Memes!
SOI: Memes communicate playful interpretations of visual culture.
Factual Question: What is a meme? Where do I see memes? Can I categorize memes into different topics, themes, or genres? Conceptual Question: How do memes reflect what is happening in society? How do memes reflect what is happening in popular culture, politics, and the rest of the world? Debatable Question: What would memes look like without social media? Do memes exist outside of social media? |
The image above is one of many Obama-Biden memes that flooded social media after the results of the 2016 election. While these "BROTUS" memes existed prior to November, many looked to them from some comic relief in the aftermath of the Trump election. Magazines like "Essence" and "Bustle" ran headlines like "These Obama Biden Memes Are The Only Things Helping Us Deal With Trump's Impending Presidency," and "The Best Obama Biden Memes To Get You Through Your Post Election Stress." Even NPR ran an article highlighting some of their favorites. Here is a link to that article (some images include graphic language).
Meme #1: Face Folding
Face folding is a meme which basically entails removing a person's nose and moving the mouth or eyes to where the nose would be. This is a fairly easy trick to do in Photoshop.
This is a before and after of Donald Trump getting a face fold treatment. You will use the original image on the top left for the demo.
Below is a tutorial on how to face fold:
Izac Less is a great face folder. Check out GIF's of his face folding skills here.
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Meme #2: Face Swapping
Face swapping is a meme where the faces of two or more people are swapped. This is an easy trick to do using Photoshop tools.
face_swap_tut.pdf | |
File Size: | 2183 kb |
File Type: |
Meme #3: Animated GIF's
Are all memes GIF's? No. Are all GIF's memes? No. Are some GIF's memes? Absolutely.
Let's learn how to make one. Here is the link to the PBS video we watched in class: http://video.pbs.org/video/2207348428/
Let's learn how to make one. Here is the link to the PBS video we watched in class: http://video.pbs.org/video/2207348428/
Click below to download the file to use while following the tutorial.
exampleanimation.psd | |
File Size: | 135 kb |
File Type: | psd |
A video of the demo we did in class:
Your own GIF:
- 4 inches by 4 inches, 72 pixels/inch
- Must be school appropriate
- Can use copyrighted material (like Hello Kitty, etc.)
- Must make something move!
- Have a background (other than just white)
- Loop "Forever"
Meme #4: Your Own Meme
By the end of this unit, you should have:
Here are the rules (for all memes):
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Stuck? Try some of these memes below: