Last Seen Blogs
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Show Collaboration
My role was to collaborate with Fraser to upload and keep the social media for our show active and engaging
I helped develop a social media strategy, and scheduled posting times, collaborated on captions and decided on relevant hashtags.
An example
I helped to edit and composite posts in photoshop and exported them into best settings, ready to be uploaded to Instagram in full quality
Another example of editing and compositing final versions of posts and posting on schedule to encourage engagement and excitement over our show
I also took on a number of research roles/sorting out logistics, such as bit.ly links (which we ended up scrapping as it would cost too much money for us as a group)
I found the process of collaboration highly engaging and enjoyable; I look forward to the launching of our show.
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Reflective Statement
In this project I wanted to imagine the internet as a physical space or entity; I wanted to put some kind of physical body to the experiences young people have had in immersing their lives in the internet. I set out to explore the digital landscape of youth subcultures online; this was partially linked to my dissertation research, where I am exploring subcultural dynamics online. Nevertheless, within AGM34 I sought to get a more rounded and mainstream perspective on broader internet counterculture and its history. I found that music was a huge component of this and delved into little pockets of communities within this; the experiences and interactions I observed within this time are the main influences within my work.
A lot of my time working on the final outcome was spent sourcing assets from each of these communities. I wanted to create a piece with a lot of detail; reflective of the chaotic amounts of content and interactions I had been observing. As such, taking screenshots and cutting together pieces of imagery, UI or internet icons formed the basis of my final piece.
Conceptually, I am satisfied with the direction my project ended up; by reimagining biblical angels as digital entities, I was able to pull together multiple themes I had been observing and create something that reflected each. Furthermore, I am quite pleased with the overall layout and aesthetic of my pieces; I took a lot of time to consider colour and composition, as well as the auditory experience of each piece. Furthermore, I was able to learn about 360 video and artistic interaction during this process; these are new concepts to me and I am happy with the skills I learnt and will undoubtedly be utilising them in future projects.
Nevertheless, creating these pieces was quite a difficult undertaking for me as I have been suffering with a couple of health conditions; the workload got to be a bit much at times and as such, I’m not entirely satisfied with the outcome. The ways within which I feel I could have improved would be to dedicate more time to adding detail and resolution within my work; I feel this would have elevated each piece just that bit more thus creating a more immersive experience for viewers. Ultimately, I feel I balanced my work ethic as well as I could have and created a piece I am overall satisfied with and efficiently conveys the message I was looking to send.
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Process of Creation
Some photos of arranging and adding detail in photoshop
rendering out the 360 image
editing the 360 video in After Effects
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Process of Creation
This was rather trial and error; creating things I thought worked and seeing if I could animate them.
I created everything in seperate layer folders so I could animate them individually for detail. I had over 100 layer folders for each photoshop file with atleast 20 layers in each file. This was a very time consuming process. Here are some screeshots of the process.
Individual layer folders in photoshop
Compositing and animating individual layers in After Effects with greenscreen
I rendered out each layer individually so the end result in 360 view would look 3D
Compositing my rendered 360 video in After Effects
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Experimentation
Some further assets I did not end up using.
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Experimentation
These are assets I did not end up using
This mandala effect I animated with aftereffects and created a 3D object with it. I’m a little disappointed that I didnt find a way to use it.
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Experimentation 2: asset creation
Some assets I initially experimented with and intended to use in the final piece.
Notice the use and warping of familiar icons to create the uncanny.
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Experimentation
This was a 2D mock up of the idea I had in mind.
I really liked what I had created and felt it included a lot of core elements I had been researching; glitch art, anime subculture, the digital uncanny
I felt recreating angels in this way, reducing spiritual entities to digital manifestations framed the sense of disillusionment I had been experiencing and noticing in others online.
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Core Themes: Disillusionment, Digital Claustrophobia, Alienation
I narrowed down my themes and focused my efforts on these core concepts.
I found some inspiration in biblical angels and felt they embodied the uncanny quite well.
These angels are biblically accurate. I felt this was a fitting theme to go with, particularly considering this has become an internet meme in the past couple years.
The link to internet culture made me fell that the concept of recreating these angels in a digital setting quite fitting.
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Tying Together Themes
So far, what interested me about my research were the collective experiences of a collection of online-based artists; all of which seemed to centre around poor mental health, alienation and a reliance on internet subcultures as an outlet.
I wanted to manifest this research into something tangible, and began to think of ways I could do this.
Digital Uncanny
The Uncanny; the familiarity of the unfamiliar, is something I thought might be able to portray this concept.
Glitch Art
A look into glitch art; it could portray the Uncanny quite well, especially in a digital setting.
Webcore; the fusion of glitch art and anime subculture
This is a subgenre of artwork mainly focused around collage work; in a similar vein to my previous subcultural analysis, webcore art takes on themes of internet addiction and mental health. It is also a largely user-generated genre, like nightcore.
Some webcore collages
I found a lot of intrigue in how in each of these genres, cute imagery has been taken and twisted to become a lot darker.
This research has been extremely useful and I will likely be incorporating elements of each in my final project.
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Experimentation
I knew I wanted to simulate the internet as a physical space but I was unsure in what direction to take this.
I tried a few experiments at making the famous Windows XP background, “bliss”, as a 360 image.
Some assets that resulted in an ultimately failed attempt
Attempt 1
Attempt 2
Attempt 3
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Sewerslvt; Beauty in degeneracy
Sewerslvt is an online artist with a small but devoted fanbase. Her music takes elements of drum and bass, breakcore and lolicore, and combines them to create a very raw and emotional sound.
Sewerslvt is what I see as the embodiment of the last decade of internet sub-genres; fiercely and unapologetically tackling explicit themes of mental health, suicide, internet addiction and societal alienation.
Like many genres before her, Sewerslvt uses anonymity and anime imagery to create her persona. She is the amalgamation of all of the genres I have been researching; and according to her fanbase, this is deeply relatable.
Sewerslvt is able to recreate the same specific feelings within a majority of her fanbase; that is, nostalgia, a mourning of childhood, and a complex relationship with the online world. Her use of anime imagery is core to this; as I have demonstrated, the cultural impacts that anime and manga has had on internet culture, particularly youth culture, is wide and far reaching.
Her music makes explicit what many have read into older genres she has taken influence from. For example, self-hatred and sexual frustration are huge themes within her work that she does not shy away from; a direct result of alienation and isolation from society and meaningful human interactions.
Album: The World is Fvcked Up - Sewerslvt
Music For The Internet Age
youtube
This video makes the point that a lot of newer artists who have grown up influenced by online culture have similar experiences; a lack of human connection, using the internet as a coping mechanism to deal with their offline lives, but the hollowness that can leave as the internet is not a subtitute for human connection or emotional healing. It is interesting to me that so many individuals have had these similar notions and expressed them in regards to this music. It makes me wonder how widespread this experience has become.
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Vocaloid Community; anime imagery and self expression
The vocaloid community is a community of artists and producers that use digital vocal immitation software to create music.
The Vocaloid community is largely anonymous and found uniquely online. As such, they use vocaloid “characters” to portray their musical creations instead of using their own image or persona.
The vocaloid community was incredibly creative and had a very large fan following unlike other more niche genres within the same spheres; the demographic is younger individuals that spend a good portion of their lives online, and thus can understand the cultural references within the songs.
Most of the Vocaloid community is found within Japan, the birthplace of the vocaloid software, however the community is global and many creators come from all over the world.
I am interested in how these artists use characters for self expression; allowing them to talk about taboo topics such as sexual assault, mental health and suicide.
The vocaloid community is not limited to dark subjects, but there is a signifcant portion of creators that centre their work around these darker themes.
Example; KIKUO
“ Dear God-the god of children, we are covered in scratches in the sandbox where you amused yourself. “
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I15sK7dNMOM&ab_channel=Kikuo
WOWAKA
“"“Are you better now?"”
"“It's still a ways off, I still don't see the point. I'm gonna stop my breathing, now."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIqm73xsias&ab_channel=Fightio
Im interested in how this online community has pioneered a voice for mental health advocacy and self expression; specifically through the lens of the internet.
HACHI
“ emerges in my brain
I'm all alone again tonight
lying in bed biting my nails
waiting for morning light “
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnX2CdOBcDI&ab_channel=%E7%B1%B3%E6%B4%A5%E7%8E%84%E5%B8%AB
Extremely successful japanese pop artist Kenshi Yonezu started as a Vocaloid Producer on the internet, with an anonymous pseudonym and an online fanbase.
The themes of his past vocaloid work were rather dark and “hard to swallow, even for vocaloid today” (3:16)
Hachi/Kenshi Yonezu is known to have suffered familial trauma and is diagnosed as neurodivergent, which may explain the darker tone to his music. Again, here is a poignant example of a troubled individual using the internet, music and an anonymous persona to express themselves; and a huge fanbase of people rising up in support and expressing relatability to his creations.
VIDEO: The Bizarre Beauty of Hachi’s Music - ubnubmaster
youtube
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“Lolicore”, internet micro-genres, internet micro-communities and mental health
What might be seen as an offshoot on nightcore, or an offshoot from internet culture in general, is the genre of “lolicore”. This genre is controversial, but extremely tiny. It uses imagery and sample from anime and manga along with very heavy and loud instrumentation.
This genre was born around the same time as nightcore, (around 2011).
An example of a “lolicore” track released in 2010.
Like nightcore, lolicore caters to a tight knit community of individuals who are considered terminally online, and understand the niche references and meanings of the music. The music tackles themes I am looking into;
Addiction
Alienation
Isolation
Mental health.
The comments under such videos are usually humorous in nature or extremely serious and self-deprecating.
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“Nightcore and the Virtues of Virtuality” (The role of anime and manga in internet culture)
“This article represents the first piece of academic research into nightcore”
Written by Winston, Emma
Paper found here: https://doi.org/10.24134/be.v1i1.20
Nightcore is a micro-subculture formed entirely online. Hallmarks of the genre include;
Fast paced dance music
Pitched up vocals (’chipmunk’ sounding)
Anime imagery
“Speed is central, even genre-defining, to nightcore.”
" Nightcore seems almost uncritically accelerationist, both temporally and ideologically [.... Rejecting stasis entirely and emphasising constant kinetic motion,”
“ Nightcore’s use of the corporate mainstream, as in accelerationist philosophy, can also be read as strongly countercultural, and the genre's broader relationship with late capitalism is more ambivalent than it may seem on the surface.“
“Nightcore's recontextualisation of its source material is intended to be recognised as plagiaristic; a popular sentiment amongst commenters and producers is that their nightcored tracks simply sound 'better sped up' “
“The feminine as default also seems to spill over into the visual aesthetics and perception of nightcore, as the 'album artwork' accompanying tracks is overwhelmingly in pale pastel colours, and comments referring to nightcore tracks as 'cute', 'kawaii' and 'adorable' are commonplace.“
Nightcore is a hub for terminally online teenagers and young people, and as such there is a visible subsection of the community that are open about their poor mental health and relationship with the outside world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMECLrR4y68&ab_channel=ZemoshiBunzpai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM4DzYD9iDU&ab_channel=Last_Breath
Nightcores embracing of femininity, cutesy anime characters, and anonymity, seem to make it a safe space for girls and feminine presenting people.
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Research
Umelabo collages of internet imagery
This work has a dark and uncanny tone; I feel that is represents the chaotic nature of online interactions and internet culture, which has become a cultural institution capable of influencing offline relations.
Some other themes I feel are reflected in this work:
mental health
isolation
addiction
alienation
Umelabo uses the uncanny; distorting the features of anime characters and internet icons, to create something that is both familiar and unfamiliar.
I feel this work offers a unique perspective on online culture, and personifies it as something chaotic and grotesque; formed from seemingly innocent cultural entities such as anime characters.
A particularly poignant piece of his is this one
This piece feels uniquely spiritual; imagery has been twisted and cut into an otherworldly pattern. The eye; of particular significance in many religions, takes the form of an anime eye.
I feel this speaks to:
Spiritual Disillusionment
Internet addiction
Cultural alienation
Anime and the internet: the impact of fansubbing
https://www.reflexivehorizons.com/2014/02/18/anime-and-the-internet-the-impact-of-fansubbing/
by Alicia Wurm
“A fansubber is generally an anime fan, or otaku, who spends a vast amount of time and effort putting translated subtitles onto anime episodes and then making them available to the general public”
“ The image of Japanese animation overseas was therefore Othered, and anime fans were seen as strange or even deviant in some way. “
- Anime became synonymous with counterculture, and may have been adopted by alienated individuals who felt a sense of camaraderie with this image. Across the internet, you will find anime icons and imagery all over youth subculture; but most prominently in the countercultural side of the internet; the “nerdier” more socially isolated side.
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Viewer Comments
Just some nice comments I got on my final post that were very appreciated.
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