Digital Life Connects

For my capstone project I would like to create a cinematic video essay since it mixes storytelling, fine visuals, and digital content creation. This format appeals to me the most because I can practice my writing abilities and camera work which can translate to my future profession in film and tv. I plan on using strong visuals and a script to help communicate my ideas effectively.

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A topic I want to explore is how digital spaces give marginalized voices visibility. Many racial and ethnic communities have been overshadowed and never been represented accurately in mainstream media to tell their story. Digital spaces act as a place of preservation and resistance. Hashtags can become movements, people can document their lived experience, share it, and find others who relate. What makes digital life powerful is how it collapses distance. Someone who may feel isolated or different can find a community that they can belong to online. Platforms have allowed people to reclaim their narratives instead of waiting for traditional institutions to validate them. Digital life connection interests me because of how I have been able to use it to express myself and connect with others across the world, looking for the same purpose. Creating content and connections through media has always been a part of my life. Since 6th grade, I have been editing and posting videos, collaborating with friends outside the state and country, and this has even inspired me to travel the world. Some of my favorite films and Tv have been shot in other countries, helping the stories of millions of people be translated through a screen and shared for everyone to see and understand. I would like to be able to create something that conveys strong emotion and impact someone's life and perhaps their perspective on certain topics as well.

Through my research, I want to be able to understand what it truly means to be "seen" in the digital age. The question is does visibility online create empowerment or does it create new forms of pressure and vulnerability? I want to explore how digitial spaces allow individuals to reclaim their narratives, while also examining the systems that still control whose stories go viral.