for my iteration project, i decided to continue with the module i previously worked on, which was remixes and mash-ups. The reason i wanted to continue this was because i seriously had a killer time making my remixed Radiohead album cover. The response i got from both the class and Professor S was amazing! Out of all the modules i worked on, this one was by far the most fun and allowed me to diverge into the world of remixes and mash-ups. Before this course, i was only exposed to remixes via audio such as songs. From the module, i was able to understand the issues with remixing and mash-ups, such as who gets credit for the original and if the original is remixed enough to not break any copyright laws. Overall, this module left me wanting to do more and explore what remixes and mash-ups have to offer me! Since we did not have as much time as i would have liked, my iteration is somewhat short but was not near falling short of awesomeness.
The first mash-up i decided to do invovled American politics. Considering i’m a political science major here, why not incorporate government? It’s already in our lives enough so we might as well! I chose to mash-up my favorite presidents, FDR and JFK. Since both presidents are remembered for their amazing social work, i wanted to incorporate their criticism as well. I began with FDR. He is most known for his his social program work, specifically creating social security and what we know today as medicaid and medicare. Many politicians of the time viewed his role as president as an abuse of power. Republicans feared that this would be the end of America as we know it. So i chose to mash-up a volcano and FDR.
The second mash-up i created involved FDR. FDR had many difficulties as a president, specifically having to tackle the civil rights movement. As we all know, there was a great divide in the country as to whether or not the government should be involved in desegregation. Obviously, the south objected to this. In a way, it was their last chance MAJOR way to suppress the minorities of the south. Of course, today minorities still face discrimination and it should not be overlooked but this was a major battle JFK had to fight. Sadly, he was killed before he could accomplish what he wanted. This is why LBJ is known for his involvement in the civil rights movement, considering he took office since he was VP. Still, JFK is one of my favorites so i mashed him up with a tornado which easily represents the storm of congress he had to fight.
For my final mash-up i decided to stick with JFK. He’s just such an iconic president that i couldn’t resist. When Lee Harvey O killed him, the country was shook. It is much easier to look back on his death and take a fun approach in representing it. I wanted to incorporate something in modern society to tie back to JFK. The first thing that came to mind was social media. The form of social media i decided to work with was tabloids. Even thought we all know the stories are fake we’re still drawn to them. I found an image of a 5 Seconds of Summer tabloid and couldn’t resist.
Overall, i’m extremely pleased with my iteration. I feel like i successfully expanded in a fun way. I had to refresh my memory on GIMP, which took a little bit. I struggled to make the mash-ups perfectly fit but the overarching message and theme is still there. The mash-up that took the longest was definitely the JFK tabloid. Having to crop out so many heads and also fit them perfectly with both color and fading was hard. I managed to work it all out though and i’m very pleased!
