Journal 1- The start of my page
Instagram: @shelby.making.art
In my project, the denoted image is the video. To me, as the artist, it would be the raw video I used to edit the final video together. To the viewer, the closest they could get to the raw video is if they watched the video on mute and only saw my action. With that, the piece is solely just a depiction of a young woman painting and drawing. However, with the culture of social media, the view would automatically know I, the creator, is trying to do more than just share videos of me working. Usually this would be for profit or fame, but for me it is for getting my work seen by others and for a class grade. This would start to bleed into the connotated image with the sound. I layered a popular song that is trending on top of a voice auto of me introducing myself, explaining why I am making video, what they will expect to see for me, and lastly telling them to "enjoy" my page. By adding a popular song, I am strategically drawing viewers to my page because the algorithm will push trending songs to more people's pages. Then by having a short explanation of myself it is welcoming people to stay on my page and look through other posts. As well as try to assume the type of person I am by how I speak. Personally, I am trying to be as authentic with my videos, but I know I pitched my voice higher to sound more friendly so that viewers would want to stay on my video. I also tried to match the editing style of many popular creators (a montage of me working) so when viewers see my videos that think I have an understanding of what I am doing and will be more inclined to watch, A quote from "Images-Text-Music" that can explain this is "the 'composition' carries an aesthetic signified, in much the same way as intonation suprasegmental is a separate signifier in language. Thus we are here dealing with a normal system who signs are drawing from a cultural code," (Barthes, p. 46). Due to the cultural codes we have with social media, by reflecting the same qualities I see successful creators do, I can seem more appealing. As for the linguistic message, I use the caption to push the the connotated image of me sharing my experience by reiterating what I had said in the audio. Then I encourage audience engagement by inviting the viewers to suggest content they would like to see in the future.
My project is going well and I am on track according to my schedule. I already posted my first video! (Which is the video I was referring to in this blog). I already have a troll on my account (it is my sister and she is 100% joking. Please do not go after her. She asked if she could comment those things and I gave her consent). Some of my content ideas are: break down of my exhibition, day in the life of an art student, speed drawing or asmr drawing, my past works and how I got into art, crunch time during the last week, the opening reception and final product of my pieces. I still plan to post two videos a week, but I am determining if they should be the same day or different days.
Looks great Shelby! I'm curious how you feel making these? Is the camera a distraction?
ReplyDeleteI love how you dissected the ways Barthes ideas relate to your project, what do you think would change if instead of writing a caption you just left it blank or put hashtags? Would the work maybe feel more mysterious or? You don't have to do that but it's interesting to think about what the lack of text might mean for something as visual as your art process.
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