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#10: The Impact of Media Imagery, Headlines and Captions

 

Summary:  Media images can be understood differently based on context, information, edits and individual perspective. How we choose to see an image affects the story the images tell and its impact on the individual. This lesson explores the impact that headlines, captions and image manipulation have in telling a story through media imagery.

 

Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to…

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  • critically analyze multiple photographs

  • consider various context, creative techniques used to alter images

  • create new imagery from existing photographs to alter how they might be perceived, consider angles, background and context

  • create a short media product that represents their understanding of how imagery has the capacity to alter individual perceptions.

 

A. 10-15 Minute Overview: Visual Analysis

 

Examine this picture for 10-20 seconds, then write down your first impressions of the photograph, using the following questions to guide you. 

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  1. What do you see?

  2. What do you think is happening?

  3. Name everything you see in the image, then name what emotion, communication or context the picture evokes.

[Visual Description: This black and white photograph depicts a woman and child falling from a brick building along with several parts of a fire escape.]

 

1. Take a Second Glance: Compare your initial impressions to the following caption:1976 Pulitzer, Spot News. Boston Fire, photographed by Stanley J. Forman. July 22,1975, Boston, MA. Does this information change your impression of the photo? Do you see anything that you initially did not?

 

2. Consider Further Context: Photographer Foreman remembers “a roaring, roaring inferno… heavy smoke. Heavy fire. It was like a firestorm.” Foreman ran to the back of the building. “Then I spotted them. A woman, a child and they’re standing there on the fire escape, 10 feet from the fire itself. And they’re looking for help…. All of a sudden, boom! It just crashes. Everything is falling and I’m thinking, ‘Just keep shooting.’… Then a bell went off in my head. I didn’t want to see them hit.” Foreman turned away. The 19-year-old woman died. Her 3-year-old niece survived.

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  1. How did your opinion or reaction of the photograph change as the context deepened?

  2. How does evaluating an image compare or contrast with evaluating a text?

  3. What sort of context or information might you need in order to make an argument with an image?

 

Source: Image for VL Exercise: Boston Fire, photographed by Stanley J. Forman. Spot News, July 22, 1975, Boston, MA.© Stanley J. Forman reproduced with permission in Capture The Moment: The Pulitzer Prize Photographs, Updated Edition, eds. Cyma Rubin and Eric Newton, Newseum, pp. 94-95.

 

B. 20-30 Minute Activity: Dig Deeper Behind the Scenes of a Photo

 

Watch the following video (5:32) by ARCHatlas.net and consider the stories behind each featured photograph from history, some of which are featured below. Consider the following photographs. For each photo below, ask yourself the following questions and fill out your answers on the graph below. 

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  1. What do you see?

  2. What do you not see?

  3. How are the images edited for a specific audience?

  4. What mood is conveyed in the image?

  5. What is the context? (Where and why)
     

1. 

2.

3.

4.

[Visual Descriptions: 1. Men at Lunch; a black and white photo shows several men having lunch on a metal beam high above New York City, roughly in 1930’s. 2. Famous Kiss; A black and white photo shows a man in a sailor’s uniform kissing a woman in the middle of a crowded street in 1945. 3. A black and white photo of a African American teenager walking with her school books through a crowd of angry people, one of which is a white woman who is yelling at her in 1957. 4. A photo of one man standing in the middle of the road, directly in the path of three large tanks in 1989.]

C. 45-60 Minute Activity: How Editing Images Alters Perspectives

     1. How do you look at images? Consider the following photograph:

  • What view of this man’s face to you see? Are you focusing on his eyes or his nose and mouth?

  2. Photographs have the ability to tell a story. Although the photographer is the one capturing the image, individuals have the opportunity to see  mages in different ways based on many factors such as demographics, culture and personal beliefs. It is usually the public who has the opportunity to decide for themselves. With today’s technology, images can be edited or altered to portray different stories or a particular point  of view. Consider the following photographs:

A.  What is happening in this photo? What story does it tell? What emotion does it conjure or perspective is most prominent?

B.  What is happening in this photograph? What story does it tell? What emotion does it conjure or perspective is most prominent?

C. Look at the photograph in its entirety. Does your personal perspective about the individuals in the image change? How does the story in the image change when it is altered or cropped?

D. Digital Activity: How can photographs be cropped to altered to give or omit different specific stories? Split into pairs or small groups, then use technology such as paint, MS Word or Photoshop to change or edit a fair use photograph. Alter the photograph so that it tells two different stories or gives two different perspectives. Create a short 3 slide PowerPoint, Google slide, or go to Prezi.com to create a short presentation that demonstrates how the altered photographs tell different stories than the original photograph.  Share  each other's PowerPoint, Google Slide, or Prezi presentations and engage in a larger group discussion.

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