cc licensed flickr photo shared by Alyssa L. Miller
The classic red and green contrast strikes again, and with this ethereal image I’m not quite sure whether to be impressed or scared. Either way, it is striking, and the woman’s piercing eyes and her red lipstick make it memorable. I’m a big fan of the red stuff anyway.
cc licensed flickr photo shared by poolski
A hint of red lipstick on a pair of beautiful lips. A strong light that casts soft shadows on the face, and makes the skin glow. I believe in the world of computer graphics they call it Sub Surface Scattering. I call it beatiful. Sometimes it’s nice to see a detail like this almost without context or environment. It reminds us of how much we stop seeing out of habit.
Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull’s latest video release, Fresh Out of the Oven, is not my usual taste in music, but a few stills of all the gratuitous red lipstick shots made me curious.
As music videos go, it is fairly par for the course by now, slick editing, colour grading, and dramatic lighting are in attendence. The song itself tries too hard and ends up sounding too generic. The video uses a classic and stark black, white and red colour palette. The blacks and white are not too strong, but subtle, and the red is mostly provided by J Lo’s dark red lips, which get plenty of screen time.
The surprising bit of red in the video was her leopard print stilletos with a red underside! Yes, the bottom of her shoes are red, and since she does spend the requisite time writhing around to the music, the red under soles are clearly visible. Now that’s a new twist to red shoes, and for such visual touches the video is worth a quick watch, even if the stupid repetition editing looks like a budgetary restraint, rather than a stylistic choice.
Of course, if you’re a J Lo fan, all these points are moot, and you’re probably already drooling and paying homage by now, so enjoy.
cc licensed flickr photo shared by buyalex
I’m not a fan of blood and gore, but the effect is obviously artificial after the first look at this picture, and it makes a for a very striking image. The redheaded woman in mime-like makeup and bold red lipstick, looking forlornly into the distance is intriguing enough, but why is her throat slit?