After much deliberation and an abundance of suggestions we gave the piece a title!
‘Username‘
Username follows the growing online fascination with body image and identity using multimedia to project the obsession that people have with their online appearance. Movement, text and technology are the elements we are using to explore the lengths that people go to in order to create an online profile which stands out from everybody else’s.
Throughout the creative process our journey has been documented on our social media sites in order to provoke interest in the piece and also keep prospective audience members involved in the making of the performance. I created a Facebook event which members of the public could join and show their support, it was also a way of providing necessary performance information such as the time, date and location of the performance.
We created an online survey titled ‘Imperfections and Insecurities’ in order to gain information regarding the reasoning for the obsession with body image that online culture possesses. The findings revealed that people thought that the media was a major influence and our results from the survey gave us further insight into how people are affected and influenced by the media. These findings helped us to create the footage for the vocal sound scape that we are incorporating into the performance.
Link to the survey:
https://surveymonkey.com/s/SMF6DGN
JumpCut’s promotional video was also posted onto our social media platforms and provided our followers with a preview of what Username is about and the stylistic elements that we are using within the piece. The concept for the promotional video was to magnify the facial expressions and the arduous task that is applying make-up. As marketing director for the company I organised and filmed the video ensuring that it projected JumpCut’s theatrical style.
The video incorporates filters and close-ups of us applying make-up and it is accompanied by edgy music and text which focuses on the desire for perfection regarding body image. The video closes with a merged image of our faces which fits with our jump cutting style and the way in which a large majority of society carry out the rigorous routine to achieve online profile perfection.
Promotional video:
Work cited:
Haynes, H (2015) Social Media Posts. Taken 20/05/15.
Haynes, H (2015) Promotional Video Shoot. Taken 24/04/15.