Meme+Write-up


 * 1.The Creative Process**

Our creative process began individually; we decided to each take some time and actively explore the directions we each wanted. We allocated a week for this stage, and after our individual ideas matured, we got back together with the aim of choosing the most profitable direction to pursue for the group's meme proposal. At this point we had several ideas floating around and it proved difficult to settle unanimously on one. Two of us were proposing for an image based meme, something asking to Leo-inception one that is currently popular; and two of us were pushing for a video-based meme. By this time we were already noticing that our fellow classmates seemed to be opting en masse for video based meme submissions and we wanted to avoid cookie-cutter projects. In order to settle the discussion we assumed we would pursue each potential meme and thought about its further stages of development. It then became apparent that using a picture-based meme allowed us more control over the circumstances of its release (more on that later). As such we decided it would be most profitable to pursue a picture meme.

Initially we had a political themed potential meme, our first draft featured Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao and Kim Jong Il. However, in light of the brainstorming session we had regarding release, we realized the potential meme had to be more modular. We had to allow for the community to manipulate it and appropriate its meaning. This would make all the difference for it's spread. The more people felt like they can contribute to it, the more it will be forwarded. What we needed was a structure that could be easily filled with other content. There were two other factors we decided were important. Firstly the potential meme had to have a memorable visual element. Something that instantly interpelates the audience. Secondly, it would have to refer back to other mimetic ideas, so as to speak to as wide an audience as possible. To satisfy the first two requirements we settled on the character Maria from the movie “Metropolis”. She had two uniquely memorisable poses in the movie that suited our needs perfectly. Now we had a image that had a before-and-after structure. There was calm Maria and scared Maria, and other users would be able to insert whatever they wanted in between. The final requirement had more to do with release, we needed to adapt the content for the specific medium it was released in.


 * 2.Release**

Since we did an image based meme we were somewhat limited in our release opportunities. Youtube was obviously out of the question. We finally settled on two locations for which we would control the release circumstances. Firstly there was reddit.com. We had to customize the release method to the intrinsic structure of the community. Reddit is a social media site that works as a forum. The fundamental interaction of the is done through replies to the original post and replies to the subsequent replies. We decided the best approach here would be to prod the community in the right direction. We made three examples of the meme and planned to release time a short time apart in response to each other, simulating an initial interested response by the community. The idea was that others would follow suite and then the thread would explode as more and more get in on the action. This idea was based on observations of previous behaviour on reddit. The content of the memes was chosen to speak specifically to relevant topics in the community at the time. Such as TSA, Obama, Racial Profiling. The post title was also made to insinuate a direction for the viewers: Things That Scare Maria. Thus viewers already had an idea of potential multiplicity.

Secondly there was 4chan. Again, we had to adapt the potential meme to the requirements of this community. The 4chan community loves to carry an idea forward until absurdity. Here we concluded all we had to do was provide with an opportunity for the community to work their magic. As such we opted to not include the full text of the potential meme as it was posted to reddit. We just posted the final image in which Maria is terrified, under the submission title, “what is scares Maria” (grammatical error intended). The idea was that the 4chan's /b/ community would then reply by providing content.


 * 3.Effect**

The exposure of the images was tracked using imgur.com's in-built tracker. Unfortunately the response to the reddit post was abysmal. Although some users responded positively, one even stating that it was meme material, overall the community did not appreciate the post. Aggregately the three images representing our potential meme received two thousand views, with the main image receiving just over eleven hundred.


 * Links:**

Link to Reddit Submission: []

On 4chan there was some staple image submissions in reply to the posting. However nothing particularly creative that would have helped get others inspired. Overall the post, though containing seven direct image responses failed to reach critical mass.

Our meme statistics: 1st image: [] 2nd image: [] 3rd image: []