Before the start of this project, I hadn’t taken much time to think
about what I wanted to do for my final major project. After a tutorial with
Steve, I thought about what I enjoy photographing at the moment, leading me to
the idea of still life product shots. The idea links with both my own beauty
blog, and my dissertation theme of blogging affecting consumerism. I was able to
find artists and photographers who look at the idea of consumerism in many
different ways, such as Barbara Kruger and Lauren Greenfield. Finding a lot of
research in an area I am passionate about helped me organise my ideas, and with
help from tutors, create a final piece to aim towards. I want to create a video
piece of myself talking about how I feel YouTube and blogging have effected
consumerism today, as well as taking a number of still life cosmetic shots. I
knew that I would be able to take a lot of my own experiences into this project
and keep it personal, yet un-bias. I found creating the timetable of the
upcoming module very helpful. I know that I can manage my time well if I stick
to the plan. Even thought I originally struggled with creating an idea, I feel
confident that I can achieve my aims and cerate the final piece I want.
Proposal
Precis
For my final major project I aim to produce a video or myself,
talking about my views on how YouTube has affected the world. I want to focus
on the beauty YouTube community, and how I am affected by what these videos
talk about, and the people in them. I want to be able to talk openly about how
I feel watching these videos and the and how it affects my consumerism. I also
want to have a set of photographs along side this of still life/product
pictures showing my own interest in the YouTube/blogging community, and how I
would show the products myself.
Proposal
I have been an avid YouTube watcher for a few years and I have
become a huge fan of the beauty ‘vlogging’ community that has built up. I want to be able to create a video piece
talking about my thoughts and experiences, and have others be able to relate. I
want the piece to communicate the ideas of how YouTube has affected consumerism.
I want to be able to communicate with both the girls in the age range, and
others who may not totally understand the idea of YouTube as it is today. I want to stay unbiased, and not just talk
about the good things about YouTube, and why I enjoy watching so much. I want
to be able to talk openly about how watching the videos affect my consumerism
habits, and the idea that I fully trust what the bloggers are telling me, and
feel I need everything they talk about. I feel it will be eye opening for me,
and anyone who is in the same position as me as a fan. I feel that I will
understand more about my admitted ‘obsession’ with YouTube and blogs at the end
of this project.
I also want to explore still life photography to go along with this
idea. I want to be able to create high quality product images, and try to
create the images I see that draw me into buying the products in the first
place. I want to explore both how I photograph my own blogging images now. At
home with natural light and a more natural setting, and how that comes across
to the reader compared to images taken in the studio with lighting and
different set ups.
I want to use Lauren Greenfields work as a resource, in Kids + Money
she shows kids who tell their stories in a series of interview-based
“portraits,” about their relationship with money. Some talk about their love
for shopping, talk about their ambitions to become rich and some talk about how
money is not important to them. In some of the interviews, they talk about how
kids are now being judged on their family’s wealth, rather than their race like
previous generations.
I want my video piece to feel natural and laid back; I don’t want it
to be too staged or structured. I want it to feel as if I was talking to a
friend about my thoughts and opinions, and not me telling people how they
should feel about the subject. My still images how ever will be staged, both
with the images done at home and in the studio. I want a professional and clean
look to my images, to draw in the viewer. My intended audience is mostly
gallery based, but would seeing as this is a video based around YouTube; this
would be a great place to display it. People who would be watching on the
website, would be the people most understanding of the concept I am talking
about.
I hope that during this project I will learn more and understand the
whole area around the Internet and how it affects our spending habits and us. I
want to be able to speak openly when I film the final video, about what I have
learnt and realized about myself watching others videos each day. I want to be
able to develop my still life photography skills, and improve how I work with
products.
The support I need during this project is yet to be decided. I will
need technical support with any new equipment, lighting and any still life
aspects I do not already know. I may want to undertake some training in a
medium or large format camera to evolve my skills. If this is successful I may
want to use this for my project, and be able to show my development through the
assignment.
At this stage I am not totally sure on the exact equipment I may
need. As stated, I want to try to learn new skills to improve over all, but if
this is unsuccessful I may need to stick the equipment I am used to, and know
how to use at a high standard. Due to the fact I will not be shooting any of my
project on location other than my own home, or the studios at university there
will be no travel considerations that I already don’t take. I will not being
needing to travel to another area to shoot my video, or stills.
The over all budget for this project will be small, with travel
costs and the fact that no other person is involved means that costs should be
small. The amount I need to spend will become more apparent with printing costs
etc.
Timetable
One of the elements that needed to be completed for Advanced
Research Strategies is a timetable for the 12-week duration. The timetable is
meant to help us prepare for the different aspects of the project such as
research, shoots as well as including free time. This way we can make the
correct preparations for each part ahead of time, and planning how long each
part may take in advance. This will allow me to keep track of my progress, and
see what I have to complete on what day.
I added 4 different categories throughout the timetable;
Research – this would be adding to the research from this module. It
would be connected with the days focused on blogging, and project development.
Blog – this would be focusing on catching up with my blog and making
sure all my ideas, research, plans and development were documented here.
Skills– this would include any days I will take part in learning different
skills such as a large format camera, or learning new editing skills both with
still and film.
Project Development – this would be the days I am developing work I
have already created, research I have found and any ideas I have. I want to be
able to push myself, and my ideas to the best of my ability. This time would
also allow me to think about the final show and how I want to display. Also
time to print, mount and display work at the show when the time comes.
I have also added time for other projects such as Independent
Research Project, both text and practice for my PowerPoint presentation. Also
time to focus on Pro Frameworks. I want to be able to give myself time to do
these things and not try to fit them in my spare time. I’ve also added the days
I work part time, and tried to keep a good balance between free time and
working days.
The final table shows all the different elements. I’ve tried to look
at the time needed for each element and fit this in the time scale. I’ve also
tried to make sure that my blog is the most used time, as this takes me the
longest to collect all my research etc. together.
Ethics and Risk Assessment
During this project safety measures need to
be taken to make sure there are no injuries. Because this project will be based
around me, and my ideas, the main concern will be my safety in the area I will
be shooting in. Personal safety and safety to the equipment around me is my
main concern during this project. I will not have any participants in my project;
I have no plans for models or anyone else to be involved. I will not need model
release forms or any consent, unless I use part of another person’s video in my
work. If I do use any work from another person, I will not use the video to
deceive or change the video to something other than how the creator wanted it
to. I will talk about a range of people I have found during my research in my
final project video, and will make sure I will be respectful to them during the
project.
Literature Review
Dr. Natasha Josefowitz.
(2014). Consumed By Our Consumer Society. Available:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-natasha-josefowitz/consumed-by-our-consumer-_b_6329190.html.
Last accessed 8th Jan 2015.
In this article Dr. Natasha Josefowitz talks about the difference
between needing, and wanting something. She talks about impulse buying, and how
we don’t take any time to think about what we are buying, just that we want it.
She says how buying something on impulse you want ‘triggers the pleasure centers
of your brain’ and makes you feel happy. She brings up the point that sometimes
‘the lines are too often blurred between "need" and "want."
And sometimes we forget what’s important, and go for the things we want instead
of vital things we need. Being able to buy something without thought, at the
time may make us feel happy, but afterwards may give us a sense of regret.
Jocelyn K. Glei. (2011).
Is Consumerism Killing Our Creativity?. Available:
http://99u.com/articles/6775/is-consumerism-killing-our-creativity. Last
accessed 5th Jan 2015.
This article talks about how consumerism may affect are ability to
be creative. She talks about how ‘As creatives, we can often rationalize
spending time on shopping by telling ourselves that we’re investing our time,
energy, and money in a new tool – an item that’s going to catapult our
creativity to the next level.’ Something as simple as shopping, can cause us to
be distracted, we can find ourselves looking online for useless objects rather
than getting on with our own creative work. Jocelyn Glei talks about how ‘things
keeping me from pushing my creative projects forward.’ She talks about how she
feels about addiction to consumerism affecting her own work. She brings up the
idea that if we have ‘less to work with, we have to be more creative’ which I
find to be true. The less distractions around us, the more we could get done
and be more creative.
Lauren Greenfield – Kids +
Money.
Lauren Greenfield is an acclaimed documentary
photographer/filmmaker, who is considered a leader for of youth culture, gender
and consumerism. Kids + Money is short film that discusses with young people
from many different Los Angeles communities about the role of money, and how it
affects their lives. The teen girls and boys talk about money, about getting
money, shopping, learning to live without it, and how they are shaped by the
culture of consumerism. It shows how important money has become, not to just
adults, but children. They want to spend, or save, or aim to get more, and I find
this surprising. I would never have thought until seeing this, that money was
such a bit thing in a child life. Maybe this is just in the LA area, and not in
my own surroundings, but to think that kids are thinking these serious matters
in their teenage years is shocking to me. I want to talk about my own
relationship with spending; concentrating on how I feel encouraged buying
things after watching YouTube videos.
Eds. Thomas Seeling, Urs
Stahel (2005). The Ecstasy Of Things. Denmark: Steidl. 159-228.
This book collects photographs, which were unearthed from worldwide
companies and agencies. The book is full of illustrations and annotations
showing the emotional and symbolic content of how things were once represented.
The book is a collection of design and a photographic history of the past
century. I particularly liked the photographs of two models, one being Jayne
Mansfield, and advertising Lufthansa luggage bags. This shows how in the 1950’s
and 60’s, well known people and celebrities were used to advertise products.
Without the use of the Internet, this would have been the way to attract new
customers and increase consumerism. Other parts of the book, such as page 159
talk about how the body had become a more popular subject in the 20th
century. Also how ‘cosmetics of all kinds, from lipstick to shavers, intended
to beautify the outward appearance of the body’ were becoming more and more
popular at the time.
Martin Lindstrom (2011).
Brandwashed. New York: Crown Business . 1-304
In this book, Martin Lindstrom turns the spotlight on his own
industry. He talks about all that he has witnessed behind closed doors during
his time at work, exposing for the first time the full extent of the tricks
that companies devise to win our own money. He talks about how companies are ‘secretly
mining our digital footprints to uncover some of the most intimate details of
our private lives’ and they are then using the information they collect to
target us with ‘perfectly tailored’ ads and offers. Some of the ‘tricks’ that
Lindstrom talks about, most of us are aware of anyway. We know that companies
know what we search for, and use this to their own advantage. It makes you feel
less secure, and understand how companies can invade your privacy online.
Sannah Kvist – All I Own
Sannah challenges young adults to pack the entirety of their
possessions into one sculptural creation, and she then captures them in her
images. The image starts to take shape by having the subject collect all of
their furnishings and objects, and then pile them up into a sculpture. The
individuals have total freedom to design the the pile of possessions they
have. All of the people who have been
photographed were born in the 1980s. Sannah says this was the most important stipulation
of the All I Own project, that they were around the same age as her. They would
be likely to have the same type of possession, be in the same time in their
lives that need certain things, something she shows in her images. These images
show that people can cope with little possessions, these images don't show if
the individual is happy, but they have learnt how to cope with the things they
have.
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