As I’m now getting into the methods and particularly phenomenology, I want to collate the ethnography that also informs this project. I will use this as a place to collate all my ethnographic notes in one single place:
- Have become aware of boomerang as a trend – zooming in and out on the face in a cyclical way
- Have seen a huge increase in people pulling their eyes out to make them look cat like – which is like Instagram face – interesting that people are doing this. Kind of reminds me of sucking in your belly for a photo or something
- Pouting is still a thing apparently
- It’s all about the big lips and the cat eye
- Glossy glowy skin – I looked at this a while back when I was examining beauty trends – check in DC&S posts
- Very rare people smile
- lots of people using ‘bunny’ filter
- Angle seems to predominantly be from above
- Mirror pictures are from below – the aesthetic of this seems more performative as they look straight down the lens or at themselves
- Peace-signs – usually with a filter or in the boomerang
- very serious faces, raised eyebrows or bored looking
- lots of head tilting in stories – is this to do with the music that is usually playing in the background? Seems to be a kind of moving portrait, where the camera and subject moves (both are the same person)
- Stories almost have a documentary or vlog feel to them
- posts on the actual profile are very performed and curated – exhibitions
- The AR filters mostly have the undertone of Instagram face, even if they are not classified as ‘beauty filters’
- people are replicating this same look through make-up and filler
- y2k nostalgic vibe – nostalgia pendulum situates this as about right
- interesting that the rise in moving image aligns with the rise in more editing
- HIghlights kind of separate the documentary into episodes? Never noticed this before as you have to meticulously flick through them and they obviously don’t appear on the feed
- Seen a massive increase in people doing that eye pull put thing to look like a cat
- also there is definitely a trend involving sunlight – using it to over expose any blemishes and burn eyeballs out
- On the stories, a variety of sides are showcased – some times very performative and made up – other times casual with no make up – can’t predict it as I can with posts
- Highlights change the very notion of the 24 hour story?
- Lots of filters lighten the eye
- Butterfly filters are emerging – is this a reference to the y2k aesthetic rising?
- Never considered self-timers before!!! Will start taking these into consideration from now on.
- A weird contradiction of not wanting to appear to have made an effort – whilst making an effort
- Have noticed that so many people archive posts and change their minds
- People will start all over again
| Note from phone: I asked Sisi and Laura if they thought that people had different identities online, they both immediately responded ‘of course’. Sisi shared that she used to only post photos where she was wearing make-up and she’s glad she doesn’t do that now, but admittedly she still takes multiple versions of selfies and picks the best one to post. We spoke about whether filters were good or bad and I voiced my recent theory likening them to a type of ‘dress’, which they both agreed to. |
Interesting chats in the group chat about Instagram / Filters etc:
3 Key Participants for further analysis:
Will also interview these participants (do not include screenshots in study)
Whilst organising my ethnography, I split it into two forms of observations: One looking at specific performative gestures which were being repeated.
The second looked at how instagram as a space is being uses.
