Thanks to the movie RiP: A remix manifesto for the introduction to this amazingly well produced and incredibly funny remix.
2009.03.28
A standing ovation for RiP: A remix manifesto
It wasn’t until the end credits finished rolling at the Ottawa premiere of RiP: A remix manifesto that the audience at the Mayfair Theatre gave the film a roaring round of applause that grew… and grew… and eventually became a standing ovation. The audience wasn’t just being polite, the end credits were packed with attribution and remixed content that was amazingly entertaining and insightful. And that was one of the goals of the movie; to illustrate just how important remixing is to culture.
Of course, the applause may have also had something to do with the presence of cinematographer Mark Ellam that the film’s creator, Brett Gaylor, was on hand for the screening. You’d think he was a rock star the way the audience carried on. And perhaps he is. He’s a hometown boy, the movie is on a hot-button issue and the work he produced (like many of the works featured in the film) is a mashup in its own right. And to prove RiP is part of the culture, not just paying lipservice to it, the entire film is available for remixing through the site OpenSourceCinema.org. Representative mashups created by the community using footage made available during the production of the movie though that site found their way into the film.
RiP proposes a manifesto based on four assertions.
- Culture always builds on the past
- The past always tries to control the future
- Our Future is becoming less free
- To build free societies, you must limit control of the past
The assertions are then supported using some very interesting studies about several people including Girl Talk (the talented, creative and iconic remix artist), Larry Lessig (the forward thinking remix lawyer), Cory Doctorow (the popular remix activist) and Gilberto Gill (the Brazilian musician and progressive remix politician). I particularly enjoyed learning about Gilberto Gill because he represents the first time I’ve heard of a federal Minister of Culture (for the administration of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva) who was a contributor to culture, not a controller of it.
RiP is not a about making all things free and destroying progress. The movie is about the changing times and how balance is needed to ensure that innovation is encouraged, not stifled; beneficial to all, not just the powerful; and becomes a matter of social and civil cooperation, not criminal justice.
Creators and consumers of social media are the best positioned to raise awareness of this movie and its message. I highly recommend that you make an effort to see it so you can understand why.
I had really wanted to speak with Mark after the movie. The line to collect our Mouse Liberation Front membership cards was long. I collected mine, gave him my phone number and offered him a beer for the opportunity to speak more to him about the movie and how it was made.
2009.03.27
Pop media, the social web and an underserved niche
Many industries have been made popular and interesting through their treatment by media producers. Broadcast media outlets, newspapers and other print publications, music and especially movies have all done their share to make many industries interesting. Their creativity has helped to make mainstream the mundane, the interesting and the truly fascinating. I know that I’ve watched television programs and movies that aren’t necessarily on anything I normally follow and have found them amazingly compelling — particularly when I’m watching a well produced documentary.
What I’ve noticed over time is that children’s books and their creators have been treated very traditionally in the media. In fact, I’ve even noticed this on the web where some of the most interesting interviews with authors and illustrators have been low on production value (e.g. ten-minute video interviews of a talking head). There is so much talk about the importance of children’s books and literacy and how fun it is to learn to read and to read aloud, but the way we promote this in the media suggests otherwise.
That’s part of my thought process as I’ve been producing a series of (roughly) fifteen-minute videos about the amazing people behind children’s books. It’s been a six-month project and will likely be another two before I’m done. Why so much time? I’ve drawn on some of the most entertaining and engaging ways to produce programs that I’ve experienced to date, and have come up with a few ideas of my own. The result is a series of videos which give the children’s book industry the pop-culture treatment enjoyed by niches such as fast food, the environment, movie stars, sports, music and technology, to name a few. My hope is that this approach will make the videos and the subject interesting to everyone, from those that are passionate about children’s books and creativity, to those that aren’t particularly interested in books at all.
The video series will be published on the Just One More Book!! website beginning on March 31. I’ve already produced ten videos and I expect there could be as many as another ten by the time I’ve finished the production work. There are also a few audio programs as part of the series and I expect I’ll do a short “making of” documentary once I’m all done.
In an effort to help promote the series, I extracted a short section from Part 1 which kicks off our road trip and highlights images and short clips that will appear later in the series. What I enjoy most about this particular clip is that it uses energetic music to illustrate that childen’s books, their creators and events are exciting enough for a six-day road trip.
Photo: I am Legend Movie Shoot New York uploaded by Michael McDonough
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