Audio:
For E2, I wanted to start with something hard-hitting—something I’m very passionate about. In this audio, I discuss the trend of ‘Lolcows,’ a phenomenon in the media that I find deeply disturbing. As a disabled person myself, it’s awful to see how some individuals are treated due to their untreated disabilities. I was inspired to talk about this after researching the same topic for my Media Life essay. It completely consumed me—I had to speak out on the issue. Though I was speaking about quite a difficult subject, I tried to use the background audio to create a more peaceful and engaging atmosphere.
Creative Writing:
When starting the creative writing section of E2, I really struggled. I had previously written a story for E1, and I felt lost with the options I had left. I had never written a poem, or a song before and have only had limited experience writing scripted dialogues. I chose to write a poem, as it’s an art form I’ve always respected and find so beautiful, I thought it would be a great challenge for me, and it gave me the opportunity to learn something completely new. Whilst writing I was heavily inspired by slam poetry, I liked its heavier tone, different from the softer form of poetry I was used to. I felt that it would be the best way to properly convey my message to the reader.
I decided to write about the hardships of being a woman; the scrutiny, abuse, and pain involved – how I wish to see a change in our treatment, but ultimately discussing how much I love being a woman. I made my writing style quite aggressive wanting to best convey my desperation, anger, passion, and fear for the future of women. As I truly do live in fear that women will always be seen as less than—as objects. I believe my poem effectively communicates these concerns, and I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to write about them. It allowed me to express my fears freely, and thankfully, it was quite therapeutic. This was especially true when writing the quotes, as they reflect things I have personally heard or have been told that other women have experienced.
Posters:
With this series of posters, I wanted to keep the central theme from my previous moodboard in E1. Which revolved around my life now that I have moved to London. I wanted to develop this and discuss certain aspects of my life that have really changed since coming here, like love, friendships, and my own self-discovery! I added certain places and significant dates to the posters, as a further nod to those my work is dedicated to. With this I also wanted to incorporate my love for music within the posters, as it is a major part of my life and is also really ingrained in my relationships.
Each poster features a musician whose music I associate with someone special in my life.
Like Neil Young, my boyfriend, who I met in my first few weeks here, introduced me to his music. Since meeting Ivan (my boyfriend), he has been so supportive of my university work. He has really helped me through the rough patches, especially with acclimating to London’s bustling environment. Due to him becoming such a big part of my life and sharing one of his favourite artists with me, I wanted to dedicate a poster to him.
My best friend, Diana, who I met before moving to London, has always been obsessed with The Smiths. I personally wasn’t always a big fan, only listening to them occasionally. But since Diana and I have moved here, our relationship has become even stronger, and I have found a new love for The Smiths. I even accredit Diana as being one of my major reasons for moving here, as I wasn’t really sure what university I wanted to go to. Seeing how excited she was about UAL made me want to look into it. Lastly, I wanted to dedicate one to myself. Moving here has been a very difficult process for me, with a lot of stress along the way. This poster has one of my all-time favourite artists, PJ Harvey. I always find myself listening to her in times of difficulty. Finding her music so relatable, I wanted to show myself through my own creativity and show my inspirations from these artists for each piece.
In each of these posters, I wanted to keep that initial moody/grunge theme that I had in my moodboard, which I believe I have done well; the dull muted colours, the text I chose, the whole tour/artist poster aesthetic that I went for adds to this theme. Especially the artists I chose, they are quite alternative, and their respective fanbases are mostly who my target audience would be for these posters, people who ‘aren’t like everyone else’ – I can really imagine these being posters you’d see in a grumpy teen’s bedroom. Which is what I was going for. It reminds me of posters that I would’ve put up when I was younger. Being my first time making posters, I did find it quite difficult initially but am happy with the results.
Film:
When making this film, I was heavily inspired by shows I grew up watching, like The Young Ones and Spaced. Since moving to London I have been rewatching things I loved as a child, and these shows are slowly becoming some of my favourites again! Both of these shows were so important to me growing up, and have really shaped my humour making me who I am today. I always loved the wacky scenes in each episode, so for my film, I knew I wanted to create a scene that felt like it could belong in one of them.
Using dramatic camera angles, over-the-top acting, constant fourth-wall breaks, and a very silly story about wanting to go for last rounds but getting the times mixed up, I think I was able to achieve my goal. I really enjoyed the process—creating the story in E1, directing, acting, and overall just having the best time while filming and editing.
For the background audio, I initially felt lost, unsure of how best to complement the video. On a whim, I decided to lean into the silliness of the whole thing and added a funny audio clip I found on YouTube. I think this was the best decision, as it doesn’t take away from the film but instead adds another layer of wackiness.