Anyways, here's the YouTube link: A New Take on Beauty
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Old Post:
Alrighty, it took me forever to figure out what exactly I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it, but I finally have something and I actually really like where it's going. So my piece is going to focus on women's bodies and the stress that we are put under by society is a lot of different aspect and how a lot of girls deal with it, and then what I personally believe is healthy and beautiful. I'm going to have 4 different pieces, each one having a different way that girls have dealt with this pressure to be "beautiful" and "perfect." By this I mean, anorexia and self-harm. But on the other end of the spectrum, there is obesity and not living a healthy life in that way as well. I'm still working with some ideas for the 4th one (and if anybody has an idea, please comment!). The piece is going to be a video made in After Effects. The video will start blank and then image by image, the piece will start to become a collage of images that portray these disorders. Those images will be in black and white and then the last image will be one of the pictures I took of myself and my friends working out, looking healthy and strong. Then the video will proceed to the next set of images, and so on.
Here is what one of the final images looks like (this one is focused on anorexia)
I'm using Tumblr a lot to find pictures and I'm finding a lot of sickening text posts as well, so I am thinking about having those type out in the video as well. It's stuff like "I'll slim down. I'll have a thigh gap like those other girls. you'll be able to see my hipbones and ribs. I'll slim down i swear." And when the final image covers up the collage of bodies, I might have quotes or something that supports being healthy and strong.
I know this is a very controversial topic and I do apologize if I offend anyone with the way I am going about doing this, but this is my interpretation of how I feel about this topic and it's something I am very passionate about, so I hope that I can capture that in this.
I know I have a lot of work to do, but I can finish this. Plus I just downloaded Photoshop and After Effects on my computer so I can work on it over the break!
I'm not sure what you're trying to say with this project but I have a basic idea and it seems interesting so far. My only advice would be to edit it in a way so that your message is clear. Also think about whether or not you're going to add music.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has had close friends with eating disorders since middle school, all of whom used the internet (many obsessed with tumblr) to overwhelm themselves with images and messages that they thought were beautiful/healthy but were pretty much the opposite, I understand and appreciate what you're doing here.
ReplyDeleteI really like the cut-out aesthetic of the images, they remind me of collages my friends and I made when we were younger with magazines, which makes this all seem more real to me. I definitely think you should incorporate text into your piece. I wonder if you have considered sound, but I actually think your piece could be more haunting if it were silent.
My major critique here is that I hope that there is a clear difference between those images that are unhealthy and those that are healthy. Obviously, the unhealthy images look unhealthy and are grey, and the healthy image is in color, but are you doing anything more to distinguish the two other than escalate to a healthy image in the center of the frame? I think your piece would be stronger if there was another step here. Perhaps the fourth piece could tie together all of the healthy images somehow?
A good departure from the imagery you were struggling with earlier. The black and white images get to your point much more obviously. The strongest black and white images are those that show spines, jutting shoulder blades, ribs and way-too-skinny legs. The images where the women are pinching skin or measuring their bodies are too obvious and seem fake (although I am sure women do measure themselves). There are a couple of photos with underwear showing that seem too sexy to be off-putting enough.
ReplyDeleteThe juxtaposition of a healthy body in color with these images makes sense. The question remains "what is a healthy body?" Your friend seems to be healthy-- she is lifting something heavy, seems a normal weight-- her ribs are still showing. She is focusing on her strength instead of her fat. I like the idea of being more occupied with a bodies performance than it's silhouette, but seeking a stronger body comes with it's own issues-- there are plenty of athletes who are NOT healthy.
As we talked about before you've touched on a huge and important discussion here. As you work to complete the project, seek ways to represent the aspects of your health, and your friend's health that you most admire. How can you represent the health that you seek? How are healthy bodies beautiful/ more beautiful than skinny bodies?