Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Blog #10

First, post a link and/or description of a remix you like.
I think this video remix of double rainbow is hilarious. One of my personal favorites. They remix this dude's double rainbow reaction, with a grown a#$ man crying about a double rainbow. They put two video's on the bottom of the screen at one point. one of a man beating a drum and the other of a clown-like dude singing it looks like. They end with them playing instruments and singing about the double rainbow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX0D4oZwCsA

Next, make 3 specific connections between today's reading and the remix. (eg: This remix illustrates Lessig's point about X. This remix reminds me Lessig's claim that Y. so on...)

Lessig says that remix songs are important in community settings. Well the 4 people who put this one together it was a community effort and the community at Utube was very appreciative of it. The video has had 23,086,415, just a couple million short of the original video with 26,560,632 hits.

Lessig also states that ""whether text or beyond text, remix is collage; it comes from combining elements of RO culture; it succeeds by leveraging the meaning created by the reference to build something new" (76)." The inclusion of the video's on the bottom right hand of the screen in this remix align well with this concept. The drums signal a wind up and then the clown with the rainbow shooting out of his hand signals the rainbow. He then shoots himself in the head and catches on fire. Still not seeing that one entirely but it probably represents the mind blowing experience this dude is having.

Lessig also argues that a remix can better argue the point that the original did. In this case I think the length of the video supports this statement. The original video is long at 3:30 and the remix has been shortened down to 1:58. As a photojournalist, when i do soundslides, I keep them between 1 minute and 2 because people tend to lose patience after 2 minutes and will click off of your sound slides. So in this case, shortening the video allows for the message of the video to get out more completely.

7 comments:

  1. I agree with the short term attention span. A lot of remixed videos are much shorter than the originals, which makes them easier to watch, not to mention they also have a humorous message involved as well. With the bed intruder remix, the other videos involved lost me on their relevance, though they were all taken from other news stations, which is probably a remark on the local news and their weird variety. But incorporating them adds more involvement since we have to think about why they are there.

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  2. I like the connections you made to Lessig; I think that in many cases the YouTube community is more appreciative of group efforts, they see what potential there is out there when working together.
    The collage aspect of the video is pretty cool, with overlapping images keeping your eye and attention going from one place to another.
    I like when people take a product and cut it down a little to show that things can be parred down, the feel of the song and the "message" can remain the same. Although in some cases one to many things are tweaked and the message is lost.

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  3. Imma liking your connection to Lessigs argument that remixes often point out the original point better than the original at times. And shortening a video in a remix is a very smart way to make a point short and to the point. Especially in todays generation where youth are becoming more and more inclined to not pay attention to longer material. I know i greatly appreciate short videos and readings, I think that TED is a great example of keeping vast amounts of interesting material at 10-15 minute videos. Short enough to keep our attention, long enough to make a profound point.

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  4. I feel that this video is really just an abomination. There's no artistic value added, not that the original really had any artistic value to begin with. It uses the source content but it doesn't really do anything with it other than perhaps call attention to the silliness of it, which really wasn't necessary anyway. There might be a sense of community in that people are noticing the videos around and actively adding and contributing to them, but there's no point to it other than to demonstrate technical ability.

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  5. You do a nice job here analyzing the remix, but could've done a bit more to make some stronger connections to Lessig. I also enjoy the comments hers, some good ideas from your people! (whether or not you agree, but still, food for thought)

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  6. I really liked Andy Walston's opinion on the remix. Not because it is different, but because he found the remix terrible. It highlights how, when removed from a standard system of trading, like in a commercial economy, value is highly inconsistent. I can't say what is empirically a good remix, but do we even need some kind of standardization? What would it look like? Maybe time spent, but a skilled remixer shouldn't be punished for his technical ability.

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  7. I love that everything popular on YouTube gets autotuned these days. Or made into a dubstep. You have a great point about shortening the video. My attention span for things like this is really short. I usually don't make it past a minute unless something is really intriguing. This version is more exciting than the original, but you can't appreciate it without the context of having seen the original.

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