SEEING THE SELF

Tyler Lindsey

PROJECT GUIDELINES

Create a timeline of your life.

The process will be conducted in the format of a mini-thesis.

THESIS FORMAT  

•  Abstract •  Justification •  Methodology •  Questions/subquestions •  Bibliography

INITIAL IDEAS  “Limelight” by Rush Album: Moving Pictures

“Cast in this unlikely role, Ill-equipped to act, With insufficient tact, One must put up barriers To keep oneself intact... All the world's indeed a stage, And we are merely players, Performers and portrayers, Each another's audience Outside the gilded cage.”

Our lives consist of roles we play in our coexistence with one another. Neil Peart, the writer, is calling upon a section of Shakespeare’s play, As You Like It: the “All the World’s a Stage” speech.

INITIAL IDEAS  

“All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts.”

Our lives consist of roles we play in our coexistence with one another.

“All the World’s a Stage” by Shakespeare Play: As You Like It

INITIAL IDEAS  

Dramaturgy The condition that everybody experiences in which

people assume certain roles in society that they wish to portray. Their actions and overall outward presentation are guided by the boundaries of this portrayal.

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Ervin Goffman

ABSTRACT  •  The abstract should state what the design

problem is and how the designer will solve it.   “The goal of the project entitled “Seeing the Self” encompasses

creating an effective representation of my, the designer’s, life in the form of a timeline. Moving away from an outsider’s point of view, my project strives to show the designer’s life from the inside out and, therefore, focuses on personal highlights, epiphanies, and interests. Therefore, I am presenting an audio-visual collage, that is, an animated slideshow that shows my life in my developmental years from birth to adolescence.”

The Americans  

JUSTIFICATION  

•  The justification answers the question of validity of the research.  

“When one walks into a job interview, many things are asked of the interviewee. Questions having to do with why the position was sought out or what can be brought to the company are commonly discussed at some point. However, there is one question that the interviewer is probably going to ask first: ‘Who are you?’   To tell the interviewers ‘a little bit about yourself’ doesn’t mean to explain where you’re from, where you went to school, or what led you to this point in your career. That’s all in your curriculum vitae or résumé.”

PART 1:

JUSTIFICATION  

•  The justification answers the question of validity of the research.  

“In much the same way, a timeline solely of one’s achievements doesn’t say too much about who the person is. Their idioms and personal quirks and interests and hobbies say much more about how the person came to be who they are today. Revealing these windows of a person’s being creates a connection with viewers in terms of recognition of similarities and of interests between both parties.”

PART 2:

JUSTIFICATION  

•  The justification answers the question of validity of the research.  

“Inspiration for this ideology is derived from the title sequence of a new series on FX entitled The Americans. The situating of the series within world history called for an animated collage-meets-slideshow to serve as the opening title sequence. The compilation shows the nuts and bolts of what the crux of the matter was, that is, it showed the background of the series by connecting with the memories of viewers.”

PART 3:

JUSTIFICATION  

•  The justification answers the question of validity of the research.  

“I would like to create an animated slideshow of images, ultimately creating an audio-visual collage of my life, highlighting instances, interests, and epiphanies during childhood and adolescence that molded me into who I am today. This entails combining the cultural world, in which I grew up, with my own personal world.”

PART 4:

JUSTIFICATION  •  The justification answers the question of

validity of the research.  

“Ervin Goffman, a Canadian sociologist and writer, wrote about the experience of people who assume roles in their day-to-day lives as an actor or, in my own words, of people who live their lives like they’re in a movie. In Goffman’s book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, the writer calls this condition dramaturgy and says everyone experiences this to some degree. In art school, we learn of the ideological discussion that life imitates art in some cases, while art imitates life in others. With this and Goffman’s theories in mind, showing my life like a movie, with me assuming roles throughout, should more effectively communicate my life to viewers.”

PART 5:

METHODOLOGY  •  The methodology explains each step of the

actualization process.  

o  Gather material  

–  personal footage, both audio and visual, from home including photographs and home video

  –  cultural footage, both audio and visual, including movie

segments, television segments, music videos and concert footage

PART 1:

METHODOLOGY  •  The methodology explains each step of the

actualization process.  

o  Brainstorm  

–  consider gathered material and configure the sequence of the slideshow  

–  design emphatic points in the sequence (how the combination of different types of material will work and appear)

–  begin forming the compilation of personal and cultural audio segments

PART 2:

METHODOLOGY  •  The methodology explains each step of the

actualization process.  

o  Use software to compile material  

–  using Adobe Photoshop, still material was manipulated and edited  

–  using Adobe After Effects, motion picture material was manipulated and edited.

–  edited still material and motion picture material was imported into an After Effects project to combine into sequences which were edited in this application.

–  audio material was also edited with the application Garageband to coincide with visual material after importing it into the After Effects project.

PART 3:

RESEARCH QUESTIONS  •  These are questions and subquestions that arose

from my research and thinking about the project.  

o  Do I want to separate my own personal footage from the cultural footage (i.e., should both stand alone from one another?)

  –  Where have these methods been used successfully or

unsuccessfully?

–  What role does the material play in my own project?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS  •  These are questions and subquestions that arose

from my research and thinking about the project.  

o  How will this method communicate what my life has been like more effectively?

o    –  How will the audience register the material?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS  •  These are questions and subquestions that arose

from my research and thinking about the project.  

o  Do I want to design the sequence to reflect my life in a linear sense?

–  Does a linear format necessarily lend itself to the

cognition of my message within the viewers?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS  •  These are questions and subquestions that arose

from my research and thinking about the project.  

o  Should I represent my life from birth to the present or should I focus on certain times of my life?

FINAL VIDEO  

•  Seeing  the  Self  

BIBLIOGRAPHY  Kazaara, Brian. "Living Life Like a Movie." Life as a Human: The Human Interest

Magazine for Evolving Minds. (2012): n. page. Web. 8 Apr. 2013. <http://lifeasahuman.com/2012/ mind-spirit/psychology/living-life-like-a- movie/>.

Goffman, Ervin. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor

Books, Doubleday, 1959. Print. Shakespeare, William. "All the World's a Stage." As You Like It n.pag. The

Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Web. 8 Apr 2013. <http:// shakespeare.mit.edu/asyoulikeit/asyoulikeit.2.7.html>.

Peart, Neil. ""Limelight"." Trans. Array Moving Pictures. Warner/Chappell

Music, Inc., 1981. Print.