'bebop' launches youtube channel with short #hairstory film dream

New content is rapidly evolving in the hair and beauty industry and bebop have just launched their YouTube channel with their first collection, in the medium of a short #hairstory film, DREAM. Here the team answer some questions about their innovative new short film... This isn’t a traditional collection, what was the inspiration behind releasing a video of your work? We wanted this collection to move with the times, how content is evolving. As much as we love photo collections, we felt that moving image conveys more artistic emotion and can portray a better narrative which the viewer can take more from. This is why we want to coin the term #hairstory - hair is movable, you can tell a lot about a person from their hair and the best way to show this is through the moving image. YouTube, Vimeo and other social media platforms now dictate the way that media and content is used and we want the hair industry to follow with it. Can you describe your creative process to us? Our creative process is usually gathered from a collection of ideas, generally written on our phones or notebooks with corresponding images or videos next to them to explain the idea. These ideas have been taken from our surroundings, from people we meet or from anything that can inspire us, usually in a way that goes against convention. Once we feel like we have a strong idea, we present it to one another and pool together a group of friends who are industry creatives. These range from videographers, photographers or creative directors to stylists and make up artists, who help to evolve our ideas, usually presenting them on mood boards to help further develop the creative process.

DREAM is experimental; however, tell us about the story we’re seeing

In this story, the protagonist is walking around by herself in a field. As the sun starts to set, she goes into a forest (represented by the projection of a woodland) and she meets the 2 antagonists (represented in black). These 2 are the bad influences give her a drink in which she is then transformed (represented by her new make up and hair). The antagonists are now in white and they are all dancing in the forest. They switch between masked characters and being in white as this represents their intentions and behaviour. The protagonist suddenly wakes up in the field the next morning, not sure what has happened and not sure if she was dreaming.

What influences should we pick up?

This is a tale of a night out, drawing inspiration from Alice and the Wonderland. There are influences of pagan/cult rituals contrasting with very commercial looks. We wanted to display the two sides of what bebop is: wearable, contemporary hair but also pushing conceptual creativity.

With reference to hair, what was the hair concepts included in this video

Hair is one part of the whole concept, which people tend to forget when they are working with clients or on photo shoots. Hair should compliment the wearer’s style, make up and general personality. This is the same with this video. We drew ideas in 2 parts: wearable, contemporary hair that people are familiar with and then hair with strong tribal influences (braids, twists and statement colours). We wanted to depict a ‘cult’ side to the hair, represented with one antagonist cutting her fringe and the other having her haircut. We worked with wigs that were coloured using our own techniques to achieve the colour feel as you’ll see.

What would you like to produce in the future?

We are currently putting together another #hairstory in which we will be collaborating with a digital artist. This collection will have a more hair and model focused narrative with the use of digital manipulation. With this project, we want the post-production to become part of the idea, not to cover up mistakes and to conform to society's ideals.

If there were 3 things you’d like us to know about bebop, what would they be

1: Suitability: we make wearable hair - we want to bring back hairdressing to the person wearing it and not just as extensions of our egos where we forget about the person underneath! 2: We want to evolve our industry: we love collaborations and creative people - you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. 3: Let’s not forget the reason that we started hairdressing, which was to make people happy. We love hair and we enjoy all the different directions and processes you can take with it. This is why we push ourselves to do these things!