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Watch: “Fly or Die” blurs the line between beauty and short film

Watch: “Fly or Die” blurs the line between beauty and short film

In the midst of a beauty landscape increasingly cluttered with one-dimensional editorials and short-lived TikTok reels, NBGA is proud to bless you with a special delivery. With the heavy duty pandemic restrictions slowly receding more and more into our memories, we are once again free to examine our fellow human beings without any censorship. Meaning, yes – we can reach for our favorite cream lipsticks, we can finally try out our go-to 3-step lip combination (the one with sticky gloss!). Our favorite beauty routines can return from hibernation. The world is our oyster. Haven’t you missed it? Getting ready is one of the most pleasurable points of the day. That’s what our NBGA mom, Sarah Feingold, thought too – and she’s brought a breath of fresh air into the beauty world with the premiere of her cinetorial Fly or Die. 

New York based model and multi-hyphenate artist, Sarah Feingold – founder of NBGA mag – is taking a detour from her usual artistry to debut her first-ever beauty film. Known for pioneering the pop-of-color eye looks all over Instagram and Tumblr, as well as her viral campaigns with Glossier and Revlon, Feingold is no stranger to working her creative eye behind the camera. This time, she pushes her vision a little bit further by reimagining the standard beauty advert as something three-dimensional. The film, titled “Fly or Die” is an electric, nostalgic homage to the glory days of prepping for nights out with the girls in front of the bathroom mirror, music blasting and stomach buzzing with feel-good butterflies. 

Taking place over the span of one night in underground London, the film features muses like Chi Virgo and Sano Turdiev, who among the rest of the stellar model cast were handpicked by Feingold herself with diversity in mind. “I made it a mission to capture as many different faces as I could,” the director shared. “Mother Nature was too kind to us not to.”

Photography Armand Da Silva | Styling Seraphina Woodrow | Make-Up Sophia Sinot | Hair Issac Poleon

 

With this first debut, Feingold introduces herself as the new filmmaker in the beauty world by remixing traditional tutorial concepts into the brand-new cinetorial  ⁠— a film created to showcase a tutorial, merging complementary elements of art, beauty, and fashion. After growing a little bored of the beauty content she was seeing online during the early days of the pandemic, Feingold shares: “I had the desire to merge classic cinema-style storytelling with an educative but not-so-traditional beauty tutorial that viewers can follow along with at home.”

NBGA chatted with our founder about her plans to take “Fly or Die” global as the beauty world’s new filmmaker with continuing chapters, new faces and new characters, telling stories in unpredictable aesthetics and worlds. We also dug into the inspiration behind her latest project, her favorite part of the process and its most challenging aspects, as well as turning the spotlight onto what might be coming up next in the Fly or Die universe.

WHAT INFLUENCED YOU TO REIMAGINE THE STANDARD BEAUTY ADVERT AS SOMETHING HAPPENING WITHIN A CINEMATIC UNIVERSE?

At the time, I had just moved to NY. It was right before the pandemic hit. I had a lot of time to be creative in solitude and think of the projects I want to bring to life. To be honest with you, I was a little dissatisfied with the beauty content I was seeing online. It was a lot of the same thing recycled again and again, and I believe beauty can do and be so much better than that, much more exciting. That was my original thought. I wanted to create something that I would like to see.

Photography Armand Da Silva | Styling Seraphina Woodrow | Make-Up Sophia Sinot | Hair Issac Poleon

TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE CONCEPTION OF THIS PROJECT. WHAT WAS YOUR INITIAL INSPIRATION?

My initial inspiration for this project was to merge cinematic storytelling with an educational but not-so-traditional beauty tutorial. I wanted to infuse a little bit of fun into the “step by step” tutorial formula. I call it a cinetorial! Concept wise, it’s important to me that I’m working with diverse casts, because I like to create diverse looks that actually reflect our society. The talent I tapped for this film is super diverse and it worked out perfectly. They each have their individual lip and eye looks that we broke down for the viewer. I had so much fun putting this together, just letting the creative juices flow. Not every viewer looks the same. 

This way, everyone will find something they like about one of the looks. Maybe it’s a liner/gloss combination or they’re inspired to try out a different eye. I want to cater to every type of woman.

The looks featured in the video were dreamt up with the help of an amazing glam team. Sophia Sinot as our makeup artist, and Issac Poleon was our hair stylist and Seraphina Woodrow was styling our gorgeous cast. My beauty dreams wouldn’t have come true without their incredible talent and work ethic. 

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT MAKING THIS FILM? WHAT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF THE PROCESS?

The most fun part to me was being on set after months of planning. Actually getting to bring the idea to life was amazing. I hand-picked the cast and was so thrilled that all my first choices wanted to be a part of it. We had a great vibe on set and that’s best for creating.

The most challenging part was definitely putting the shoot together. During that time it wasn’t easy to travel and shoot in studio spaces. We had a bunch of regulations that needed to be respected for the safety of everyone involved. That made the technicalities of the shoot a bit challenging but we made it work. I’m so grateful for everyone who contributed to it.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ARTISTIC VISION, ESPECIALLY IN HOW IT RELATES TO FILM MAKING?

I find so much beauty in faces, different forms, different colors. It’s actually my favorite part of my job – to be able to work with such a wide range of people. I’m honored to be able to project my vision onto them and see them owning it and embracing it. I made it a personal mission to capture as many faces as I can. Mother nature was too kind to us not to! 

Photography Armand Da Silva | Styling Seraphina Woodrow | Make-Up Sophia Sinot | Hair Issac Poleon

CAN YOU IMAGINE INTRODUCING DIFFERENT CITIES AND CHARACTERS? WHAT IS NEXT FOR THE FLY OR DIE UNIVERSE?

This is just the beginning, definitely. The story of the film will continue and I’m planning to make it a series of cinetorials telling different stories in unpredictable aesthetics and worlds. I can’t wait to get back into the studio again and create more. I have even more ideas for projects I’m currently working on that are related to beauty but will share more when the time is right. I am definitely going to produce in different cities and plan on telling stories from all over the world with new faces and characters. 

And that’s a wrap!

We hope you enjoy this film – keep up with future happenings over at YouTube and Instagram.

 

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