards influencing them to attend that specific bar? Were these good or bad experiences in any way?
Ms. S: People would come up to me in the bar and say that they recognised me from the billboard, but they never did mention anything about influencing them in any way to come to the bar, but yeah, they were good experiences.
J. Smith: Did you ever do shots with another person, or were all of the pictures photoshopped?
Ms. S: Yeah, I did do a few pictures with another person, but most of the billboards that were up were photoshopped.
J. Smith: What kind of photo editing did they do?
Ms. S: They did a lot of airbrushing, to make everything look smoother. Don't get me wrong, I still look the same in real life, they just took what I had, and made it better.
J. Smith: What do you mean?
Ms. S: Well they just gave me a little more defined ab muscles, made my hair thicker and stuff.
J. Smith: Did you ever feel objectified during the photo shoots?
Ms. S: No not at all.
J. Smith: So everything felt A OK when you were doing them? The photographer treated you with respect through the process?
Ms. S: Yeah forsure, I knew the photographer, so that helped me to relax. It might have been a different story if it was with a stranger, you know?
J. Smith: What kind of posing did the photographer direct you through?
Ms. S: Um, well they got me to arch my back, and stick out my chest.
J. Smith: What emotions came to you when you saw yourself on the billboards?
Ms. S: Oh I was excited.
J. Smith: Excited because you were getting yourself out there?
Ms. S: Yep. I just really liked the finished product of the picture. I think they made me look really good.
J. Smith: How do you feel about some of the current bar billboards that you have seen more recently?
Ms. S: I haven't really seen many recently, but the ones that I have seen are pretty tame compared to the ones that I had done.
J Smith: Can you elaborate on that? Why are the current billboards more tame and tasteful?
Ms. S: The ones that I have seen for Hudson's just show girls hanging out, but the ones that I were in were definitely pretty staged.
J. Smith: Well that wraps up all of the questions I had, thank you very much for your time!
Ms. S: You are very welcome.
