photoshop 2

Last time, i wrote instructions on how to make a hollow circle. I knew this but I didn't know how to make thick, curved lines

to do this, you use the pen tool, tap on one spot and then hold your mouse on  another spot and drag. This creates a curve. You can then right click the curve and select 'stroke path' to turn it into a line made with the same thickness of your brush.
The pen tool can also be used to easily make straight lines.

The pen tool may sound easier than making a hollow circle, but it's not. If you use it incorrectly you'll end up making loops in your curves or, if the lines are wrong in comparison to your brush, you may get an ugly line at a thin part. Making a curved point (cat's claw shape) can also be difficult to do if you don't know what you're doing (you need to tap, drag, tap in the right positions). It takes a lot of experimentation to succeed with the pen tool, even if you do know how to use it. It's not the most complicated thing in photoshop but you must make sure that you use it correctly and drag (or not drag) the mouse correctly to not make a mistake.

Representation homework 2

Statement 1: In many rap videos women have no identity except as sexual playthings and "eye candy"

Statement 2: These images do provide pleasures to some viewers. But the concern is that men may internalise the notion that women are nothing more than sexual objects waiting to be used.

Statement 3: These sorts of images are not unique to hip hop. Objectified female bodies are everywhere. They appear throughout our culture in films, advertisements, television programmes etc. However, within music videos, this is virtually the ONLY vision of women available.

Statement 1: This is a fairly reliable explanation of women in rap videos. This is shown in many videos such as: 50 cent - in da club, the roots - what they do and Sir mix a lot - baby got back.

Statement 2: This is most likely true. No-one can say that it definitely is but it's likely. The concern is also possible because human nature is to see everything of a certain 'category' (e.g. women) that they like as the category as a whole (so they will see these women like this, like it and then that idea will get stuck in their heads) this is, in essence, humans being stereotypical towards women after seeing them in those videos because that's what they've seen them as and, as I've said, because we focus more on what we like, that's how that particular stereotype forms.

Statement 3: this is mainly true because this is how the media wants to display women. The media wants a sort of 'beauty standard' for women to get a wider audience interested in the media, they mainly do this to get this wider audience to spend money on magazines, etc. for the women, earning companies money. One difference is that it isn't the ONLY vision available. It may be the main vision, but not the only one. In a few videos women will just be seen as an audience or a general friend. The media wants to display women like this but there could be problems and complaints if they only portrayed women as eye candy or playthings.

This is only my view on the statements because anyone can see them differently but in general, I believe that these statements are almost completely true with a small amount of exceptions.

WWW EBI representation of stereotypes

WWW: Video format
             Detailed answers
             Clarity of communication
EBI: Put the points up at the time in the video
        Back up points with pictures of when and where in the video
        We could have presented ourselves as well as with the video
           

Hip hop presents a very rigid and narrow version of manhood - one that suggests that to be a "real man" you must be strong and tough, you must have a lot of women and money, you must always be in control, and you must always dominate women and other men.

If you do not live up to these ideals, you will be ridiculed for not being man enough. You will be called names like "soft, weak and wimp"

This statement accurately describes the stereotype of Hip-Hop. If you look at Justin Bieber's music video 'boyfriend', there are a lot of girls and a lot of expensive cars to support the women and money idea. You will also notice that a lot of young adults in the videos, normally partying, showing off or showing that they are a tough person, supporting the strong and tough 'real man' idea. It also normally shows them as the main attaction, being looked at and respected by everyone else, supporting the domination idea. In some music videos, you will see the men that are not cool, tough, etc. being bullied and mistreated. This can be seen in 'white and nerdy' by 'Weird Al' Yankovic, where the nerd is disrespected by the cool men.

In conclusion, I do agree with these statements because most hip hop videos will show some form of them, whether it's having money and being cool, or being disrespected because you're not. The whole point of a hip-hop video is to produce a stereotype that the cool guys get all the 'good' things in life (such as cars and girls) to try and persuade the viewers into following that stereotype. The videos are, in essence, trying to make the audience have more of a gangster personality than a geeky one. This could be because the gangsters in life like who they are but the geeky people want to be more like them so that they're more respected.