Natalie+Edwards

Natalie Edwards David Cooper Moore Reflection 1 July 10, 2012

Remix by definition is to recombine existing elements with new elements. Remix is a term that I am completely familiar with due to the hip-hop culture. In the hip hop culture when some one does a remix they are usually adding something new and flavorful to the original version. For example, “I get lonely too” a song done by rap artist Drake was remixed by singer, song writer Jeremiah; and he brings a new bubbly feeling as well as an inviting voice compared to the song “I get lonely too” compared to Drake’s more depressing and monolingual tone. Or even in a more up tempo song like “Magic” originally done by rapper Future, rapper T.I. graced his presence on the remix of the track and ripped the song to shreds. The song before T.I. got on the track was good, however after T.I. did the remix the song went to another level. In regards to the music aspect I love remixes; majority of the time I actually prefer the remix of the song over the original one because the remix opens up other meanings and interpretation of the song that you originally fell in love with. There are many songs that I identify more with after hearing he remix because the remix has not taken away from the original song, yet it combines new elements to the existing ones. Similarly, the word remix only function is not only in regards to music; however in every day life. I like to look at my life and the challenges that I have faced and learn from those experiences. Regardless of good and/or bad experiences I take those and I make sure to combine them in my daily routine in order to not make the same mistakes again. For example, if there was once a friend who stabbed me in the back I am going to make sure that others around me that may try to do the same thing will not succeed because of the initial betrayal. In other words, the initial experience will be completely different from that of my second experience because I will use what I learned in the first one to avoid the same out come as the last. Although the examples may seem confusing, the meaning of remix still remains the combination of existing elements with new ones.
 * What does Remix mean?**

July 16

Reflection #2

We can use copyrighted material in our project because of the Fair Use document, which states that the material can be used if it’s in a socially beneficial way. So for our project we are doing a spin off of the seventeen magazine articles and basically we just want to talk about the effects these images have on young girls; as well as conclude with why body image is so important and valued in our society. So for us to do so we have five different images that we will be using to support our argument; and tow of those images will be photo shopped images that we did as a group that demonstrate both arguments in the seventeen magazine article. The other images are images taken straight from the Internet that support our argument and help demonstrate what is taking place in our society. So the images that we use that are from other photographers we can use those with out it being copyright infringement because we are using the material gathered in a beneficial way to inform the class about what it is that is taking place in our society and exploring the question as to why this is happening. Similarly, since we are not using the information gathered in its original content we could use the material without it being copyright infringement.

July 22

Reflection #3

The presentation of our first project was fun. I definitely enjoyed learning photo shop because I was never taught how to properly use the application. Also I enjoyed exploring the topic of body image; I think that it was an interesting topic that we worked on. Some of our strengths were that we had a solid foundation as to what we were going to focus on, also the fact that we had such strong ideas to work with helped a lot with the execution of what videos we were going to use. Another strength that we possessed was that we understood photo shop and I believe that helped us a lot because we could play with the application a little more, allowing us to create more layers. Some of our challenges were that we did not have much time to actually play more with the topic of our choice. Also we hade problems with the precision of our work, it was hard for us to cut precisely and to make it look neat and up to our standards like we wanted to do because of our restricted time. Some skills that I hop to develop through the remainder of the semester is to become more comfortable with photo shop and final cut pro, although I do understand the concepts I would like to be more comfortable and knowledgeable with the applications. I also just want to take everything that I learn from class and be able to use it when needed because I feel that one day knowing how to operate these applications with be extremely beneficial.

__Final Project Ideas__ One final project idea that I would like to do is talk about the effect of teen pregnancy in urban communities why are girls getting pregnant at such young ages. Another idea that I would like to explore more would be that of skin color and social issues that go along with it in our society as well as in other countries.