Photoshop Final Draft/Project Report
Updated: Jun 3, 2022
Audience/Purpose: describe the intended audience of your photo edited image(s); what are you trying to communicate to this audience?
The audiences that I am reaching are Netflix users and Philosophy students, within any age above 16, and that appreciate a really engaging and inspiring story. The demographic I am aiming to target would very likely enjoy superhero stories, darker/grittier aesthetics, mature content, not being afraid of diving into personal experiences, and even delve into an introspective review of the philosophical lessons. They have been looking for a grounded and more relatable superhero to submerge themselves into their story unlike watching the superhero movies, where 2 hours is not enough to fulfill their needs. It is likely that they have seen many superhero movies and/or seen a lot of grittier darker themed movies and shows. So, I will take the approach of showing that there are many overlaps of philosophical discussion in the show, Daredevil on Netflix, and how the show discusses many relatable philosophical concepts that very likely the audience has felt themselves or can learn. I will suggest that the show is much more than any superhero story and contains deep and insightful philosophical lessons on justice, good and evil, willpower, and religion while at the same time still containing all the awesome fighting, powers, and amazing characters.
Image(s): how do features of the image(s) effectively convey the message to your audience?
My message that the show contains deep philosophical topics of justice, good and evil, will power, and religion were conveyed through many of the features of my image by placement and representation. By having Matt Murdock stand back to back with his superhero persona Daredevil I show that relationship of his alter egos. It is his will power that is being depicted here, in which while as Matt Murdock looks away, Daredevil peaks back as to entice him just as the devil would. The good is represented by the white highlight on Matt and evil as red on Daredevil. Justice represented by lady justice which I highlighted as blue to show that she is neither red or white being indifferent. She stands above both as she is the ultimate goal for Matt's journey. The contrast from the top to bottom of the image shows a light on the top and the flames below. This is a visual reference to heaven and hell. Matt stays close to hell in the way that he fights crime and uses violence, but all in the name of good and justice so the light still shines on him from heaven.
Process: what did you do to create the photo edited image(s) in this project?
The process of creating this image was first finding the three main components to the image which were Matt Murdock both in his lawyer outfit and as Daredevil, and Lady Justice. Then I used the quick selection tool to make the three items into their own layer, though lady justice was a transparent image so it was not necessary. The background image was the same background that Daredevil came off of so I used that same image and removed the Daredevil logo from the top using the spot healing brush tool. Then I found a transparent image of the logo to place at the bottom. With all the pieces in place I went ahead and gave each object an outer glow, inner glow, with their corresponding colors and made some brightness and level changes to better match as a whole. I finished up the images with the blur tool for emphasis. I specifically blurred out lady justices' eyes to represent that justice is blind and unbiased, and also as a reference to Matt Murdock being a blind super hero. I used an image of flames to be at the bottom of the screen and cropped and changed the size to fit. Then I made a layer mask on the flames so I could edit and take out the parts of the image I didn't want. With the eyedropper tool I chose the same colors as the daredevil logo to keep the consistency of red and using the color mode I colored over the flames, but all while still keeping the flame textures. I added another transparent image of heavenly lights at the top of the image to give some small texture of light shining down. Then using the dodge tool I brightened up the sky to become as bright as day to represent heavenly light.
Learning: what did you learn from working on this project–for example, about Photoshop, about design, about communication, about yourself?
From this project, I learned basic skills to create images of my liking on photoshop, whether that be by changing or adding colors to cropping specific objects out onto another. In terms of design and communication, I learned how to show artistic interpretations and messages through imagery. The placements and the combinations of images create stories that could be told without words. It is from those skills of color changing to cropping objects that I can completely give different nuances to images and emphasis. What I learned about myself is that I really do love the show Daredevil and that I didn't find photoshop too difficult and even found it fun to create art with.
Next: what will you do the same/differently on the next project?
For the next project I will likely try to do a completely different subject matter. I may delve into an element of Hip-Hop and how I relate to it or how it can help so many others. The main focus would of course be about the "breaking"(breakdancing) aspect and partly Hip-Hop as a whole. I may also very likely stay with the subject of Daredevil and its philosophical lessons. I may want to delve into more specifics about the actual philosophy of the show. I could do something about relating the show to the Philosopher Socrates and his concepts about justice, or the theological aspects of Philosophy since Daredevil has a large emphasis on religion and God.
