1. In what ways do you hope your final work (whether individual or group produced) engages its audience and communicated a key concern of the studio?
Firstly, I’d like to think that my critical essay communicated one of the three main things discussed in the studio; practice. For instance, a mobile media practice being adopted by influencers to achieve differing aesthetics—ranging all the way from designed photos, to casual photos, as well as all the grey areas in between—is through the various processes being implemented. Another tactic being deployed would be the different types of hashtags, exploring both their positive and negative aspects, as well as the reasons behind it. Therefore, it is here that I hope that the essay is able to educate others by opening their eyes to the fact that being an influencer isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, just as I have been made aware throughout writing it. Moreover, the essay seems to put forth the idea that mobile media in particular could not only be a great source of entertainment, but also the object of a great deal of varying analyses.
2. Imagine you are going to keep working on that media piece (e.g. to screen it somewhere else like a festival, or develop it into a different kind of work, and so on) – what would be the core things you would want to improve and extend and why
Firstly, I do think my critical essay needs to be developed further. As such, I would like to acknowledge that said essay does indeed have several limitations. Therefore, if I were to keep working on it, I would like to extend my work further firstly by utilizing more than 2 influencers as the main case study, those that still however represent the same cultural backgrounds—the U.S. and Indonesia—in order to maintain specificity. Although I did refer to another Indonesian influencer, it was indeed very brief, and is still not sufficient to be able to represent the arguments being put forth in the essay. Moreover, the influencers being used as examples are those that I personally follow. While this may not pose as an issue, it might however still cause some subjective bias through the way I write things—whether I realize it or not—since it is still based on my existing perceptions of them. Similarly, my personal experiences and opinions being sprinkled all throughout the essay may not be credible enough. Therefore, I try to be as objective as possible. As such, to completely avoid this issue in the first place, is to refer to influencers that are both new and foreign to me. Moreover, the essay mainly draws upon images only to represent Instagram brand deals. I feel like I could also focus more on videos (i.e., Instastories and Reels) since they are also technically part of the platform’s affordance being utilized to author brand deals as well. It is here that by examining videos that I could also explore the idea of “authenticity”, whether it be the way the influencer conveys it, or the way audiences perceive it. Lastly, a few parts of the essay still need further research for evidence to avoid making personal assumptions.
3. At least 200 words must be about collaboration (over the whole semester). Appraise how you went with it this semester – its ups, and downs.
Since the essay is an individual work, I guess what could be categorized as “collaboration” here would be bouncing off ideas with Larissa. I do have to admit that the whole journey that I went through to be able to produce the final result is definitely a roller-coaster ride. There were times where I questioned my decision to undertake a critical essay in the first place, being the only one to do so in the class. While other times I was a little too overwhelmed with all the information I’m consuming; deciding which ones are actually going into the final essay and which ones are not. Therefore, it is through a one-on-one consultation and feedback session both in class and through assignments, that I felt a little more at ease and clear-headed with the direction in which I want my essay to go. Similarly, further support and feedback from peers do indeed help in making me feel more reassured.
