daniellavanvliet

[daniellavanvliet]

Eric Pickersgill - Removed

The artist Eric Pickersgill was mentioned to me. His work features people of all ages in a pose as if they were looking at their phones, but the phones have been removed from the image/aren't there.

My photo series will take an opposite take from this one. And show technology without the person where you would expect it

[daniellavanvliet]

Refined Ideas

Some feedback that I received was that the photographs need to be more cohesive. I completely agree. Moving forward, I would like to take more photos around the idea of taking photos of situations in which people use technology and remove the person. I have some photos like this already, but I need to make them appear more 'lived in' and less staged.

I will take more photos similar to this one. The presence of technology is clear, but the person who you would expect to be there has left/isn't there.

[daniellavanvliet]

Next Steps

My next steps are to re-record the podcast with better software and with better equipment. It was hard to be genuine when cramped in a tiny tent, and the quality of the sound really wasn't very good. I am also considering having an interview-style podcast.

I would also like to expand on the ideas that I already have in terms of photography. I like the direction that I am going, but I would like to work on consistency and composition to get more impact from the photos.

[daniellavanvliet]

Editorial Photography

The magazine article was certainly... interesting to create. It was my first time using InDesign so there was a lot of frustrated Daniella and YouTubing how to do things. We got there though, and I'm pretty happy. I would love for better consistency within the photos, but apart from that, I like how the simple design compliments the message and theme.

[daniellavanvliet]

Finished Podcast

Finished the podcast! Found out that I never want to listen to my own voice again and that I enjoy sound design. My favourite part of the process was definitely adding sound effects and music.

[daniellavanvliet]

Editorial Spread

I keep forgetting to post on here.

Brainstormed layout ideas for the editorial spread. I want to showcase the images and use the spread to emphasise the theme. I'm most drawn to the first image and I think I will expand on that one :)

[daniellavanvliet]

Recording Set Up

Made a sound tent to combat all of the noise in the house. Made an A-frame from a clothes rack and covered it in blankets. The weighted blanket is the MVP here. This will not be my final recording set-up. I had to use the computer mic for this, and it wasn't ideal. Still a lot of fuzz. I tried recording it on my phone and running it through Adobe Enhance, but it just did weird things to my voice.

[daniellavanvliet]

Timeline

I decided to create a GANTT chart as my timeline as I like how visual it is. I can see that there will be a few projects on the go at the same time, and I can adjust the pace of my workflow accordingly. The week numbers in the chart correspond with the week of the semester.

[daniellavanvliet]

Projects done on Loneliness

As mentioned in the previous blog post, I had done a fair amount of research and forgotten to post it on here and am just getting round to it now...

Here is a collection of previous projects done on loneliness with a little blurb about my thoughts on each.

I found this photo series by Julien Mauve to be quite powerful in conveying the idea of loneliness caused by technology. I like the black and white images with the intense glow of the screens and the portrait, which is lit as if the model is looking at a brightly lit screen.

[daniellavanvliet]

Podcast Steps

Found this very helpful guide to making a podcast. I already have a topic (project topic) and know how to set up recording gear and record, but it was still a good read and refresher. I have never made a podcast before and this went in to the how to quire nicely.

Drew up a diagram for the recording set-up to refer to. I have used recording equipment before and have family members who own a complete set, so I can borrow it and use it at home. I think I will use a free trial of LogicPro as my DAW (Digital Audio Workspace) as I am familiar with the software.

I kinda forgot about the blog posts and was putting all my ideas and everything onto a brain dump document, so am needing to move everything from the document onto here in a coherent way. Please bear with me :) thank you

More posts to come...

[daniellavanvliet]

Research Part 2

After looking at a few websites that discussed loneliness (see Research Part 1 post) I did some deeper research via academic articles to see what studies had been done and what conclusions came from them. (Please note I have not referenced my sources here. All references can be found in the project proposal)

I started by finding a definition of loneliness and found that loneliness is described as the distressing feeling that one gets when one's social needs are not being met by the quantity or quality of their social relationships. I also found out during this research that the effects of loneliness from a health perspective were just as deadly as smoking and twice as deadly as obesity.

I then looked into the connections between loneliness and social media. I discovered that there is a link between social media use and loneliness and that is does depend on the individual using it (not everyone that uses social media is going to feel lonely or have worse loneliness symptoms because of it). It is important to recognise the positive impacts that social media can have on social connection while also being mindful of the potential negative effects.

My final step in my background research was to understand loneliness in Gen Z better. Being a Gen Z person myself, this was quite interesting. In a report done by Telstra, 54% of Gen Z said that they feel lonely either all of the time or most of the time. This came from a survey done in Australia, but I believe that New Zealand would have similar statistics. The same report also said that a lot of Gen Z are embarrassed by being lonely and don't want to admit it. I found this quite interesting as Gen Z is a generation that seems to be quite open about mental health, but when it comes to loneliness, we don't want to talk about it.

My next steps are to compile all the research that I have done on loneliness or mental health campaigns, photo series, videos and podcasts :)

[daniellavanvliet]

Research Part 1

I found this website quite interesting as it discusses how Gen Z wants more authentic connections online. It mentions how apps such as BeReal provide a more authentic connection and how more digital platforms are looking to also provide "authentic" connection. It also mentions how Gen Z are experiencing a "loneliness epidemic" and that there may be a link to spending more time online than other generations.

I liked this website as it discussed some of the statistics around loneliness in Gen Z and mentioned some of the reasons behind it. 19% of 16-24 said that they feel lonely often or always. The website says that loneliness can be linked to social media, frequent life changes, moving cities and living conditions. It also says that the pandemic has reduced the confidence that people have to connect with others.

This website also mentions how technology and social media are a leading cause of loneliness in Gen Z. It mentions that in the surveys that they conducted, most Gen Z people wanted human connection at work through the form of a supportive team, face to face feedback and face to face communication.

They listed the top 3 reasons for Loneliness in Gen Z to be:

Overstimulation

Social Media

Dependency Shift (I find this one quite interesting, but it makes sense. Instead of relying on the people around us to support us if we don't know anything, we just quickly google it and figure it out ourselves)

These websites all helped to give me a base understanding of the issue so that I can delve into more specific issues. I think I would like to look more into social media and get some more statistics. I would also like to read some academic articles (possibly from psychologists) to understand their perspective on loneliness. These websites were good, but I'm not sure if any of them were actually written by a professional in the mental health field.

[daniellavanvliet]

Please excuse the fact that Tumblr is doing weird things to my image.

Some points from the mindmap are;

Social Media

Social Isolation

Authentic connection

Gen Z and how they are labelled as "the most connected generation" in terms of access to communication

[daniellavanvliet]

Topic Decision - Yay

After looking at the topic I had brainstormed, I am most drawn to the topic of Loneliness. I want to look more specifically into Loneliness amongst Gen Z. After some brief research, I discovered that social media is quite a major factor influencing loneliness amongst Gen Z, so that may be a more specific route that I decide to take.

[daniellavanvliet]

Topic Ideas

Culture loss through immigration

Single-use products (effect on environment)

Loneliness

Fast Fashion/Consumerism

At this point, I'm leaning towards loneliness as a topic. I would be interested in learning more about loneliness in my generation (Gen Z).