Summary

The intention of my image overall was to create something visually appealing that would captivate the viewers attention and would at first glance, communicate the idea of something dark and eerie, depicting the subjects struggle. My chosen article focuses on nightmares; on their content, who dreams them most, what aspects are most common e.g. physical aggression, people’s fear of sleeping due to dreams, and why dreams and various types of dreams occur. With my image, I have focused on a male individual who is the focal point. I have intended to create an image that shows the idea of him struggling, relating to his internal conflict and fears of which he is now being attacked by.

A shadow of himself is behind him, I did this to convey the idea of his darkness, and to add to the overall visual effect. He is shirtless as to illustrate his vulnerability, his body and face are covered in scratches and deep cuts, almost to appear as if he is decaying. By being shirtless, this allowed me to make these cuts a main point of the image. He is surrounded by multiple hands/arms, grabbing him and pulling him back. The purpose of this is to convey the idea of him being attacked and suffocated, it shows his struggle. However, as all that is seen is arms/hands, this adds to the idea that he is fearful and being attacked by the unknown, something faceless. Where do the dreams come from and why? It is all unknown. One hand is grabbing his mouth, this is insinuating the idea of him being unable to speak. One generally loses control in their dreams. The individual wants to scream and escape, however, he is being held back and is unable to do so. This relates to the article as some fear going to sleep as they are afraid of what may awaken in their minds.

I have composed my image in a way to make the subject the main focus, as the article is about people. I have centered him in the middle of the image, and have allowed for some space around him, although he takes up most of the space. The right hand side of the image has more empty space than the rest, this was done as he looks over that way, and as viewers we do not see what he sees. I thought about adding something symbolic to fears such as spiders or blood, however thought it would be more effective if we as viewers cannot see what he looks at; fear of the unknown?

I have used colour to add to the overall effect of the image by using dark colours, shades of black and greys. This gives my image a dark atmosphere and a negative emotional visual response. As my image uses things such as cuts and the idea that he is being grabbed and is struggling, by adding darker colours and contrasting them all adds to the uneasy feeling I hope to get out of my viewers. I want them to feel uncomfortable and have to think about what the image is communicating. Because of this, I have created something that the message may not be instantly obvious to the viewer, and instead, I hope they will be captivated firstly by its look, and then look at it for longer to get a better understanding of what it conveys. However, I do believe that the overall elements of it have worked to create something dark, depicting the subjects struggles, all of which, relates to the concept of nightmares. Especially, as it is he who is struggling (and in your dreams/nightmares, you are the one who is scared).