Content creation in the age of social media information overload : an awareness-raising campaign about violence against women

Abstract

Violence against women is considered to be a global issue that may manifest itself in different forms, such as physical, sexual, or mental harm. It is a serious problem that has been impacting in a drastic and horrible manner the lives of around one-third of the women’s population around the globe (WHO, 2018). As a result, this study is intended to question and explore ways to develop a digital art project to attempt to increase awareness about violence against women. This research project revolves around two important features in the area of social media advertising and successful content creation: emotional and persuasive communication and the ambiguous transmission of a message. The primary objective of this project is not solely to enhance understanding and awareness of gender-based crime, but also to create a digital piece that effectively communicates visual information and evokes specific emotions through powerful audio-visual stimuli. The study uses practice-based research as its primary research method; the final outcome is a derivation of all the background research, idea generation processes, tests, critical investigations, and reflective thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of the trials. As a result, a social media video was developed with the aim to raise awareness about the topic in discussion, focusing mainly on narrating a story through strong emotions and also a sense of ambiguity. This was purposefully done to allow the viewers to interpretate the visuals and sculpt their own narrative. Moreover, direct eye-contact is a crucial element of communication heavily featured in the final product.