SofiaUnplugged

I have centered my digital artefact around a camera gifted to me by my grandfather which is a 1950s Kodak Six-20 model. The camera serves as a charismatic reminder of the evolution photography has undergone. By doing this project, I aim to serve as a reminder of the photography’s rich history and acknowledging the art form. 

Throughout the session, I’ve made several adjustments to the project, primarily driven by considerations of time management and the overarching message I aim to convey on camera. Initially, I altered my original concept upon discovering numerous similar initiatives on platforms like TikTok. Moreover, I found myself envisioning how the project could organically progress and adapt over time. Additionally, my perspective on the digital artifact underwent a shift. Initially uncertain about its direction, I gained clarity after filming an interview with my grandfather, which illuminated the project’s trajectory for me.  

My original idea centred around my passion for crime and murder mystery cases, where I would film TikTok’s/Instagram reels. I created a TikTok page which only gained 2 followers from a video I posted which had 10 likes from the 3.2k views it received. The video itself took a lot of time, as I had to research a case and film myself talking about the case. I aimed to make it a casual conversational type of video, so I was putting on makeup whilst talking about the case. I struggled to see where the project could go from this point as it was taking a lot of time to research the cases and film them whilst i was getting ready. Through changing my idea, I gained knowledge of the types of content that people view, such as from looking at analytics, I noticed that people only watched the first 3.8 seconds of the video.  

When I began the project on the camera, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go with it. The interview with my grandfather gave me some clarity on the project as I had prepared some questions but mainly asked him to say whatever he thought my generation needed to hear. From this interview I understood that I wanted to make the project about photography in general as it would be hard to grow a social media presence on a single camera. Now, I aim to grow my social media presence on vintage photography in general to reach a broader audience of photographers and people interested in photography.  

When I created my TikTok account, I posted a video of a few snippets of the interview put together of my pop laughing and smiling. When I created the account, I intended to make it different from my Instagram account and to make it more aimed towards a younger audience. The video received 1.6k views and 70 likes which was more than I was expecting. I felt the short length of the10 second video received more views as it was cute, entertaining and an easy to watch video. I will take this into consideration when I create more content on social media.