Paranoia Through Dancing: A Junior Design Student Conceptual Project by Lauren Gerughty (2015)

The main objects in the photograph are the falling leaves and the shadow. The shadow is dark, while the leaves are the bright which adds contrast. The vignette adds to the darkness of the photo and draws attention towards the main objects. The pieces of furniture in the background are meant to give this photo a sense of realism. It makes the scene look less staged. This paired with the low lighting adds to the overall creepiness of the photo. Thus adding to the paranoia and fear meant to felt through the picture. The ideas of dancing and paranoia are very different, and I wanted to portray this by using different colors and tones for the objects being used to represent their differences. The first thing we did was crop and add vignette, in order to draw focus to the important pieces of our photos. We then used the pen tool to make precise selections. Next I used adjustment layers and filters to manipulate those selections. I edited out the strings that were being used to hang the leaves to make them look like they were falling. I also used adjustment layers to enhance the color and brightness of the leaves, making them pop more against the dark, neutral background. The last adjustment I made was adding a slight colored pencil filter to the shadow in order to add more of an outline and make it more defined.

My concept statement was experiencing the feeling of paranoia through dancing. The shadow is meant to represent the feeling you get at night and you see shadows . Something about the dark and the unknown combined with the shadows is so terrifying, so I used that to convey the paranoia part of my concept statement. As for the leaves they are meant to represent dancing, with their lyrical movement as they fall. These are two very contrasting ideas so in a way the brightness of the leaves in the photo is meant momentarily distract from the the paranoia meant to be brought on by the shadow, and even if just for a instant, give the feeling of freedom and calm many people experience while dancing.