For my Power artefact I have decided to use both still images and audio pieces.
My idea is to show that through the power of word of mouth something small and insignificant and become something far more extreme and dangerous.
This technique has been seen on several occassions from Nazi Germany to the McCarthy Communist Hunt, where rumours and pieces of information have become far more exaggerated and powerful thanks to media perception of the issue, and people’s own interpretations.
To show this exaggeration in my artefact, my idea was to take several photographs, each one more exaggerated then the last, and run them as a slide show so they fade into one another. Underneath these images would be a soundtrack of people talking, with each phrase matching the image above it. The combination will show how the power of word of mouth, like chinese whispers, can bring something entirely out of its original context and become far more powerful; whilst the images will act as a visual representation of the conversation, as well as show how people’s perceptions change accodring to what they hear.
Although I did ideally want to use real people and props for the photographs, I did not have the finances or the time to be able to do this for this artefact. Also I feel my narrative is still quite weak, so I have decided to let this artefact act as a foundation, to show my ideal structure and construction for the piece, whilst I develope a stronger storyline.
In the meantime I have photographed sketches I have done of my current narrative, and recorded a soundtrack to put underneath it. The overall effect I feel does work well, and shows the power of word of mouth as I intended. Obviously with actual people involved the overall strength of the artefact would be increased, but that is something I know I will do to improve this piece if I decide to continue with it at a later date. There are other areas I will improve on also, as I said before I feel that the narrative needs to be stronger, but also I will improve the quality of the audio soundtrack, and edit it much more closely so no speeches are cut off.
But for now, here is my first draft of my power artefact:
