Experiments IV/Final Project

 Three minutes long. Three people on camera (plus a cat). Three layers removed.



I originally wanted this project to focus on a "sixth sense" that we use to explore the digital landscape, but as it progressed I found myself more interested in the way we think about and perceive our identities online. I'm interested in this because I'm not on most social media platforms, and the ones I am on I only joined recently. Most of my friends have been creating and performing their online identities since middle or early high school. I shudder to think of 14-year-old me having an Instagram account. I didn't know who I was or wanted to be. How would I have ever been able to decide what I wanted unknown amounts of strangers to know about me when I knew so little of myself?

These days I find the concept of a character or persona that you play in online spaces to be a very interesting idea. I've taken it somewhat literally, and since I've never posted a picture of my face anywhere (though others have with my permission), I usually just draw a cartoon version of myself and call it a day. I think it's funny and cute, and I also get a kick out of role-playing a version of myself. For the final version of this project, I kept that performative aspect in mind, and tried to connect the video to as many phases of the image as possible (Baudrillard 11). I would say I achieved all but the last, because I think the video still bears relation to a reality. If I were to add in the rotoscoping elements that I originally wanted to do, I might achieve all four layers of removal. (I would draw over parts or all of people's heads, and it might be fun to lip-sync the animation to the audio to really drive home that the viewer doesn't know who's talking or even if the speaker is directly answering the question.) Regardless, I think the video in its current state mostly does what I want it to do, and I'm glad that some classmates agreed.

I'm still not quite sure what Baudrillard means by a "pure simulation" (p 11). Can't you trace everything back to its origins if you think about it long enough? Maybe I'm being optimistic, or maybe I don't want to believe that I live in a world made up of artifice, because if that's the case how am I supposed to tell how real I am? I think my confusion means I have more thinking to do on this project. Maybe version two of this video will come around someday. Until then: cheers, and please enjoy "Three Layers Removed."

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