My primary audience is American college students, aged 18-22, who are always on the grind or just seemingly never getting enough sleep. They are hard at work, but at the same time never seem to be able to focus, causing them to sleep late and make their work get pushed back even more. They want to fix their sleep schedule, but they can't because of their immense workload. By showing the negative effects of insufficient sleep, the audience will realize that they should do something about the state that they are in. By getting good quality and quantity of sleep, they will have more time to do the things they love and be focused throughout the day.
For the project, I chose a darker route, showing what would happen if students do not get enough sleep. The girl in the picture has her hand on her head, stressing over her work and the things that are happening in her life. There is a snow globe on her desk, in which a person sleeping is depicted. By having the girl looking at the snow globe, this photo shows how much she wants to sleep but is unable to as her stressed state prevents good sleep, symbolized by how the sleeping person is captured inside the snow globe. The blueness and warped state of the sleeping person inside the snow globe represents the dreamlike state she is in while sleeping, exhibiting a state of peace. The static around the girl represents and emits the anxious and stressed state she is in, although the similarity to snow could also send a similar message. This message could be where the anxious girl is trapped along with the sleeping girl, or her sleep deprived state merged on to her.
The first step of creating this graphic was to make a snow globe. After finding a picture of a sleeping girl, I used a gradient, brush tool, and liquify to create a dispersion effect. I then used the elliptical marquee tool and spherize filter so that the sleeping girl can fit in the globe. To make the globe, I got a snow globe photo, cut out the globe and put in the sleeping girl. I also used the lens correction filter and various other filters to make the lighting effects usually seen on snow globes. Then using the selection tools, I cut out the area around the sleeping girl so that I can lower the opacity and make a transparent effect. With the stressed girl, I applied a dark vignette, used the selection tools to cut out the background, and replaced the background with television static. I also applied a lighten effect so that the static blended in with the girl, reinforcing the stress and anxiety aspect of the photo.
From this project I learned a lot about using photoshop, since this was my first time working with the program. I learned about the various tools and how to use them to do things that I would never have thought of. I also learned that when designing something, it doesn't have to be overly complicated, and that often simplicity can be better. Over complicating the design can lead to a less compelling graphic. Additionally, I figured that over complicating the design led to photoshop seeming much more overwhelming, since even with just a few tools, the photos could change drastically. When creating projects, I discovered that it is very helpful to get people’s input, since it really helped me gain a new perspective on what my project actually looks like to others.
Next time when working on a photo editing project, I will try to spend more time exploring the different tools and experimenting with them. I would keep the simplistic elements of the photo and use more editing techniques to make the photo look more unique and compelling, allowing me to better portray my message/theme. I would definitely like to have more of a plan or try to pre-visualize more of what I would really like in the project. I always struggle with making decisions and having a concrete plan when working through events in my life, and so this project helped me to grow in the planning and decision making aspect. I will retain this mentality and amount of work I put into this project when moving on to the next one.