Speed Up, Slow Down: Modernity (Project 3)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb1BnmoCik4 (There is no audio to this video)

For this assignment, we were asked to make a video on what we considered to be “modern,”or  what it means to live in a modern society by manipulating the speed of our footage.

I decided to do my piece on what it means to be a modern woman. I juxtaposed footage of one institution of higher education with footage of advertisements on the street that were geared towards women (products or services designed to make women better, more beautiful, more desired, etc.) and ads those that oversexualized women in some way. This contrast was meant to showcase how women are perceived in a culture where misogyny is so deeply ingrained. This institutionalized sexism manifests itself in the way women are represented in media, in the way women are told they need to be perfectly beautiful all the time (makeup, facials, hair-removal), and ultimately in places that are supposed to be blind to differences in sex or gender- institutions of higher education, for example. Colleges and universities are supposed to cater to their students but in light of several cases if blatant violation of sexual assault policies with little to no retribution of offender, it appears that they are more concerned with image and with funding than with the safety of their students.

If I were to redo this project, there are a number of things I would change. There was a huge learning curve with this project in that I had to learn how to use all the equipment while filming. So the first thing I would change is the , at times distracting, very shaky footage. Also, I would film other institutions of higher education in the area, rather than just NYU, which because of time constraints I had to limit myself to. I would also film other male-dominated institutions like the police station or fire department.