Face Filters

Below, unedited, is the original ‘Face Filters’ assignment. It is not being assigned this year, but one can complete half of it (one face filter + documentation) for extra credit.

See Lens Studio.

Create two face filters using Lens Studio and write a document for them.

The filters do not need to be published, they will be judged entirely in via their documentation.

Face Filters must be either of type “gesture” or of type “identity”. They cannot merely be fun or intereting, although we love that. You must write an artist statement that explains how the filter achieves it’s intended goals.

Submission

The filters will be graded without being installed or used. This means teh full documentation of the face filters in use is, really, the focus.

For each filter:

Upload .pdf with embedded images to brightspace. Include a video files separately.

Documentation

Include the following:

In the readme.txt file:

Notes on Identity

An “Identity” face filter should allow someone to express an an ephemeral social identity – a mood, emotion, sentiment, etc; that assists an individual in connecting with others. One is claiming membership of an in-group, like sports fandoms. This is identity with a lowercase i. How might I communicate my identity of “cat dad” with a face filter, instead of my normal approach of dragging my cat from has nap and holding him up to the camera.

We express our identities constantly: The clothing and styles we choose, how we decorate our environments, the kinds of brands we purchase, the way we choose to affect our language or sign our emails, the sports teams we represent – we are constantly, metaphorically, shouting “this is who I am” to the world.

You cannot choose identities that may violate inclusive policies or are otherwise problematic. For example, many “identities” are labels as social bias laundering; things like white nationalists, incels, terfs, or MGTOW. Similarly, avoid ethnic and racial identities. One must consider how individuals who are not part of the identity we are trying to represent would utilize our face filters: we are not creating tools that enable one to wear the skin of someone else.

Notes on Gesture

A “Gesture” face filter must provide a secondary communicative expression that allows for richer communication. It is not necessarily merely amplifying an expression. It could involve layers of subtext or an ironic reversal. These are depths of communication we constantly use in face-to-face conversation but are more limited in informal writing (ie: texting). Emoji, emoticons, animated gifs, punctuation, and TeXt StyLinG can all act as a gesture or indicator of tone. Face filters open new doors to gesture, allowing one to use the personal expressiveness of facial expressions, elements of film composition (like timing, montage/cuts, juxtaposition, and framing) and juxtapositions with content like sound effects, on screen image elements, and more.

See the McCulloch reading for mroe on Gesture.

Notes on Artist Statement

Consider the following questions:

Examples

See Hunter for visuals.

Some Previous Student Projects: