The Self Portrait Effect: "You will regret that cell-phone self-portrait in the bathroom mirror one day"

Introduction
A self-portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the artist. For this blog we had to only choose three videos from a very long list of student self-portraits made by many different kinds of people. The three videos I chose to speak about were the ones that really stuck out to me and that I enjoyed watching. These three were all done in different yet similar ways and all managed to capture your attention and tell a story. Not saying any of the others weren’t done well just these ones were my personal favorites.

“Life is a Ride”

When I first put on the video I didn’t know what to expect from it, the description posted only said it was a self-portrait with a strong narrative about a tragic event in a student’s life. The opening of the video was amazing and set the story for everything else that was about to come. The transition from the person on the bike to the wheel chair I thought was brilliant; right then and there you knew that the tragic event was a bike accident. What makes the video a strong visual narrative? This narrative is very strong because it can really grab everyone’s emotions seeing how this person’s life was drastically changed; also it might hit close to home for some viewers and have the same similar story of having a normal life one day to being completely different the next. For me it hit home because it reminded of the day I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes I was 8 so I was "normal" for a few years then completely thrown into this new way of life.  The transition from black and white to color video shows the drama of the situation and then the addition of the photos, with the text, really ties the video together. He does a great job of telling a story and showing that he didn't let this incident ruin his life. His visuals also tell the viewer that he wouldn't change a thing, and that his ride has more meaning and impact.


“My Most Important Self Portrait”

This video was all around amazing. From the technique he used with the stop action and drawn imagery with chalk, to the story he was telling, he really thought out what he wanted to get out of this and what he wanted people to feel from it. This video is a very strong narrative because the black and white aspect shows the drama behind it and almost gives you the sense of pain this man has been going through to lose weight and not be obese anymore. He is confronting his obesity and showing everything he has to go through each day, like temptation for fatty foods and how he has to situate the way he eats, to not just eat whenever he is depressed or bored, but to eat when hungry. He is expressing his feelings and showing how much weight he is losing over time.  This is another video that can hit very close to home for many people and watching this video and seeing that someone else is going through this struggle can give others hope that they can achieve this goal. It’s an awesome thing to see the progress he had made even at the 2 minute mark you can see some of the transformation.  I personally would love to see more; it’s like a cliff hanger movie that ends before you can actually see the true ending which I think makes it a good concept.

"The Art Of Motion"

Personally I have always been interested and intrigued by stop animation videos. They take a lot of time, work and dedication to come out with an amazing end result. My little brother used to make stop animation films with Lego's and he was always so dedicated into every little aspect, and because of that he made amazing videos that showed his hard work. This video gives a strong narrative because right off the bat it tells you what is going to be happening in this video and then goes right into giving you all sorts of different types of motion, from flying around, spinning, sliding, fighting, and rapid motion. Getting the viewers’ attention right away plays a good part in having a good narrative because you want to keep the person watching entertained and not bored with what is going on. The story of a guy enjoying his day then getting in a fight is portrayed very well, there is not one second where you are confused with the concept and there is no way you want to stop watching. Visually it looks very well done, I have seen many of these kinds of videos not done properly and some are blocky and didn’t flow well but this video looks nice and keeps you interested and doesn’t give you a headache. This student video I feel is perfectly done except for the very beginning I'm not sure if I like the zooming in of the man’s face.

The videos listed above have a strong visual narrative, visually convey their topic, and the viewer can determine whether or not it's a good video or if it needs work. I am ready to get started on our own self-portraits and trying to produce something that can be almost (keyword being almost) as good as those videos that we have watched. Hopefully our final product will be something that everyone will enjoy watching.