2. Our Project
We are hoping to produce a 5-7 minute
long video displaying the effects of bullying
through social media. We will be basing our
story around one female character around
the age of 15 who allows herself to be a
victim to a group of vicious girls who attack
her through Facebook and Twitter. We want
to take a literal approach to the implications
bullying can have on a young girl.
3. ‘A video art piece that explores the theme of
'transformation'.
We have chosen to use transformation as the
basis of our video. Our young character is
already going through the hardship of
puberty, whilst her teen hood is being moulded
by the insults of other girls. We want to show
how girls and boys feel they have to ‘fit in’ we
will show our character changing her physical
and online appearance to suit her
bullies, although she will never succeed.
4. Influences
The cinematography of our piece will be influenced by Darren
Aronofsky’s ‘Requiem for a Dream.’ We will be using low key
lighting to create hard shadows and to create a sense of
mystery and panic, we want the audience to feel all the
emotions the character feels as they are happening.
Aronofsky has particularly influenced one scene of ours which
will show the computer as a physical threat, very similar to
the fridge scene in Requiem. All the bullying is done through
the internet, so she sees her computer as the attacker.
5.
6. • “What makes cyberbullying as dangerous… is
that anyone can practice it without having to
conform the victim. You don’t have to be
strong or fast, simply equipped with a
cellphone or a computer and a willingness to
terrorize”
•
King, 2006 in Cyberbullying in the Digital
Age, Kowaski, Limbr, Agatson (2012)
7. We want to show that even children have the tools
to bully someone to the brink of suicide, although
our character will not die, we will be showing the
harsh realities and literal effects each word can
have on someone.
“Cyberbullying has been defined as “willful and
repeated harm inflicted through the use of
computers, cellphones and other electronic
devices”” Hinduja & Patchin, 2009; Patchin &
Hinduja, 2006
8. “Cyberbullying has been defined as “willful and repeated
harm inflicted through the use of computers, cellphones and
other electronic devices”” Hinduja & Patchin, 2009; Patchin
& Hinduja, 2006
We will be basing our video around one room which will be
lit with only the backlight from the computer. We want to
show that this room is the cause of the destruction as it’s
where our characters computer is found. The bullying will
slowly stem away from the room and enter the girls life
outside the computer, via her phone when she is in public
spaces.
9.
10. Stills from Canadian artist Lisa Steele’s ‘Birthday Suit with scars and defects’
(1974). In this video she point out all her scars and tells the story behind
them, we want to recreate a similar scene showing our characters scars from
every time someone has called her a name or said something hurtful. It’s
taking something simple and making it more powerful by adding a face and a
persona to the screen these bullies write on. Every time they say something it
leaves mental damage which then effects our character physically, she tries to
become something she is not.
11. “According to Freud, a “screen memory” functions to hide
painful memories that are too difficult for a subject to
confront; the screen memory offers itself as a
substitute, while “screening out the real memory””. Marita
Sturken “The Politics of Video Memory” Resolutions
Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 1996
As what we want to convey is essentially a mental health
issue, we are taking Freud’s theory that Sturken talks about
and turning it on it’s head with the digital age –i.e the screen
memory being used to phase out the painful real memory
then becomes the real memory.
12. As we are looking into transformation, one of our scenes will show our character physically
changing her appearance to try and be more like the ‘popular’ girls.
It will be after School, the girl will enter the toilets with her rucksack, checking that no one is
following her. She locks herself in the toilet and empties the contents of her bag into the
sink.
13. She then proceeds to take each item of make up and applies it liberally to her face
and eyes, looking at a photo of one of her bullies as she does so. There are close
ups of each item as she puts them on her face. She then takes a ‘selfie’ on her
phone and uploads it online. She quickly gets vicious replies from a group of girls
from her school. This is where we first see the bullying leave her house.
14. Our character will never talk to her bullies face to face, we are
trying to show how people rely on the internet and use it as a
mask to get away with all sorts of things. Although she knows her
bullies, they are somewhat anonymous, she only contacts them
through social media, so she never gets to know the real them.
She becomes obsessed with being accepted and goes through
changes to try and make this happen.
We want to show her transformation and exploration of her ‘self’
despite the fact she is trying to be someone she isn’t. She goes on
this journey and struggles and fights, but eventually realises she
can leave it all behind if she wants to. Our video will show a range
of emotions and traits, but in the end will show the power of
inner strength.
