Month: June 2020

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Tutorial Feedback from Lynsey Fox

Today I had a really good tutorial with Lynsey and I showed her my presentation. She gave me important points to consider when building GILIGILI later:

1. User-generated content (UGC) like making filters or challenge on social media is really important–the impact is really good for the brand (take Vogue challenge as an example, it has 189K posts at the time this blog is posted). I agree with this as the purpose of my making UGC is to create awareness of the brand–at the very least people hooked and tried the filter first before they engage with other contents. I also want a concept/campaign to be across channels and can be applied to different things to get the most of it.

2. She said having ads on the website is a bit tricky as the brand could lose its uniqueness due to ad displays. So just make sure to do this without losing any space for what the website is about. –true, I will be more careful about it when this executed–how to make the ads as efficient yet in line with GILIGILI’s aesthetic and not taking too much space on our space. Also, she suggested using the video as revenue streams as well by monetizing it on Youtube–this is what I planned all along. So the videos on the website will also be embedded from Youtube to make it easier.

3. I have a concern about talking about sensitive issues in my country. It is better for GILIGILI to make community guideline or editorial mission–make it from the start and make sure to be really clear on where the brand position itself or the brand’s view on things. Make sure that everything that is in the brand’s channel is along with this guideline and take out anything that breaches it. Be careful and use the right tone when doing the contents as not to offend anyone. –this and also checking the law in Indonesia and observing different media/organization that also tackling the same sensitive issues will help.

4. Make sure the ‘irony’ concept of the exhibition is clear, as we want to present people with style but make sure not making them a laughing stock. I feel this is something obvious but really important. One of my interviewees had the same experience, she and her friends were photographed when they went to an event and it was uploaded to a local Instagram account that made memes. They were made into a joke and this is clearly degrading them. As a place that encourages people to freely express themselves, I will stand against this kind of treatment especially towards comments on social channels (if it’s too negative we have to remove or report it). And I think the idea of having people’s preferences and all in their interviews will help to prevent this.

A study case example from Lynsey. Ari Seth Cohen of Advanced Style takes picture of courageous older people with style to represent that they have the right to express themselves. But one of his photographs (in the picture above) is made into a meme and he got furious of it since his purpose of documenting those people are not to turn them into a meme for other people’s entertainment. I also agree with his statement, “…along with this need to express creativity came a lot of bullying, hurtful comments by others, fear for my safety, and a projection of other people’s fears and insecurities onto me.” The people that will be featured in GILIGILI are people who deserved to be celebrated and they need to feel safe. As this accident with Advanced Style is a possible accident for GILIGILI in the future, this emphasizes more on point number 3 (the importance of creating a brand and community guideline) so I can decide what further actions should be taken when it happens.

5. For the interviews, I’ll probably include some images or videos made by other people (like musician or movies that are my interviewees’ favourites), I have a concern on the copyright. For Instagram, it’s okay as long as I credited the person who has the copyright. But for the website, the right way is to get access to these materials from their media kit or take it from their websites. The easy way to get around this is to embed it from their social media directly (like Instagram and Twitter) but this has to be discussed further whether it’s aligned with the brand’s aesthetic or not. Another way to do it is to make the image into an illustration–but this also needs to be checked with Indonesian law–as each country is different. I have to remember that the owner of the images/videos are usually the photo/videographer so I need to remind myself to tag or get permission from the right person. –this is very important as I will have a lot of them on my website. I need to find an expert on this or learn it from hukumonline.com (a website made by law experts in Indonesia). I have to be really careful as not to get caught by anyone. So far, I found that the copyright I’ll be facing a lot (especially digital copyright) is under Copyright Act (Law No. 28 the year 2014). Similar to the UK, in Indonesia copyright is the exclusive right of the creator that arises automatically based on the declarative principle after work is realized in real form without reducing restrictions in accordance with statutory provisions so people won’t have to register for it. And this right is protected by law.

Copyright in Indonesia is divided into two (2) types: moral and commercial. Regarding moral rights, the protection will last for a lifetime, whilst commercial rights (or economic rights) is limited for a certain time, for example, a photography work is limited to fifty (50) years of protection since it published. People who are in the photograph/video have to give their consent both for personal and commercial purposes. Every individual has the right to prohibit the recording process and has the right to prohibit others from publishing content related to him/her/they. This is only a brief of the law, there are more than a hundred article in it, I downloaded the file from hukumonline.com now I just need to read it carefully later and see which article will be related to my project.

All these points are really good input for the development of GILIGILI. I feel reassured too that Lynsey was impressed by the presentation, she said that the idea is very thorough and I just need to refine it and be more careful on the risk assessment–I completely agree with the latter. Now I need to start to address the risk issues and also completing my learning plan.

References:

Advance Style https://www.instagram.com/p/CALd5P0JDOw/
Heriani, F. N. (2019) Awas! Upload Video ke Youtube Bisa Melanggar Hak Cipta. Available at: https://www.hukumonline.com/berita/baca/lt5dc95a5d9831e/awas-upload-video-ke-youtube-bisa-melanggar-hak-cipta/.
Hukum Online (2014) Undang-Undang Nomor 28 Tahun 2014. Available at:https://www.hukumonline.com/pusatdata/detail/lt5460681737444/undang-undang-nomor-28-tahun-2014#.
Pramudita, A. D. (2017) Hak Cipta Foto, Pelajaran Penting bagi para Pemasar Digital. Available at: https://id.techinasia.com/talk/hak-cipta-foto-bagi-pemasar-digital.
Qur’ani, H. (2019) Kenali Batasan Pelanggaran Hak Cipta dalam Karya Fotografi. Available at: https://www.hukumonline.com/berita/baca/lt5c6a2b9b3b506/kenali-batasan-pelanggaran-hak-cipta-dalam-karya-fotografi.

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Tutorial Feedback from Kathryn Ferguson

Started off the same with Liam, I briefly showed Kathryn my presentation. Yet as she’s a filmmaker, I was focusing more on my Dokuseri editing test and asking for her input more on the content type (long-form and snack).

This video is still a rough edit so there will be a lot of black and scattered footages. I haven’t fully subtitled it too.

Kathryn said that the editing looks nice and well recorded (kudos to my friends!)–she just emphasized the one thing Liam also pointed–to be more specific on what kind of footages that I need (down to the wide, medium, close-up angles) and ask the people to play around with it. As for some people, it’ll be confusing to be told to just record it freely. I have to put my concern more on that kind of people, as for the ones that I had asked, I believe in their ability to record themselves in their preferred way. But I think to make it more unique, it will be better for people to get direction and also creatively editing in post-production (layer the file with effects, adding ‘on the phone’ effect to their voices). She sent me an example from Ruth Hogben, a filmmaker, who made a small series for SKIMS (phone-call themed as well).

Moreover, it will be better for the next interviews (or I can ask the one that I interviewed again to record it themselves) to ask more indirect questions that are in-depth, philosophical, or getting the sense of emotion to make it more personal.

We also talked about the exhibition–how to showcase it without physical components. She gave me a reference to an exhibition titled Critical Zones made by ZKM Center of Art and Media. The exhibition is a digital exhibition that linked to a physical exhibition with the same name, dedicated to the critical situation and will continuously expand as they’re going to add more works and contributions.

I tried to experience it myself first. I think it’s really interesting! Each project has its own format that complimented the narrative really well. It’s like playing a survival room with different themes. And they make various communication methods so the experience is different for each topic.

The downside is the website is a bit hard to navigate. People who are used to different website experience and are really interested in the topic (or like me who want to experience this ‘digital exhibition’) might bear with it. But people who are not really into it will probably leave the website if they find it confusing. Especially if I want the exhibition to be accessible for middle to low-income people, who normally don’t engage with this kind of website (insights from my brother who developed a website, most people in Indonesia are not familiar with a more stylized website that are mostly foreign–in Indonesia website are made as easy as possible and have to use Bahasa as well). So if I’m going to make an exhibition like this, I have to make sure that the navigation is clear and easy.

There is also a problem with the ‘heaviness’ as shown in the video. It took a long time to load so I decided to see other works that are faster. And the guide seem confusing as well they changed every time I open the title page and I still don’t get how and why they do it (or is it because I don’t really understand the topics–since it’s science and all?). In addition, because they’re using Vimeo to house some of the videos, I can’t play it as Vimeo is banned in Indonesia (I have to use VPN) and for people who don’t understand how to use VPN or don’t know that Vimeo is banned will probably think that the website is not good.

On the mobile side, the experience is even worse for me as the transition is not as seamless and the navigation is more confusing. I think to make a different kind of contents is great but the platform is equally important to serve the satisfying consumer journey and get the message across.

Notes that I have before and after tutorial with Kathryn (her notes are on the left-inside page–very small. I do tend to scribble stuff and squeeze them in one page). The rest of them are notes from class (visual analysis–because I think this is important for my project), my interview with someone below 18 years old–I found that they have the same thinking process–is it because he’s 18 this year? Or do I have to do more interview with others below 18?, my conversation with a friend about organization/collective that are tackling sensitive issues, and the rest are just my random thoughts that I need to write down or else I might forget them.
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Tutorial Feedback from Liam Gleeson

I did a tutorial with Liam today. I shared my screen and showed him the presentation I did to give him a glimpse of the project and the edited videos I tried for the first documentary series.

It’s really nice to hear positive feedback from another expert. He told me that the editing is nice and unique, I just have to add the GILIGILI branding in it to make it look connected with the whole brand. He also said that I might need to make a spec sheet (like a shot list) that describes in detail what the person has to record by themselves for their reference and reminder. That will help to make them understand and produce more satisfying footages. I also considered this before and Vicky also pointed it out. I think I’m confused right now because I haven’t transcripted any of the interview and the process was supposed to be interview –transcript – storyboard – collecting footages – post-production. While for me right now I’m doing interview and footage collection in parallel and skipped the transcript and storyboard process so I kind of losing my direction. So I decided that I have to transcript my interviews first (from the ones that sent me footages) and then build a more refined storyboard and build the content.

From this editing practice, I’m also thinking of dividing my contents into 2 types: long-form and snack content. The long-form will be the 2 fixed contents that I have, Dokuseri and Temuduga. They’re longer in duration, more in-depth, and won’t be released in a fast-paced schedule. While snack content will focus mainly on the social channel (in this case, Instagram) and aim to keep engagement with the audience and raise the awareness on the brand. Like for this Dokuseri I did, for example, the long-form content will be based on the storyboard and consists of many people. But the snack on the social channel will be a few cut or montage from people involved in the video.

From the enthusiasm I’ve seen while collecting the footages for my practice, I believe that a lot of people will be willing to collaborate and provide content for GILIGILI, so our role (especially during this pandemic–might change after) is compiling and processing it into a contextual piece of work. The snack content will act like below the line promotion in the hope of keeping brand activation within the community. Also from my research, people like to see content and inspo of styles so I’m thinking of making some challenges or something like ‘sisterhood of the travelling pants’–choosing one item and sending it to some people for them to style in with their own twist. Here are some contents that is said by my interviewees:


i-D: “How Are Fashion Students Coping with Coronavirus School Closure?”

I’m thinking either doing it short from the get-go or cutting one long-form (like the Dokuseri) then posting it like teasers (1min – 1min30sec) so people will go to the Youtube channel or website to watch the whole piece.

Also, I had a bit talk with one of my friends and she reminded me though I want to protect the brand and everyone involved, I still have to make a stand or else it will be a bad publicity stunt. So she gave me some organization/collective that moves within sensitive topics like LGBT and feminism. I think I’ll have to observe and possibly interview the experts on how these people tackle the issues without having to offend anyone but still aware of the law in Indonesia.

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Tutorial with Mouhaned from DLL

I found this gallery called Shutdown Gallery and really interested in how it works as this could be one of the alternatives for my virtual exhibition. It’s light and easy to navigate. So I booked a tutorial with Mouhaned from DLL to further discuss the technical stuff.

From the website, he said that it’s quite easy to make using Unity Space and standard assets, then connect it to the website with the WebGL plugin. To make the program ‘light’, I have to consider the number of contents that will be put in–as the exhibition will have some individuals with a lot of visuals involved, it might be heavier than this example (as they’re only using some still images, no videos and interactive content).

I tried to open the gallery on my phone as well (this example above is made through desktop) and it stuck at 91% then appeared to be an error. After Googling it, I just found out that WebGL is not supported for most mobile devices and I think this will be a huge setback.

I think I have to discuss this again and search for alternatives as the mobile device is rather crucial for my project.

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DCS – Space as a Place for Self-Expression and Wearing Clothes as Identity and Self-Expression

From my interview, most people said that their environments are now used to seeing them expressing themselves and even though some remarks still come out, it isn’t as annoying as before. This explains that people have to be familiar first with it to finally accept it. But I think as these self-expressions are niche and don’t have one clear space to nurture it, it’ll be hard for people to get used to them. There is also stigma and prejudices about these people. I think by providing narratives alongside the visual, it will let people to better understand why someone chooses to present themselves in a certain way.

Self-expression itself is “…expressing one’s thoughts and feelings, and these expressions can be accomplished through words, choices or actions.” (Kim & Ko, 2007). The importance of self-expression differs according to the area and the culture it belongs to.

1. I found some studies and case that strengthen my idea of space for self-expression: At Georgetown University Medical Center, each year they celebrated self-expression by making a space called “What Makes You?”. At the event, student and faculty staff can show diverse perspectives, identities, and artistic talents that otherwise won’t be known. It’s a unique space where everyone at Georgetown University Medical Center is welcome to be vulnerable and sharing something intimate about themselves. The performances then documented and celebrated through a photo series titled “More than Medicine”, commenting that these talents or identities can be overshadowed by the rigour and commitment required in medicine. There are two people in the stories that inspired me to do the interviews like this: one shared about how she used to act in a theatre and she still struggled how to navigate her identity as an artist and medical students. The “What Makes You?” able her to show her other identity that she thought won’t be brought up in medical school. Another story came from a faculty member, who shared about an individual who took care of her children during her time in medical school that left a great impact on the family. People who heard the story felt that the faculty member seemed more human and made her seen in another light. The story, that won’t be brought up without space makes people felt more connected. This is why I feel it’s necessary to create this open space and that connected feeling is what I aim for GILIGILI and create a documentation for people to celebrate it whenever and wherever.

2. As for having interview and documentary series, Burger (2015) explained that “public self-expression is anchored by the intersection of public participation, identity and self-expression, and focuses on how people publicly express and work on their identities. In the process of describing the participatory turn in culture, media and communication studies, different forms of self-expression are identified. It is argued that even though some of these forms are noisy and narcissistic, they are meaningful to the individual who creates them. Some of these forms offer opportunities to voice opinions that might otherwise not be heard in the public sphere. Most significantly, public self-expression affords the ordinary person the power to (re-)imagine the self in the wake of the many changes the world faces due to globalisation and hegemonic power relations.” Internet pushes globalisation even further without border. Globalisation disrupts stability and tradition and characterises contemporary modern global societies with its turbulence, discontinuity and mobility, all of which are accelerated by constant change (Appadurai 1996, 4–7 as cited in Burger, 2015). David Gauntlett (2011, 7) argues that the segment of Internet users who are not primarily browsers but who are actively creating information online boasts a ‘making-and-doing’ culture, instead of a conventional ‘sit-back-and-be-told’ culture. For my participatory-style projects (as pandemic situation still hanging in Indonesia), Gauntlett theorises three reasons why it is gratifying for active Internet participants to create something online: 1) it is meaningful to people to be creatively involved on the Internet (Gauntlett 2008, 2); 2) they feel they are connecting to other people through the Internet in what he calls ‘making is connecting’ (ibid, 2–7), and 3) they have the opportunity to do identity work and share their life stories with others, which also signals connecting to others (Gauntlett 2011, 7). That is why I think people are happily participating.

Also, the therapeutic ethos of telling one’s story is commonplace in the territory of talk radio and television, where participatory mass media formats have been described as ‘talk therapy’ or ‘the talking cure’ (Shattuc 1997, 111). – I think this therapeutic ethos also works for digital content like podcast and @humansofny. The reward for people who participate in such formats is the validation that ‘I am worth talking to’ and, more importantly, ‘I am worth listening to’ (HOW I WANT MY INTERVIEWEE TO FEEL!!!) (Andrejevic 2004, 86–88). Digital storytelling and identity expression often take place in close-knit communities or demes, and this contact with other people is meaningful to the individual (Hartley 2015, 5). In combining the idea that interactive mediated platforms offer opportunities to connect with others in meaningful ways, with the therapeutic value of telling one’s life story through a mediated platform, it is no wonder that philosopher Thaddeus Metz (2013a, 235 and 2013b, 420) argues that an original, compelling life story creates the feeling that one’s life has meaning. In other words, in making sense of the many changes experienced around the world, some people choose to have a creative engagement with their sense of self, by telling their life story as a private project or making it public by sharing it with others through numerous audience-based mediated opportunities. This creating and sharing of identity with others may validate the self and satisfy the social human need.

Another set of self-expression is found in alternative cultures – especially in youth subcultures – that typically identify themselves as struggling or engaging with, and opposing mainstream cultures. At the same time, they need to express this opposition to the very mainstream culture by which they feel marginalised. – this is GILIGILI towards mainstream fashion dominated by influencers that are carbon copy of each other. In contrast with the vast sources of inspirations, as social media is the second foremost reason for using the internet for Indonesian, they tend to be oriented towards influencers (Zaenudin, 2018). These influencers create a certain standard, where followers copy the influencers’ ideals in hope to conform with the current social norm (Brucculieri, 2018), resulted in creating a homogenized expression of self.)

I’ll show an example of 5 influencers (@alikaislamadina, @ayladimitri, @rachelteresia, @elxielvina, and @_gittayunanda):

All have the same patterns: brand-sponsored events, holiday, ootd (but if you look closer they have similar styles and endorsed by similar brands). They’re all passed the ‘beauty standard’ (fair skin, long straight hair, and have slim body type).

Even the same bio (the top three wrote “traveller”). The bottom ones wrote another thing but they all have their holiday diaries in their stories highlight.

They’re even doing the same virtual photoshoot with the same ‘glass’ effects and edits. It’s not even unusual to see their preferred Lightroom setup. I don’t say this is a bad thing, and becoming something like this is 100% their choice and I know they worked hard for it (@_gittayunanda is my friend so I heard stories) but most of them were born wealthy and if the ‘influencers’ are all like this people will have a hard time accepting themselves and finding their own self-expression. They’ll feel that they need to conform to these influencers to be accepted as attractive. This influencers culture is one thing I want to oppose as they’re also included in “extraordinary” fashion, not “ordinary”. People need to realise that these influencers are not “human” anymore, they’re a “brand”–as Ms Alessandra in her book Contemporary Indonesian Fashion, they moved from “the blogger” to “the brand”–with brand guide and personality that is shaped based on their audiences’ preferences OR by data.

3. Fashion as a signal of identity and self-expression.
Understanding the “real-life issues” of fashion also means giving attention to “not just how the body is represented within the fashion system and its discourses on dress, but also how the body is experienced and lived,” Entwistle (2000, 344) argues. Taking the perspective of the lived body, or understanding fashion as a situated bodily practice, does not only mean a shift in scale to the micro-social order, however but also a shift from fashion as wear (object) at the boundary between self and other to fashion as the practice of wearing (activity) connecting body and the other through interacting (Hallnäs et al. 2006). In addition, a dynamic perspective also highlights another central function of fashion: to associate material goods with existing cultural categories, fashion also creates new cultural meanings and new cultural categories (Levi-Strauss 1973; Thornquist 2017). As Vinken (2005, 4) also points out, fashion is not only a representative function of social life and structures but also a poetological activity, a cause rather than effect, that constructs and subverts its expression and thematize itself with a performative power that is capable of inducing a change in individuals and social life.

In relation to the process of establishing and maintaining a sense of self through dress, wearing is not primarily a process of presentation or representation; it is a continuous practice of negation with yourself and inward experience constituted in the process of trying, changing, and experiencing (emotionally evaluating) the body/self through different ways of wearing (Kozel 2008; Ziesche 2014; Martin-Larsen 2016). Wearing as an activity is, therefore, a mediation between mind and body in the sense of Merleau-Ponty (2002); it is a transitional and interacting state of corporeal consciousness that opposes more static linguistic analyses of fashion. In the process of being worn, as when shoes transform body posture, the elasticity of the object initiates an endless bodily struggle against the material, the weight of the fabric directs a pattern (Martin-Larsen 2016), and the oversized hoodie expands the self in space. Fashion is not any more defined through types and a representative relationship but through the expression created by the body and wear in a wearing that conceptualizes an interactive embodiment as the process of moving—thinking—feeling (Shusterman, 1999; Kozel 2008). Accordingly, the material presence of things and acts, such as the activity of engaging and interacting with clothing, is at once an object of consciousness and consciousness itself—ways of wearing as the perceived identity of a person.

References:
Cortese, G. Creating Space for Self-Expression at “What Makes You?”. Available at: https://gumc.georgetown.edu/gumc-stories/creating-space-for-self-expression-at-what-makes-you/.
Kim, H. S., & Ko, D. (2007). Culture and self-expression. In C. Sedikides & S. J. Spencer (Eds.), Frontiers of social psychology. The self (p. 325–342). Psychology Press.
Burger, M. (2015) ‘Public self-expression, identity and the participatory turn: The power to re-imagine the self’, Communicatio, 41(3), pp. 264-286. doi: 10.1080/02500167.2015.1093318.
Thornquist, C. (2018) ‘The Fashion Condition: Rethinking Fashion from Its Everyday Practices’, Fashion Practice, 10(3), pp. 289-310. doi: 10.1080/17569370.2018.1507147
Zaenudin, A. (2018) Influencer di Media Sosial, Penantang Tangguh Iklan Konvensional. Available at: https://tirto.id/influencer-di-media-sosial-penantang-tangguh-iklan-konvensional-cEfr/.
Brucculieri, J. (2018) Instagram Influencers Are All Starting to Look the Same. Here’s Why. Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/instagram-influencers-beauty_n_5aa13616e4b002df2c6163bc/.