evieslade

My DA project is a video, titled “One life”. It is a video about the aspects of life that we take for granted. That isn’t wrapped up with a bow asking for attention. That isn’t the endless content on our digital 6.9 inch worlds. It’s in front of that, it’s behind it, it’s all around us. It’s nature, and it’s the animals on the earth we were given, and it’s people in real time, not on a phone, and it’s the little moments that we miss because our eyes haven’t left a screen in five hours. My video was inspired by the lack of appreciation for the natural world around us and the living paycheck to paycheck method that we abide by. It is very easy nowadays to get caught up in working, studying, financial stress and trivial matters. Online presence is a large part of our world today and the content that we consume on it makes up a large percent of our day to day life. I wanted to include snapshots of real life with a meaningful message, one that would inspire instead of scrolling to the next video to continue the endless scroll of doom. For my framing theme I chose Remixed Media as I included other videos that were not my own as well as ones taken by me previously and remixed into one video on Capcut. I wanted to inspire the audience and reengage some fond universal memories. Actual experiences that feed serotonin and dopamine hits instead of finding it on a screen, with what is around us. Laughing with friends, cuddling a dog, feeling so small in a world so big and beautiful.

Video Link: /Users/evieslade/Downloads/copy_5B49929B-4D5B-4001-BF09-C07121703F09 2.mov

Snippet of my DA

Developmental Process:

I wanted to make use of my camera and create something meaningful, and I felt that I could achieve that through the SDG Life on Land. However, I struggled with indecision at the start of the process and picking an aspect to focus on, as well as time management to complete the process.

– Early notes/ideas of my DA.

– First Linkedin Post

I also realised that although I could create something to inspire all, I should be specific and get a target audience. Gen Z (my generation) is the top generation on their phones and social media.

Now that we are out of high school, working, or at university, our lives really are just starting out and it makes it incredibly easy to feel overwhelmed, distracted and anxious about what to do with our lives and what they should look like. So we put earphones in and phase out the world when we have a break to make it more bearable. However, then our attention gets captured by meaningless topics, our screen time skyrockets, and we begin to lose sight of what is important. After I started thinking about what would inspire me, grab my attention, and how a video like this could help someone similar to me, it became a lot easier. I focused on what I am like, and my friends, and had a look at our screen times and what we waste our attention on.

• Screenshots of trivial stuff that appears on Tiktok’s ‘For You Page’ as engaging and popular content.

I did struggle a little, so I thought feedback would help, but I wasn’t as consistent on my Linkedin posts as I would have liked. However, there was a comment that did help me and remind me not to focus on the wrong parts of my DA that didn’t need much attention. I just needed to focus on what the audience could take away from the video. What could be strong enough to overcome someone’s phone addiction and short attention span? My aim wasn’t that, it was to create something that would hopefully resonate, and serve as a reminder to rethink what is important and appreciate what you have, because we all need reminders sometimes.

The Linkedin Post:

The comment:

For my videos I had to record in daylight, so that did limit my recording time. I took a few hours when I could to dedicate time on recording the environment around me and taking videos and photos. Although, regarding nature, I only decided to keep the videos in and not the photos. I also incorporated other videos I’ve taken, as well as images of friends and family. Going through a Remixed media frame helped me distinguish the important from the nonimportant in my video The videos I screen recorded off of TikTok were trivial topics that were popular or trending because of how much engagement they were getting. They are designed to be listened to by people with no attention span so they grab you with lines that apparently matter or how you will gain a benefit from watching these videos, such as “How to glow up in 2026” or “What to add to your wishlist”. I sped these videos up, made them unable to listen to or watch, as they were not important, and slowed my video down when it got to the ones I had recorded, so the audience could focus and would be able to listen to the message I was trying to convey.

Picture of the camera I used.

Peer Discussion Context

For my peer discussion recording we each discussed our DA’s and our creative processes as well as developmental issues. Our group was a little mixed, we didn’t all have shared topics and frames so it was interesting hearing about the variety of projects as well as inspiring for me to take a different route on my next round. We did share a few issues such as time management, indecision and lack of direction early on, as well as different methods we could incorporate of going about our work that we could utilise and inflict next time.

 Key Takeaways

I think that I learnt a bit regarding my own generation and myself, and how deeply ingrained in us that it is to just get by with no real love for life anymore because of how chaotic living actually is, with work and bills, study and expenses to make ourselves superior to another in some way. After a point it isn’t living, it’s just getting by. We as a whole are entirely brainwashed by social media to focus on the wrong things and just distract ourselves hour by hour. So when I tried to think of a way to connect with the audience, a video was a no brainer. I just felt that life on land becomes a lot more complicated than what it’s really meant to be about. Enjoying what is there and living your own life, taking advantage of what the land around you has and who is on it and what we walk through everyday. We idealise people and experiences that have no place being worried about. We were never meant to be worried about all of this extra stuff, and I tried to narrow it down in my video to just what simply matters. Also utilising Capcut was an interesting skill to learn, I might potentially use that for future projects.

Originally, my DA was targeted more towards the general age range, not specifically to anyone. But as the process went on, I had to realise who would benefit more from consuming a video such as mine. While I would like it to inspire all, my generation and younger ones are very much the main audience for social media and online consumption. Tiktok, Instagram– all of these apps that target young impressionable minds and brainwash you so that your attention is captured and you’re focusing on topics that do not matter. Social media is primarily fake. We consume the beautified versions of life that people scour with an eagle eye and edit heavily before they post, so that all we can see is how well everyone else is doing. The most active time we are on our phones is when we have finished work or our commitments for the day, when we are tired and just need something to entertain ourselves with minimal to no effort. So when we are tired, and feeling low, and not being productive, we get fed these beautified versions of life that do not make us feel great about our own. In fact, we long for a life we do not have, a life that is not entirely real, as social media rarely shows all the issues that come with life and what happens when the camera is not recording. We compare and compare and fixate on meaningless topics that people prattle about on the internet, such as situationship, how to get back at your ex, how to glow up, etc. How is any of that living? Comparison is the thief of joy. Why wish for someone else’s life when you have got your own to live? These were points I often thought about and wanted to communicate. We give all of our attention to things that do not matter, and rarely the ones that just exist without asking anything of us. Family, something we all have. Your social media account will probably be there until you die. However, with people, not everyone will be. Appreciate the time you have with them, the life that is there for you to pick up again when you put down your phone.

I would tell someone starting a similar project to be time efficient, really specify what you want to achieve and how you are going to go about it. Tasks like these ones are great when they are open, but they require time and effort, so it’s best to get started early. And source feedback from the audience you are trying to target!

Reference List:

Nanji, A. (2015) ‘When do people use mobile apps most?’, MarketingProfs, 16 February. https://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27140/when-do-people-use-mobile-apps-most citeturn0view1

PCMag (2021) ‘Which generation is most addicted to their phones—and what are they doing about it?’, PCMag Australia. PCMag Australia article