Click here for the full Lesson Plan
Grade Level: 10th-11th Grade
Time Needed: 5 Class Periods
Focus: This lesson is focused on exploring media literacy through advertising and using Photoshop to recreate a misleading advertisement into a more truthful one.
Objectives:
a. Evaluate how the principles of media arts such as repetition, unity and contrast are used in the creation of, presentation of, or response to media artworks. (9.1.1.2.2)
b. Integrate tools, materials, and techniques to create original products for artistic purposes. (9.1.2.2.1)
c. Analyze how a work in media arts influences and is influenced by the personal, social, cultural and historical contexts. (9.1.3.2.1)
d. Revise creative work based on artistic intent and using multiple sources of critique and feedback. (9.2.1.2.3)
Motivational Resources:
-Powerpoint about media literacy and assignment introduction
-Video examples:
-Magazines, online ads
-Teacher example of studio project
-Video tutorials:
Lasso tutorial
Selection Tools
Cropping and Cutting out
Changing Background
How to Create a Background
Art Materials:
-Magazines, newspapers, online ads
-Photoshop (or open source software like GIMP)
-Computers (Mac or PC)
-Powerpoint
- 2 or 3 Scanners
-Printer paper
- 10 Flash drives
-Crescent board or other mounting board (one for each student)
-Adhesive: double stick tape and/or glue sticks
-Scissors
Introduction to the Lesson:
Media literacy is important to enable a person to understand, evaluate and ask questions about what they see and hear. This can be traced back as early as the 1600s. It was first used to sway a large group of people to believe a common goal. Propaganda usually refers to a political standpoint and appeals to an emotion to gain a strong opinion from the viewer. If the artist of the propaganda gets you take a side on an argument then it's doing its job. The word 'propaganda' has changed through the eras into a more general term. In present day the term refers to more manipulative media and advertisements.
When identifying with these advertisements we see everyday we need to learn how to become literate. As consumers it is important to understand the mask that covers the advertisements we believe to be true, in all aspects of digital media. In film we can see how editing takes a large role in adjusting the way we see things. Areas to take into consideration are the way the artist puts together a specific piece of work. When looking at magazine ads the editors have complete control over each add that is printed. Color, font, size, placement, overall weight of the composition, and the words added all give the viewer a direction to go. Whether the message is negative or positive an opinion is developed and the advertisement is successful.
Gaining a positive or negative view is important, but it is also important to identify if the advertisement is misleading. Editors are really good at taking a product, that may or may not be good for you and making it look 'too good to be true'. Using a trained eye to break down an ad into to what it is exactly that the advertiser is saying is important when buying into a product. Students will explore and demonstrate this by picking an advertisement they find misleading and indentifying how the editor put it together to create the desired opinion.
