Final Blog Post: What Aren’t You Seeing? How Editing Changes the Story
I created a short-form TikTok/Reel style video that explores how photo and video editing can influence the way we all interpret what we see online, specifically on social media. The intended audience for this video is social media users ages 18-25 who regularly use Reels or TikTok. I decided to go with this format and platform because I wanted to give a visual demonstration of how easily editing can change the story the audience gets. I think it is not as easy not to grasp the concept fully by just reading about it; when you see it in action, it changes how you understand how these techniques are used. Also, this is the media the target audience consumes every day, so it would likely grab their attention more than an article.
I used my own work to create these examples, and none of them were made to spread misinformation, but to show how the tools could be used to create misleading content. MediaWise reports that even authentic media can be misleading when it is taken out of context or presented in a way that changes what they really mean. That is what I wanted to not only inform audiences of but show them. With the technology we have now, it makes the manipulation of media even easier and is widely accessible. Generative AI allows anyone to add, remove, and change images in a few seconds, but just because a piece of media uses AI doesn’t automatically make it misinformation, and having a better understanding of these technologies helps them seem less intimidating or scary, according to WITNESS.
I did not want people who watched this video to think that everything that they see online is fake or not true (especially with not heavily edited everything is now), but I want viewers to be more thoughtful with how they consume media. Now, with a better understanding of how these tools are used, I hope viewers can recognize them more quickly when they are used in a harmful or misleading way, and they will ask themselves, “What am I not seeing in the post?”