Self Evaluative Report

Name: Amelia Johnson

Project: Negotiated Major Project

Series Title: Teenagers VS Society

Subtitle: The effects of the media on the youth of today

Blog link: http://amelia-johnson-final-major-project.blogspot.co.uk

During the advanced research strategies module I developed my proposal intended for my final negotiated major project. There have been vast changes to my proposal and idea since then but the underlying theme is still there. My initial idea was a little adventurous and I realised soon after, that I needed something more feasible and not so time consuming. My initial idea was to survey 14-18 year old girls and ask them to give me one word they feel described the way that the media makes them feel. I was looking for responses such as 'drowned' and 'trapped'. I would then take these individual words and make each one into an image, for example the 'drowned' image would be underwater and the 'trapped' would be behind bars etc. After much deliberation I realised this was not feasible in the time frame we had and when recieveing feedback it was commented on that these images would be too literal.

After rethinking the project I knew I wanted to keep with the same theme as this is something I am passionate about doing, I just needed to simplify it. I decided to think of a place where I would get a feel for who these girls are and their feelings and emotions towards society and the media. After seeing the series 'Where children sleep' by James Mollinson, I was inspired to use the bedroom as the focal point. A teenage girls bedroom is a very private place but it is also a place where they express themselves most, especially on the walls with posters etc. I decided that I would do portraits of the teenage girls aged between 14 and 18 ,who had filled out the survey that I made, in their bedrooms sitting on their bed. I wanted the images to be quite natural and have a slight documentary style, I didn't want the images to look too posed and I wanted the girls to react to the camera how they felt natural. When photographing the girls I asked them not to tidy their rooms and just to wear what they would feel comfortable in, this way I could get a real sense of who they were as people.

I photographed fifteen girls in total and planned to use ten of these images as my final series, it turns out I have chosen eight final images as I felt these were the strongest and they look like a set. After photographing all fifteen subjects I kind of came to a standstill as to where to go next with this. I knew that I wanted to incorporate the questions and answers from the survey I carried out as this seemed such a vital part of this project. I played around with different ideas of using the answers as captions for the images and even adding the text onto the image in a opaque overlay although after consideration I realised that I didn't want the text to suggest too much about the image and I wanted the viewer to make their own assumptions about the girl they were looking at, playing on the surrounding she is in and the way she acts in front of the camera. Instead I ended up making a book that will go alongside the images at the exhibition. This will have all ten questions from the survey and all answers the girls had given. This way it is up to the viewer as to whether they read the book first (find the meaning behind the images) and then view them baring in mind what they have just read, or whether they view the images alone and make their own assumptions and read the book afterwards to enlighten them on what this project is about. As for the captions I have kept it simple by using the full name and age of the girl in each image.

I also debated as to whether to have the images in black and white or colour, I initially preferred black and white as I thought it showed more about the person rather than being distracting with lots of different colours. After peer feedback it was clear that they preferred the images in colour and after reevaluating my decision I realised I preferred colour too.

When choosing my final images I decided on eight images, it was mentioned in feedback about some of the subjects making eye contact with the camera and some weren’t and as to whether they should all be the same. I don't feel it is necessary that the images are all using the same eye contact as I feel the difference shows how the girls reacted to being in front of the camera. It worked out quite well in the end as in my final eight images, four were making eye contact with the camera and four were not.

In my mock up exhibition plan I have placed the images carefully to make sure that they alternate. The layout I have chosen for the images is exhibiting on one wall and having two rows of four images, spaced evenly to let the viewer appreciate each image but also see them as a set of images. I have also opted for square format images, I feel these look better and you still get enough of a feel for the surrounding. They look neat and symmetric on the wall and seem to fit together as a set more than when they were landscape.