I was initially working on a remix piece about the portrayal of news. As I was going through the tedious process of sifting through news clips, I was distracted by basketball videos in the “recommended” tab on my screen. In retrospect I find this interesting because I’m not sure if the images would have taken such a hold of me if basketball hadn’t been on the forefront of my mind. Regardless, today is the beginning of the Sweet 16 games for March Madness and basketball has been very much on my radar. Normally I don’t get especially excited about college basketball but this year my extended family formed a pool with a substantial grand prize. Naturally, I have become very involved with my bracket, almost obsessing over it, checking scores, checking my points, checking other people’s points, and figuring out my standing. The more I think about it, the more I realize how amazing the bracket is as an image. During the month of march, the NCAA bracket is an image that nobody can take their eyes off of and the degree of personalization that it represents is quite astounding.
Nobody sees the same thing when they look at the bracket. From the very beginning to the very end, people have unique experiences of visualization that are actually manifested as each is filled it out. The amazing thing is that we actually get to see other people’s visualizations, and furthermore, the support of money actually suggests that each bracket submission is a genuine projection of what the individual believes to be the complete image. We can actually see the image as others see it, and the amazing thing is that these visualizations are so unique. In my video, I try to take the viewer through the process. I try to portray the scope of the phenomenon and then delve into the community that forms around this image and its visualization. I tried my best to depict my process of visualization and how unique factors in my life subconsciously impacted the way in which I saw the bracket. Towards the end, I argue that we are all painting a sort of tapestry as we fill out our brackets.