Micro Project 6: Private vs Public
Do you see a demarcation between private and public? If yes, what are their differences? Here are some options you can consider:
For this project, I filmed as first-person live broadcaster behind the camera. This means you would not be able to see how I look like, except from my way of looking at things. In this clip, it was not planned that we were going to go to a location to do this on its own.
We had plans to go cycling and watch a movie afterwards, but decided to take our usual stroll at the park. Widad used to live near me and we would have walks together at a nearby park. Now that she has relocated to Sembawang, , she took me to her park closest to her home and took me around to introduce me her new neighborhood park.
Since this took place on Friday evening, the timing was not at the most appropriate for people to go online, and i did not inform anyone online about an upcoming broadcasting live. My friend Widad was concerned about being on a live broadcast, because of its public nature, but she was comfortable around it, eventually. I think we usually go for walks together as a way to spend time together, and in this place, Sembawang Beach – she was simply giving me/ us a tour. But I think the difference was the extra third party ( my phone recording us live) took some time for us to get used to. Eventually I thought it turned out okay.
During this recording, I also mentioned viewing this from first-person perspective – but there were limitations to this. During the walk by the sands I saw a couple seated together and kids playing by the waters, but this did not appear in the broadcasting because I wouldn’t want to be questioned. I kept it discreet.
In hindsight, I think residents there didn’t appear to concerned about my camera out. But I did not disrupt their personal – they were a couple seated by the sands watching their kids playing by the water. Just like my friend and I, we were having our own “private moment” so I didn’t feel like I should intrude on the couple’s private moment too.
The abstract moment would be the part where the lights of the lamppost is shown together with the moon during our walk back to Widad’s home. I thought the size and color of those two objects were matching – and it really did when I gave a close up shot. I thought that was beautiful!
In summary, a lot of what I have filmed were not planned out, apart from letting Widad know about this ( and then mentioning this during the live broadcast) because the context here was visiting Widad’s new place and going for our usual walk at her park nearby.
Disclaimer: During the instagram live broadcast, there was no time duration stated to show how long it has been live. It was only until I stopped recording that it recorded below the 20min mark requirement. Therefore, the video is shorter than it is suppose to be, unfortunately.
However, the second video below is a “back-up” video to make up for the extra time needed to hit the minimum duration of 20 minutes. It also featured Widad and I, just in a different environment this time – a place more private ( in a car).
In summary, the biggest learning point for me was that there will always be a clear benchmark between public and private. The part where it was mentioned where the “third-party” comes in shifted the dynamic between my friend and I while we go for our routine walk at a park. Something that was meant to be private, was out in public – which may be discomforting to some. At the same time, it could be pleasant to others. I think those who find it pleasant to watch this – would also appear to behave the same way when watching something as personal like a vlog, or a Jennicam video or any videos of that sort.
Also, even though there weren’t a lot of people watching, I would assume that as first person narrator, behind the camera, I am in control of what users can or cannot see – there fore that gives me a lot of allowance to let them see and make assumptions about the person behind the live broadcaster.
