With a second action, I trimmed them to fit the size of my book. I added the corresponding colors on each spread, making sure that all the photos were correctly laid out. This may have been an easy feat, but to make matters more complex, I attempted the impossible: fitting two books into a single print job to save paper and money. Basically, the stack of printouts would have two books, or two identical spreads per sheet. And again, another action was made to the point my computer warned me "the scratch disk [was] almost full". At the end, the giant bound stack got trimmed into separate pieces for a total of two identical books.
By the time I got to the video, I was overly saturated with these images. It was hard to look at them and try to design something in a totally different way (moving pictures). This was my very first attempt at creating a video with sound. Therefore, I felt overwhelmed at the idea of selecting music that did not detract but rather enhanced the point. Selecting the Hispanic soundtrack was again a fairly easy process, but selecting the "regular" and "American" song was hard. How was I to merge three tracks into a 30 second video piece? I am no DJ, so I could not bring myself to mix Britney with Pitbull. Instead, I chose a more iconic soundtrack, Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"; which coincidentally came out in 1983, the year I was born. I made sure that the video started and ended with the singer's voice and that in the middle I had the opportunity to show the Wonder Woman-like transition.
Given the significance of this project and depth of dedication, I concluded it was best displayed in the three forms discussed earlier; the flipbook, the set of six photos, and the video. My conclusion proves that I do stand in the middle of two cultures and have the ability to transcend prescribed definitions in order to morph. The most surprising part of this study was people's reactions. Even my own family did not recognize me at first. Professors were in shock of how different I looked, or by how I was surprisingly very comfortable with the camera. Friends told me who they preferred between the polar ends; some said I look better with black hair, and other said they found the blonde one more attractive. For me, it was an exciting and incredibly fun way to talk about such a loaded topic (and a newly found respect for fake blondes!).
