Visual Inspiration for a Hidden Depression Campaign
Visual curation and research by Jared Alex Tan
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Historically, the topic of depression has often been downplayed in society, being regarded as a trivial state of mind rather than a legitimate mental illness. This has led to many depressed individuals hiding their condition in fear of being judged by others, and some live their entire lives without receiving the proper treatment. This concealment of emotions can lead to self-abuse or, in a worst case scenario, suicide.
Depression-related images are usually part of advertisements created in response to such behaviour, or drawn by the depressed individuals themselves as a method of catharsis. This graphic is probably an example of the latter, and I feel that it encapsulates the social issue that my group is attempting to tackle. Its message — that some people might not be as happy as they look — is the basis of what we are trying to achieve with our four images.
I noticed that most advertisements rely on colour (or the lack of it) to create a visual distinction between depression and happiness. composition-wise, these images also feature a single subject to represent the sense of solitude that depressed individuals experience, and is perhaps a plea for their friends to direct attention to them as well.
While the subject matter of this video might not be relevant to our chosen topic, its split screen concept effectively shows how two lives can appear similar, yet be wildly different at the same time. While the issue of hidden depression has been previously explored in past video advertisements, there has yet to be one that utilises this particular presentation style.
The challenge of filming such a video is constructivist in nature, as we have to ensure that the activity in both screens coordinate to form a single visual image. This video manages to achieve visual harmony by applying the Gestalt theory of continuation in some scenes — as the man in the left screen walks out of frame, the girl in the right screen then enters. This ensures that the viewer’s eye movement is natural in spite of having two points of focus.
Though not as explicitly clear as I would like it to be, there is also a slight difference in the colour of the two screens to further convey a sense of juxtaposition. My group has been heavily inspired by the techniques (split screen, continuation and colour) used in this video, and will apply them in our own.
