#Selfie #NoFilter

The short experimental film "#Selfie #NoFilter" (2014) utilises mobile video, Instagram, screenshots, and After Effects to prompt a series of questions concerning the nature of contemporary mobile self- portraits, or 'selfies'. In doing so, the film engages with concepts surrounding the areas of modernity, social media, mobile photography aesthetics, ego, celebrity, co-presence, and self. The film depicts the pre-production, production, post-production, and exhibition stages of creating a selfie on Instagram,ultimately providing a representation of the mechanical process of modern photography. Shooting one still image and one video on an iPhone 4s, the remainder of the film is comprised of screenshots taken from the mobile device, during the action of processing an image through Instagram. Various filters are experimented with, then ultimately discarded, as are a number of other visual editing features inherent in the image-sharing platform. The 'user' finally utilises the hashtags '#selfie' and '#nofilter', to reflect the social nature of the platform and users' proclivity for optimizing its search capabilities, in order to gain a wider audience. Additionally, through the gradual pace of change occurring within the image itself (not the controls around the image), I seek to pay homage to the placidity of Daguerre's diorama, whilst also adopting a Benjaminian critique of the mechanics of modern - in this case, contemporary mobile - photography. At its core, the film questions the purpose of both selfies and the widespread and haphazard use of ever- developing editing functions within platforms such as Instagram. The film was selected through a double peer-review process for MINA, which showcased mobile filmmaking projects from around the world in Auckland (AUT University, 19-21 Nov) and Wellington (Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, Te Anakura Whitiāhua, 6 Dec).