miranda-zhang-ardn716

[miranda-zhang-ardn716]

Week 12 - Presentation feedback

try smaller or less text on posters

try diptych posters where one is text and one is photo

try text within window

need more focus on photos because this is a photography project

more mockups on campus

make real instagram account

research recent news about a guy being fired for stalking and looking through someone's window

text content is good

format is good

photos are good but need more

billboards good

[miranda-zhang-ardn716]

Week 11 - Mockups

Using images from Shout Media (and I took the first image), I photoshopped my posters and billboard designs. The aim is to show how this campaign would look like in real spaces around NZ especially universities in order to target the main audience of 16-25 year olds.

I have also created a mockup of the campaign's instagram page. The aim is also to target this age group who primarily is exposed to media through the internet.

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Week 11 - Campaign details

Name ideas:

Watcher (original name also movie name)

Through the looking glass (peer suggested but not original)

Through Their Eyes (already used for campaigns)

The Window Was Never Open

Through The Closed Window

No Right to Watch

Look Away (used for other things also isn't clear)

Eyes Off

Final name: No Right To Watch

Description for instagram:

A campaign by @followuslegally for the young people of Aotearoa. Helping you spot stalking and know what to do if you or a friend is being stalked.

Hashtags:

#itsstalking #stalkingawareness

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Week 10 - Editing Progress and Mockups

https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/blank-billboard-city_8891447.htm#fromView=keyword&page=1&position=9&uuid=4e0f8b03-2720-4c02-b290-0b195409fc04&query=Billboard+Mockup

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Week 10 - Shout Media images

In my project I will be using mockups from Shout Media's website. They have 50% of the A0 poster market and are in AUT so they would be a real reputable company that the campaign could work with. According to them, "We now have coverage at 17 campuses reaching over 200,000 students." so it matches my target audience. It's also a Ponsonby based company making it local.

The types of outdoor advertising I will use and why:

Street LED is good for targeting both pedestrians and vehicles

Study network which reaches 175,000 students each week in high traffic student spaces. This is perfect for my campaign as it is designed to target the intended campaign audience.

Digital and traditional billboards are always effective and have a wide reach

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Week 10 - More lighting reference for editing

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Week 10 - Editing progress

I tried to make the shadow as clear as possible but found it looked worse than before. The clarity makes it look like a silhouette stock image. I then went back and made it less clear which I feel looks softer and better.

Original image, simple colour correction and cutting out windows,

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Week 10 - Shoot

This week I was able to finally shoot more silhouettes. I decided to pose my model in more interesting ways such as playing the guitar or vr. This gives the silhouettes more personality than before and makes them seem like real people.

I also figured out how to make the shadows clear. Before I was only using the ceiling light which caused multiple translucent shadows. This time I used my phone flashlight pointing directly behind the model propped up. This way the shadow is crisp.

[miranda-zhang-ardn716]

Week 9 - Editing progress

This time I wanted to try adding multiple people in a window mostly to add diversity to the composition of my images.

I began with composing my silhouette images then airbrushed in the background by picking colours from the photographs. Then I added the railing which I cut out using selection tools.

This is the finished image

[miranda-zhang-ardn716]

Week 9 - Library visit

This week we took a quick trip to see the Trouble In Paradise exhibition in the library level 3 & 4. This was quite helpful for me because one of my outputs is an exhibition.

Notes:

photos can be framed to the border or framed with a top mat (the white border around the image)

top mat is consistent for all bordered images

same wooden frame for all images

all are near eye level, around 150cm from the centre of middle

Photos are grouped like under water, green, beach into clusters

Horizons match only for some images

Frames have been moved up and down to look natural

I found a book titled 'Dirty Windows' by Mary Alpern. The book features a photo collection by Alpern which shows the going ons in a brothel seen within a window. All photographs are framed the same, with a completely black frame and a black and white scene on the other side.

There is no text within the photobook so at first I did not know what the project was about initially. However, I really connected the quote from Mary Alpern on the back cover: "I used to have a recurring dream, it went like this: I'm spying on some activity in the window when, suddenly, the subject becomes aware of my presence and looks up. We lock eyes..." I would like to include this quote somehow into my project.

Although this project focuses on themes of sexual deviancy, it also shows the perspective of a stalker who observes their victims in vulnerable positions without their knowledge or consent. The fact that this has been published likely without consent is also an ethical issue. I could relate this to my audience through the idea of 'This person had their photo published and was stalked, you don't want to be like them, be aware.'

Aplern's project has many visual similarities to mine, mainly the use of silhouettes. The difference is that in mine, the people are silhouettes but in hers, the window is the silhouette. This makes the individuality of the person seem authentic. I would like to visually explore this style as part of my campaign but I'm facing the challenge of finding a location where I can capture a clear enough image through a window without it being too dark or reflective.

"Merry Alpern is a contemporary American photographer known for her controversial oeuvre and utilization of surveillance photography. Her acclaimed series Dirty Windows (1995) contains voyeuristic black and white images of men and women engaging in sex, doing drugs, and dressing or undressing at a low-rent brothel near Wall Street in Manhattan. “Although the notion of the ‘female gaze’ has never really interested me, as a woman I could project some of my own experiences onto the pantomime in the window,” the artist remarked on the series. Born on March 15, 1955 in New York, NY, Alpern studied sociology at Grinnell College in Iowa, but returned to New York before graduating in order to pursue photography. Because of Dirty Windows, she became one of the artists criticized by congress members who sought to defund the National Endowment of the Arts, along with Andres Serrano and Barbara DeGenevieive. The controversy sparked interest in the series, and would catapult the photographer’s career. Today, her works are in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, among others. Alpern currently lives and works in New York, NY." - Artnet

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Week 9 - Ideas from classmates

you could try taking photos of a model and the location separately if schedules don't align

make a large series of photos of the window style

[miranda-zhang-ardn716]

Week 8 - Redone Moodboard

What I've already been doing: Colourful windows with silhouettes. I will combine these with my new ideas. Close and far images.

Images of people from POV of stalker: Strong contrast, backlight, make person into silhouette. Lighting and glow will make it cohesive with my other images.

(Not sure about this) Dramatic images of stalker/victim's face. Make into silhouette or have shadow cover most of face. Coloured glowy lighting. Will be from inside the window.

[miranda-zhang-ardn716]

Week 8 - Group Feedback

images are working well

idea isn't super clear

is this POV of stalker or victim

do more work

maybe try pair a further away window image with close up of victim or pov of victim from inside the window

use a sheet with a strong studio light behind

[miranda-zhang-ardn716]

Week 8 - Possible Galleries

Parnell Gallery

Relevant because it is near/part of the location I shot my images in. Large glass window at the front. People who frequent the area are on the older side though.

2. Ngutu Kaka

Ngutu Kaka is AUT's gallery which usually displays student work. This also means that the main audience of exhibitions there are students which are in the main age group my campaign is targeting. I went there to take some photos to possibly use in my final mockups.

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Week 8 - To do list

Go through old images to find some that might work better

Read annotation guide (DONE)

Write 3 main challenges of this project

Draft positioning statement

Find a suitable art gallery building that I could go to and photograph. Preferably central Auckland

3 Main Challenges:

Difficult to take silhouette images that have the right 'look'. The main challenge has been finding an effective method to capture silhouettes that I can easily access because right now it's in a friend's apartment and we cannot always match up our schedules and I cannot invite others to model.

Creating images that don't all look the same. My images so far all have the same look which is good for cohesiveness but the idea gets old quick.

Communicating the 'stalker' concept clearly. Right now my images communicate that the audience is being watched by creepy figures. How can I communicate the idea of stalking better?

What to write: Positioning Statement

Formal writing

State what type of work this is and what I want to achieve as a photographer

What does the work aims to achieve as a campaign, what outcome/objectives are there? Change behaviours, thought, laws

Context: the why, social issues. Cite and link to research

Reflect on what went right/wrong, how did the process go

What would I do differently next time?

No spelling and grammar mistakes

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Week 7 - Plan for Week 8

Ideas for SDL during class time:

creating an exhibition mockup

location scouting

finding the best way to shoot silhouettes of people

My plan for in class is to hopefully test silhouette photography if I have access to a model. If not, I will go and photograph security cameras around AUT. This will be edited into a collage to communicate the feeling of being watched to audiences of my exhibition.

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Week 7 - Re-think

Overview: what is the project? A photographic campaign to raise awareness for stalking.

What are your objectives? To create an emotional impact on audiences which will create conversations and draw them in to learn about the effects of stalking and how to protect themselves.

Target audience: 16 - 30 year olds who are more vulnerable to being stalked.

What are your planned deliverables? I'm changing my deliverable from social media focused to become a public exhibition in a building with large windows. The building should be on a street where my target audience frequents. Prints will be used on the exterior of the building to draw audiences in.

A secondary deliverable could be a digital form such as a social media page or website. Since cyber stalking is becoming bigger, it would be a contextually relevant platform. It would also be more effective for reaching the target audience who are primarily online.