The Woman of Juarez

             Femicide is the mass murder of women simply because they are women. It is the term that has been coined as a response to the many murders of women in Juarez.  For more than a decade, the city of Juarez, near the U.S Mexico border, has been a killing field for young women. Today, it is the site of nearly 300 unsolved murders and many more abductions. Despite the horrific nature of these crimes, authorities at all levels exhibit indifference; there is strong evidence that some officials may be involved in the crimes. Impunity and corruption has permitted the criminals to continue committing these acts with utter disregard for the consequences.

My awareness campaign was inspired by this tragic series of occurrences. I tried to create a collage of images that would have a powerful effect on the relevant (target) audience. Not many people know about the murders in Juarez, for this reason I included some basic information as well as the main slogan of the campaign, “Stop the Femicides.” I tried to overlay strong images that would capture the main point of the cause. As the main image in my poster I chose a picture of a woman, who is making incisions on her body (this is because after the women have been raped and tortured, they are vivisected and their organs are sold to the black market). Additionally, in order to better make the visceral aspects of the picture stand out, I lowered the hue/saturation and then using the paintbrush I left in color the incisions. By using the “Plastic Wrap” filter, I was able to indirectly allude to the dead bodies of the women. I wanted to achieve a final image that would show the victims and the women that are fighting for their life in Juarez.

One major challenge in creating this collage was seeking out images on the internet that matched the idea that I had already begun to construct in my head. I researched the topic and chose some images. I then planned out the poster on paper while looking at what effects I should use to edit them to get across the message. I wanted the woman to stand out from a background which showed various images representing the Femicides. One of the problems I encountered was that I needed the colors of the background images to be lighter and to stand out without being overpowered by the main image. For this reason, I made the main image black and white so that it would contrast against the other colorful images.

Visually speaking, the image is supposed to be powerful on its own but I believe that the requirement of adding typography overpowers the overall message and theme. It gives the audience too much to visually comprehend at one glance. Moreover, I had a specific aim and idea which was to make all the images flow together as a whole. While many of the photo-editing techniques that I used came from Google Photoshop tutorials, in the future I would like to establish my own style and deviate from the conventions of standard photo editing.

            Though I had some problems with getting my ideas from paper to Photoshop and figuring out the editing that would best convey my ideas, I worked with what I had and tried to learn as much as I could with the tutorials on the web along with experimenting and finding out new techniques. After various attempts with the effects I found a result that would match my ideas. I used plastic wrapping on the woman to convey the morbid idea of a dead body found in the desert, wrapped up. The black and white effect was used not only to make the figure stand out, but also to make a connection to how the authorities are indifferent to the murders of hundreds of women. After completing my poster I showed it to a couple people, the main reaction was of shock and of disgust towards the lack of indifference towards such an important issue. Moreover, they said it rose awareness on the topic that there isn’t so much knowledge about. This means that I was able to successfully get my message across with the design and collage of images in my poster. On the other hand one of my major disappointment was that I would I know I could have improved my design if I knew more about Photoshop. The online courses and information helped me but it was not enough for me to learn all the effects I could have used. With the basic knowledge I have about Photoshop I don’t think I would have done anything differently. I believe I managed to successfully across and this was my aim. Moreover, I managed to convey my ideas with images and typography and gave the audience something to think about.

The Cutting Edge

I chose to watch this movie because I was interested in hearing more about editing. Watching the movie I realized some things that I would not notice before, or give them for granted. For example, with a simple cut it is possible to bridge millions of years. A cut can show the audience past present and future in a movie and this only by choosing which scenes will show. I liked the parts when said that editing gave birth to a new art, it allowed a new kind of cinema, a new kind of movies. As the film mentions, when cuts didn’t exists the fill would continue running until the film was over. This way the audience would have to follow every second of what was happening without any changes, any transitions, anything that would surprise.  A cut can slow down time or speed it up, a timing of a cut can causes suspense or amusement and I believe this is why people like movies. I never thought about the editor being an artist, but watching the movie I realized that they don’t get to be where the movie is filmed, they do get to see the actors, or choose the setting or the lighting, all they do is mix and match parts of the movie and the final result are everyday movies that we enjoy watching.  Director Rob Cohen said “Editing is why people like movies, because in the end wouldn’t we like to edit our own lives, take out the bad parts, take out the slow parts and look deeper into the good parts”. This also made me think that an editor can help you identify the characters in the movie, for example a cut of the facial expressions or of the lighting around the character would make the audience understand where the character stands in the movie. Also I liked to hear what I have learnt while making the films for class. 200 hours of film are shot, with the editing it is then brought to a two-hour movie. I would have never said so many more shot were needed, but I learnt it on the field while making my own shot film!

YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCVVK6UfMdI

3/4 shot: actor framed knee to head
Medium close-up: actor's head and ches framed
Close-up: actor's face fills the frame

I like that each shot flows well all together. Even though there are various cuts which are normally seen as an abrupt or sudden transitions, they mix with match cuts and sequence cuts which makes the piece flow from beginning to end. This type of editing makes it easy to follow and understand the story.

What I think that works best is that the match cuts instead of having a black match cut it is made so that the scene is cut when a person walks in front of the camera, this does not distract the viewer actually it makes the viewer curious, as if someone walks in front of you when you are looking at something and u want the person to move to see what was going on. 

I wouldn’t say there is something I dislike about it because I think it flows, it’s an attention grabber and I believe it does make the advertisement work. the only thing I might change is the lighting in the room though that dim light give it a sense of mysterious, which goes along with the speakers voice.

 

 

Number of shots	Types of shots	Transition into shot	Duration
1	Full shot	Cut	1sec
2	Medium close-up	Match cut	1 sec
3	Medium close-up	Match cut	4 sec
4	Close-up	Cut	2 sec
5	Medium close-up	Cut	1 sec
6	Medium close-up	Cut	1 sec
7	Medium close-up	Cut	1 sec
8	Medium close-up	Cut	3 sec
9	Medium close-up	Cut	1 sec
10	Medium close-up	Match cut	1 sec
11	Medium close-up	Cut	2 sec
12	Close-up	Cut	2 sec
13	¾ sot	Cut	1 sec
14	Medium close-up	Cut	2 sec
15	Medium close-up	Cut	1 sec
16	Medium close-up	Discovery cut	3 sec
17	Medium close-up	Cut	1 sec

 

Final Project

1) I thought we worked well as a group overall. We sent emails to each other when there were questions and we could not meet so we always kept in contact. We easily agreed with each other and thought that frustration would be a good word to choose. Unfortunately a girl was missing on class on Wednesday so we could not discuss with her how we wanted to carry on the project and how we were wanting to get organized, but she worked along with the rest of the group and helped us get to the final result of our project.

2) I would make more group meeting, and test out the final presentation together, this way we would know that what we all have to say together as a group flows well as a final outcome. Moreover, I would have left some photographs as they were originally taken but I would also use Photoshop and put to practice some of the techniques we previously learned in class, this to give some variation in the presentation.

3) I never took pictures of a person depending on a theme, and I found it quite hard to express my ideas to the person that was modeling for me in the pictures. This because I had something in mind but it is hard to explain a feeling, moreover, to make that person understand how she was meant to feel, and do certain expressions that would show what I had imagined (especially if the person is normally happy and claims to be never frustrated!) so I found some pictures on the internet and showed them to her, asking to copy them as much as she could.

4) This was the picture I like the most because I did not take a straight shot of it, and I think that being tilted not only allows the viewer to see where the person is but also the frustration the person is feeling towards the books. I made her hold a white and read book because I wanted to for a pattern in the picture with the colors of the tablecloths and the book she is holding in her hands. I took this picture diagonally because I wanted to emphasize the crisis and the frustration of the person so that it was seem she was tilted down as if her frustration cause everything around her to slide away from her. Overall I liked the picture as a whole because out of the 10 pictures we took, this was the one that best showed frustration (this might be because I frustrated my friend by the end of the shoot since this is twentieth time she has to pose for this shot).

Michelle Kwan, 1997. Photographer: Walter Iooss Jr.

 

1)   The light is centered on Michelle Kwan leaving the background of New York on a darker area. I like the fact that the image is taken from below the medium close up shot makes the viewer focus on Michelle.

2)   The composition and the choice of the color is what attracts the viewer the most. It seems there is the sunset on the city though Michelle is still surrounded by light. The depth show that the city is far back from Michelle and acts as a perfect background.

3)   Michelle is emphasized in this photograph. I can notice the backdrop that emphasizes a value of contrast, the color of her white dress stands out, looking delicate and elegant like her movement that she does with her hands.

4)   I believe the artist was successful in their massage because ice-skating is like an elegant dance, when you think of ice you think delicate surface and the ice skater id gracefully dancing on it. The way her dress moves, how the shot was taken with her arms and legs in that position give a sense of all those things. I would add more lighting to the background, the two are a contrast, a cement city and an ice skater, it would be nice to see it with a different lighting, possibly dawn or a sunrise. I was attracted to this piece because of its composition. I like the theme of contrast between the ice skater and the New York. Its something new and it attracted me to it.

Lester, Paul Martin, Visual Communication: Images with Messages,

Undoubtedly Benetton used a strong advertising campaign. Its controversy photographs shock many viewers and caused many speculations. As Toscani said, “Advertising can be used to say something that is real about things that exist’. Benetton not only used those shocking advertisements to promote its clothing, but also to raise awareness about some issues that for some reason or the other were not talked about as much as they should have. Moreover, I believe that Benetton’s advertising was unique, and although many viewers were shocked the thanks to its type of advertising Benetton sold many clothing articles. People were attracted by this type of advertising, it was different, something they were not used to see. Think about celebrity news, when scandals about a celebrity come out, all of a sudden the celebrity is talked about for a decently long period of time. Same thing with clothing, the more the advertisements were shocking, the more it was talked about, and the more people noticed the brand.

“The purpose of an advertisement is to attract attention, arouse interest, stimulate desire, create an opinion, and move the viewer to a specific action (to buy the product)” Lester, (75). The photographer gains and maintains credibility by focusing on the main meaning the picture is meant to have, on what he wants the viewer to focus on. The photographer want to move the viewer, and does that by showing the viewer an image that has a specific meaning and that cannot be misunderstood or taken for something else. On the other hand there is subliminal advertising. “Subliminal or hidden advertising id the practice of showing images so quickly on a screen that the conscious mind doesn’t notice them , yet the unconscious mind is hoped does” Lester, (77). Subliminal messages can be found in many ads, but especially in liquor companies. Yet again if the some viewers did not notice they will hear the propaganda about determined ads.  In our days photos are constantly manipulated.  Thanks to Photoshop and other enchanting editing programs, a photo can be modified for a final result that will display perfection. I believe the ways to create a photograph which is persuasive is to make it perfect. Everyone notices perfection. for example, a woman might believe that if she uses that product, she will look like the model that is promoting the product.

If I wanted to change opinion or promote a cause using photographs I would make sure the public would notice the photograph, I would make it stand out and that would appeal to the emotions of the viewer. For example, if I wanted to tell them that drunk driving is bad, I would show a picture of a car swerving off the road filled with kids. Also, applying short, constructive sentences in coordination with an emotionally appealing picture will tie together an idea and an emotion

Self-Portrait

Original Picture

Color & Black and White

For this picture I kept the color on the eye and on the hat. To do this I:

-       Selected the lasso tool

-       Traced what I wanted to leave in color

-       Then right clicked on one of the selected parts and selected Feather, then chose 3 pixels for Feather Radius.

-       Then right clicked again and chose Layer via Copy

-       Then selected the original image

-       I went to Image and chose Black & White effect

   

      Change Color to the Eyes

      For this image I chose to change my eye color from green to blue. To do this I:

-       Clicked on Background

-       Right clicked and selected Duplicate layer

-       Then selected the background copy went to Filter -->Blur-->Gaussian blur and selected a Radius of 5.0 pixels

-       I then selected Soft light

-       Then selected the brush tool and zoomed on the picture, and clicked on the eyes using the paintbrush with the selected color.

  

      Change the Style of Picture

      For this picture I experimented various techniques found under Filter. I then chose the Fresco and applied it to the picture. I also changed the brightness and the contrast of the picture.