The technology of image editing has caused massive innovations in the media and has influenced the mass media extensively. People now believe that manipulated images are, in fact, information. Advertisement, films, and videos have affected every nation.

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          In totalitarian and communist regimes, it is even easier to find examples of manipulation of the media in order to create a cult of personality and influence people into believing whatever is put out by the media, when in fact the government is behind all the information. Even in capitalist countries, the media is used to control and govern people’s thoughts. Today, with social media, that manipulation occurs instantaneously.

 

          Due to these factors, the line between truth and falsehoods is getting weaker to the point where it has almost faded away. I want to demonstrate what the media does to alter the mindset of people in a given society. Through these videos, the audience may be able to see and understand how this procedure works and how hypocritical the information that is being produced really is. I intend for audiences to believe that the images are real, or at least be confused by them. 

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          They will probably realize that these images are false. However, in doing so, they gradually lose their ability to distinguish between the two. No matter what they feel, this is a message to the audience that they should wake up and doubt reality. 

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          Firstly, I showed my process of manipulation. It is simple. I recorded a computer screen wherein I manipulated the images used with a Photoshop program. Some images have already been suspected as false.  The images might seem real, or very unreal, causing controversy.  Furthermore, I picked pictures that appeared to be unreal, because a photographer could have intentionally designed the scenes. 

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          One picture is a solemn moment at Kim Jon-Il’s funeral, the former dictator of North Korea. People in the picture appear to be overtly grieving. I manipulated these images doubly. First, I manipulated a picture to make it a false one, and then I put it back to the original image through a similar process. The video repeatedly shows this process. Audiences do not know what to make of this, because the process doesn’t make a clear distinction between reality and falsehoods.