Nicole+Leo

__**Reflection 2**__ For our first project in class, it was necessary to use existing media found through online sources to construct our presentation in a visual manner. The purpose of copyright is to promote creativity, innovation, and the spread of knowledge. Our project is doing exactly this. We learned from Professor Moore that there is a Doctrine of Fair Use that allows us to use these copyrighted materials as long as we do so accordingly. In pairs, we had to construct a thesis and match it with five photographs that will help us to explain visually. We are able to use these images for several reasons. First, we are repurposing the photographs to match them with our thesis. For example, we used a picture of a child reality star from Toddlers & Tiaras that’s initial purpose was to advertise for the show. Our purpose of this picture is to point out all of the unnatural qualities added to this little girl’s image, and this assists in getting our message across. Another reason why we can use the photos for our project is because we changed the context of them. We are using them for an educational purpose and adding our own critique in order to explain a thesis we created. For example, we took a head shot of a Cover girl model out of its original context as an advertisement in a magazine, and we used it to depict the effects of Photoshop. Another reason why the photos exhibit fair use is because we are using the pictures to benefit society. Our reasoning for choosing the photos we did is to help present a topic to a classroom in order teach them about media advertisement and its effects on the younger generation’s self-image. Also, a final reason is because of the amount we are using. We cropped and used only portions of the pictures that were necessary to prove our point. We did not need the full images, so we rid of the parts that did not contribute to our thesis.  All of these reasonings justify our use of the existing media. We repurposed, we changed the context of the images, we used them in order to benefit society, and we were cautious of the amount we used. These are all examples of how the copyrighted materials we used meet the terms of the doctrine of fair use.

 For our first class project I worked with Julen and we created a powerful thesis on media advertisements destroying teens’ self-image. Although I felt as though this was a solid topic matter, I do have to admit we could have gone much further with our attempt to present this idea to the class.  The positive feedback was encouraging and much appreciated. I agreed with their responses claiming that our point was made and the text included made it that much more clear. I also agree with the negative feedback we received. The class mentioned that we did not do much photo shopping and the slides were less entertaining. I completely agree with these evaluations, but I must admit I slightly misunderstood the assignment. I was under the impression that we could only have a total of five images. Therefore, I did not think to create collages or fill each slide with a mix of entertaining photos. As far as the photo transformation, we did ask if each image had to be photo shopped and the Professor said no. In order to get our point across, we felt as though some images as is mixed in with edited photos backed up our commentary. From now on though, I will attempt to think more outside of the box in order to create more crafty layers.  The skills that I hope to improve throughout the rest of the semester include mastering my Photoshop abilities and my Final Cut Pro abilities. Both of these programs fascinate me, but I know it will take much time and patience for me to be able to fully use them. I plan to reference these programs with future endeavors, so I feel it is necessary for me to grasp the functional concepts.  I have two working ideas for our final project. Both of these ideas are continuations of the projects we have done thus far. The first idea reflects on our first project’s thesis: Advertisements are causing negative self-image issues amongst youth. The second idea is one currently in the works for our second project. This project will revolve around the “what goes around comes around” theory and how this relates to fashion. We are trying to relay how fashions that were once all the rage 20-30 years ago, are now back and in style. Most consumers aren’t even aware that they are reverting to previously constructed designs, and we feel as though it would be interesting to bring this topic to light.
 * __Reflection 3 __**