Media Appropriation & Collage Project
We apply the technique of appropriation to the digital collage, in which text, image and sound are combined or "recombined" utilizing found material obtained from mass media, particularly the Web.
Websites devoted to the remix:
Recycled Cinema
Total Recut
Edit title screens for soundscape projects, upload to blogs.
Download YouTube utility program.
Reading: Alan Kay & Adele Goldberg, “Personal Dynamic Media”
Assignment (due 10/15): summary of "Personal Dynamic Media"
Assignment (due 10/25): Appropriation project
Project Description:
Appropriating found material from the Web – video, graphics, sound, music – create a collage work that alters the meaning of the original material. I want you to create a work that relates to the topic of war and propaganda. America has been at war since September 11, 2001, in countries that include Afghanistan and Iraq. Frictions have also occurred with countries in the Middle East, such as Iran and Syria, as well as North Korea. In order to launch a war, a nation has to convince its people it is the right thing to do. Sometimes this effort involves propaganda that is filtered through the media. We saw with Iraq a major campaign launched to convince the world that there were weapons of mass destruction. The President and his staff went on television talk shows, gave speeches, ran advertising during political campaigns, created slogans (“war on terror”), staged community events, etc., in their objective to convince America that war was necessary. In many ways the media collaborated in this effort by creating their slogans, graphics, logos, inviting generals to talk shows, interviewing soldiers, etc. We saw maps, battles plans, “situation rooms,” etc., particularly during the run up to the Iraq War in 2003.
For this project, I want you consider the methods utilized by the media to change public perception. Satirize these techniques by creating your own propaganda. You are going to sell America’s next war. You choose the location, the rationale, the purpose. Download images of war and come up with a message, a spin, a selling point that demonstrates how war is sold. For example, you can show how American soldiers have the opportunity visit exotic places (you may even mimic recruitment propaganda), you might demonstrate that war pilots learn skills useful for computer games; you might critique the idea of one country liberating another; you might sell American democracy, American capitalism, or America as a nation of wealth and prosperity.
The objective is to understand the process of how war is sold through propaganda. Whether or not you believe the war is right, it is important to understand how media is used as a technique to change perception, alter history, and generate wars.
The first step in the project is to choose a nation we are going to go to war with. Then decide why we are going to go to war with country, however true or absurd. What has that country done that requires us to attack. Then you need to mount a campaign to convince the nation that war is necessary. Choose your message, your angle, your selling points. Write a 200 word blog entry with an image of the country you have chosen that demonstrates why you think war is necessary. Are there missile sites? Is there a corrupt government or leader? Are there weapons of mass destructions? In other words, find a reason to go to war, choose an image that illustrates this need and give us your rationale.
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