My concept for this project was to center my work on the Loch Ness Monster. The myth of the Loch Ness Monster has been known for a very long time, and some people even created projects to find evidence of the existence of these creatures. Even though little evidence has been found the myth and the legend still intrigues people and draws them to the idea of their existence. For my composition, I wanted to show them in a different environment other than Scotland where they are usually associated with being sighted. So I created this deepfake event of the Loch Ness Monsters being seen in New York City with tourists being warned not to go into the water. The background photo is my original photograph of New York City at the seaport with the East River and the Manhattan Bridge. The Loch Ness Monsters and the sea creature sign were found on Wiki Commons. The tourists were found on Unsplash and I added a texture as well from pexels.
-The background photo is one I took myself
-Wiki Commons (sign) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nova_Scotia_DGJ_5088_-_Sea_Monster_Sign!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_(6238711901).jpg
Licensing is free
Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
-Wiki Commons (Loch Ness Monster 1)
Licensing is free
Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
-Wiki Commons (Loch Ness Monster 2)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loch_Ness_Monster_02.jpg
Licensing is free and is public domain
-Wiki Commons (Loch Ness Monster 3)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Minne_Monster.jpg
Licensing is free
Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
-Pexels (texture)
https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-white-wall-with-some-graffiti-on-it-23516607/
Free to use
Attribution is not required
-Unsplash (people set 1)
https://unsplash.com/photos/people-taking-picture-of-waterfalls-under-cloudy-sky-GoPYSBvZ-QQ
Free to use and attribution is not required
-Unsplash (people set 2)
https://unsplash.com/photos/group-of-people-in-building-looking-outside-E7qSsgMsXyA
Free to use and attribution is not required
Unsplash (one tourist )
https://unsplash.com/photos/a-man-standing-on-top-of-a-hill-talking-on-a-cell-phone-W8I4NWZT_lA
Free to use and attribution is not required
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The work Fake It by Sara Aftimos is a colored image that includes views of a city, body of water, and dinosaur looking creatures. Alongside these views are people and a yellow warning sign. Based on the perspective of the photo it seems like these people are watching or observing in the direction of the water, which happens to be where three dinosaur looking creatures appear. Directly in front of the people is where the warning sign is located, which reads “DO NOT GO INTO WATER” and on the bottom I think it says “LOCH NESS MONSTER CONTAINMENT.” In comparison to the boat in the photo, these creatures seem to be either the same size or larger. All photos used in the composite look to be cited.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do not know much about the Loch Ness Monster, I can tell that this photo is treating the sighting of it like a normal occurrence or predictable event. I think what’s happening is that the monsters are just chilling above water and people have gathered to see it for themselves. I wouldn't say there is much going on other than that.
I think the concept and compositing were both done well here. My only confusion that I’ll have to research is questioning if the Loch Ness Monster is a surviving dinosaur because that's what the creatures look like. A minor thing I would consider is how scale and depth work together. When looking at the people they are all standing in different depths but the people farthest away look the same size if not bigger than the people up front. Also the monster in the middle of the water seems to have a pretty sharp line separating his body from the water so maybe add some more blur or texture to that area.
The more I look at this photo the more I start to conceptualize it. At first I researched it and found that Nessie really only lives in the Loch Ness in Scotland, so it was odd for there to be a sighting in New York. But then I thought, what if the artist is trying to show that some reproduction has happened and there are multiple Nessies around the world, not just the one. I think this is an interesting way to change the myth and even add onto it. If there were multiple fake images of the Loch Ness in New York, you could probably convince a whole group of people to travel there just to see if it was real or not.
Overall I think this composite was done effectively for this project. It shows an existing myth, there are context clues around the focus point, and really not much confusion on what's happening. I do think the textured overlay was not really needed because it makes it look like an old printed photo, but the city itself would not look like this if it were old.