Evaluation (Alter-ego Project)

An Evaluation

"..."

Our first batch of projects had a theme of 'identity' around them. With Lee, our objective was to create two images which displayed a scene for a particular personality (Emo, Chav, Nerd, Geek) in an almost stereotypical way, and stylize them to correspond with the personality.

I thought about what kind of person I am, and I came up with the personalities of a Geek (not a nerd, there's a difference) and an Organised-Obsessed Guy. My Organised-Obsessed Guy image showed myself dressed up in somewhat smart clothing (Shirt, Tie, Trousers) trying to align a mirror correctly. However, such a simple task of organisation while being so obsessed with alignment, he just can't get it to his standards. This leads to an unbearable amount of agony, but being such a sensible and sheltered type of person, he doesn't show it. I show this through the mirror as a symbolism for his inner feelings.

I think the room itself works well in the sense that with my dark clothing, your eyes go straight to the focal point, me. The whole room is quite a neutral colour too which I think matches the plain, well-kept personality of the guy.

"Agony"

My audience is rather simple . My fellow students, tutors, basically everyone involved within my course. I'd also say any future interviewer for a university or even a job if these designs ever make it into my portfolio.

My experimental phase consisted mostly of trying several different poses and ideas in the photography studio at College. We were in a queue though and the lamps really limited the time you had to take photos unless you didn't mind being boiled alive, so I felt rather rushed and couldn't think clearly. This resulted in photos that 'resembled' my ideas but didn't match my expectations and I just wasn't satisfied with the quality of the photos I took then. The main reason for this was because of the lighting, I didn't like the look of it at all and I felt like I would be able to create a far better image at home in a calmer environment.

At home I managed to find a clear spot and the most experimentation I did there was trying a few varied positions that matched with each other (me and the reflection of me). Moving about my furniture could also be a form of experimenting, in the sense that I rearranged my room a few times over to figure out the best possible spot for my final image. I felt the same way for my geek image, it was so much easier to do it in my own environment without having anyone waiting behind me.

For my geek, I wanted either a closeup shot of my face to show how in-your-face geeks can be with their obsessions regardless of whether you're interested or not OR an angled shot of my body slightly zoomed out laying next to a wall and not even looking at you as a way to show how I don't even notice you because I'm in my own little world of games. I think the one I went with works well though because it uses some rather blatant hints (the headset, wires, and games) as to what type of person I am in these photos. The gradient (purple, which I think helps add to the strangeness of the image) adjustment I added near the end of the design process makes the image, to me anyway, feel old or even vintage. Combine that with the classic space invaders t-shirt I'm wearing you end up with a message that this guy (me) must have been gaming for some time, since the beginning. I also wanted it to be more blatant that these games are his thoughts, so I shaped them accordingly.

I experimented with the materials used for my geek photos because there were so many variations I could use them in. By materials I'm talking about the wires of course. I had to think whether to wrap them around my whole body, or my head, how many wires to use, should I have them criss-cross or flow in one direction, should I allow my face to be seen clearly or unclearly? These types of questions led me to try out several variations until I was satisfied with the results. Such variations involved closer up images, further out images, and slightly different poses.

For the entirety of this project, from the first mind map to the final print, I never had a 'structured' system for how I spent my time working. I would simply have my sketchbook with me at all times, and then fill it in whenever I thought or saw something relative to the project brief. I did everything else whenever I felt like it, which happened to be nearly all the time ^^. This was probably my greatest strength in completing the project. It meant I rarely had a moment where I would feel like "I gotta do this and that and this and that" because I had prioritised "this and that" over everything else because it is what I enjoyed doing the most.

However, my perfectionist attitude (see? SEE!?) brought me some grief in the creation of the geek image as I simply could not satisfy myself with the composition of the image and just kept redoing it, trying different positions, different props, and even different arrangements of the rooms I did it in. Perhaps I should try and do, whatever my perfectionism may get in the way of, in advance instead. One can hope :)