In 2001 the U.S. Army hired Leo Burnett, a world renowned ad agency, to revamp its recruiting image. “An Army of One” campaign was born, focusing on the adrenaline and career opportunities one would obtain from service in the military. Later manifestations of this campaign grew to include an official U.S. Army video game (www.americasarmy.com) and commercials/promotional videos featuring digital soldiers intercut with songs by bands that are trendy amongst “generation Y” or even younger. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to distinguish between commercials for the U.S. Military and those for bloody PlayStation war games.

Leo Burnett is one of the largest ad agencies in the world and is responsible for the creation of classic icons such as Tony the Tiger, the Jolly Green Giant, the Marlboro man, and the Pillsbury Doughboy. They have also played a large role in campaigns for Coca Cola, Mc Donalds, Disney, Altoids, Heinz, Kellogs, and Nintendo, amongst others.

When constructing this series, I wanted the manipulation of the media to be very evident (sprocket holes, cut film, layered film, masking materials, surreal color) as a reflection of the all too real manipulation of facts through different media (television, radio, and print).

Regardless of one’s personal stance on events in the middle east, it is an undeniable fact – the same people who sold us cigarettes and deep fat fried potatoes were also hired to sell us on military service.


**********************

The process for creating these images was very time intensive. I photographed singular (digital) images on black backgrounds, on transparency film, and then had the film cross processed in c-41 (as a negative). This is how i was able to get that blood red coloring. I then took the negatives and cut the @#$%%^&#$^ out of them, sandwiching the pieces between two glass plates. Each of the images in this series consists of at least 3 different layers of film. The torn, grainy borders were achieved by building layers of blue painter's tape. The manipulated negatives were then printed and developed in black and white chemistry. They were then re-developed again in several cycles of color chemistry, and black and white chemistry, to achieve maximum grain and contrast.

These are not manipulated in photoshop at all! They are scans of prints from film ...