Okay, so I watched Everything is a Remix Part 1 and also A Fair(y) Use Tale for my exploring the concept of remix part.  The references that I watched were actually really informative in how they were laid out.  I figured that they would just be boring clips about what remixes are and how to make them.  I was wrong on so many levels.  Let’s dive in first to the references that I looked at and then we’ll move to the examples.

Everything is a Remix was actually a lot more interesting than I thought.  Kirby Ferguson went through great lengths to make sure that his information was portrayed very clearly.  He actually opened my eyes to a lot of the terminology when it comes to remixes such as cover and knock-off.  I really found this clip to be extremely helpful because he showed a bunch of different songs that all had the same bass line or similar instrumentals and how they were all remixes off each other.  One of the most important things that he explained was that everything is a remix.  Obviously from the title, that may sound a bit vague.  People can just go and create anything and, as long as they change it enough, they can’t get in trouble for it.  This allows for an unimaginable amount of media content to be redistributed and created fresh.

A Fair(y) Use Tale was a lot more interesting because of how it was created.  If you haven’t looked at it for your references, definitely watch it because it’s awesome how it explains it.  Rather than have someone talk about the content, whoever made it actually used clips from Disney movies to get the point across.  This was actually really genius in that the information that was being provided was talking about stealing stuff from other people and not giving proper credit.  Ironically, the information that was being explained was used from someone else’s content.  Since it was all created to create something new, it seems that it would be okay to use and not get in trouble with.  This clip, more than the other one, really sums up the idea of remixes.

Both of these are extremely creative because, while one may be a bit more historically informative, it still really explains everything appropriately and in a way that you may not have looked at before.  The second clip, A Fair(y) Use Tale, uses Disney’s videos to get the point across, which I really liked as well.  As far as my own understanding of remixes, I kind of knew all about them already but it was still interesting to see them explained a bit more in depth.

For my first Examples of Remix, I chose to look at Star Wars Call Me Maybe.  This style of remix is becoming increasingly popular around the web.  People are making songs based on words from movies or interviews and it’s absolutely amazing to see someone take the time to make that.  I really don’t feel like I would have the patience to go through and find ONE word and cut that out, then find another word and cut that out just to make a song.  I seriously tip my hat to those people that create this sorts of mashups.  From a creative standpoint, this doesn’t get much better.  I can’t say that there are any other types of remixes that would require more time than these.  It’s great that someone that takes the time to create something like this is rewarded with as many views as they are.  Having almost 9 million is just absolutely amazing!  Congratulations to whoever created this piece!

For my second Examples of Remix, I chose to look at Scary Mary.  Holy crap!  Who knew that someone could make something like that from something such as Mary Poppins!  I was literally biting my nails watching this.  I absolutely love scary movies and I found this to be extremely compelling.  If someone doesn’t call this a remix, I would have to have words with them.  This was absolutely brilliant!  I feel like this would be the type of thing to remix.  When we did our video assignments last week, I completely changed the trailer of a movie just by editing the sound.  I hope that I can come up with something as creative as this for one of my assignments.  Recut movie trailers definitely seem like a lot of fun.  Since I love movies and I love editing stuff, this seems like it would be right up my alley!

For my third Examples of Remix, I chose Star Trek Meets Monty Python. Since I love both of these films, I thought it would be great to give this a go.  Definitely a completely change of pace from Scary Mary!  I really liked the upbeat style that this one brought to the table.  You can really completely change something just by messing with the dialogue and audio layers.  I found this to be extremely interesting because the mashup or remix didn’t really use as much editing as one may think.  There is obviously time that goes in to the process, but it’s extremely doable to create something like this.  I would have to say that this gives me ideas for future projects, but I really don’t know if I’d be able to create something this creative.

Overall, I would have to say that I’ve expanded on my knowledge and respect for remixes in general.  I’ve always thought the videos on YouTube of people creating music videos based off of different words is absolutely amazing.  That’s probably one of the most mind blowing things in terms of remix that I’ve witnessed.  I’m interested to see what kind of work I can produce now!