Kerby Ferguson explains a remix is a way of combining or editing existing materials to produce something new.  There are many ways in which a remix can occur, through music, images, ideas, etc.  After watching the references

Everything is a Remix Part 1 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

and

Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

I gained a better understanding that many things created today are through the use and manipulation of old ideas.  As stated in Part 2, 74 out of 100 box office creations are old ideas transformed into new, relying on previous material. Even when a movie doesn’t fall into the remake category it contain standard elements which are appropriated transformed and subverted. Films are built on other films along with books, tv shows, plays,  and actual events. One main example in Part 2 was Star Wars.Star wars follows outline of a Monomyth which consists of stages such as The call to adventure, supernatural aid, the belly of the whale, road of trials, meeting with the goddess,  etc. Plays like a much updated version of flash gordon, write down to the soft wipes and the title design. War films and westerns were also used, the scene where Luke discovers his slaughtered family resembles the scene from the Searchers (1956).  George Lucal collected material, combined them and transformed them, without the films that proceeded Star Wars, there would have never been Star Wars, leading to the realization that Creation requires influence. Everything we make is a remake of something already created or influenced by something already created.  I think remixes are more noticeable in movies than in music, but remixed are still rather noticeable in music.  In the video Part 1, the narrator introduces William Burroughs who is credited for some of the earliest remixing.  A lot of times remixes can be seen as rip offs, one prime example is group Led Zeppelin which many of times did not change the songs enough to call them originals while never crediting the songwriters, in result copied without any fundamental changes.  The group Led Zeppelin ended up becoming extremely famous and went from copying others works to others copying their work.  There are two long standing battles of legal remixing including covers, performances of other people’s materials, and knock-offs, copies that stay within legal boundaries.

I think in a way remixing is in fact a creative act because when remixing something you are adding your own creating touch or idea to it, hopefully enhancing the overall meaning of the media that is being edited.  As for what it means for the entities that retain copyright over the media, i feel like it is almost a losing batter for them in the since if they are unwilling to share.  Most media is posted for viewers to watch it and enjoy it, so when it comes to the copyright aspect it is tricky for someone to fully own an idea because even their idea is probably based on someone else’s.

Analysis of Examples:

FIRST EXAMPLE: Buffy vs. Edward

I have yet to see the movie Twilight or watch the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I thought this mashup was rather cool.  It made Edward seem rather desperate while Buffy wasn’t giving him the times of day, which I can assume isn’t exactly how their characters normal behavior is portrayed in their series. When creating something like this example, they added a new idea and perspective to the two movies while using all of the material originated form the original movies/series.  Without having to add in words or images, the creator of this remix was able to do a great job creating something new and with a different perspective from something old.  To prevent from copyrighting they made an end states of “This transformative work constitutes a fair use of any copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.”

SECOND EXAMPLE: Star Wars Call Me Maybe
When i first pulled this up i thought it was just going to have the audio muted on the Star Wars media and have the song playing in the background, i was definitely taken aback when I watched it.  The person who created it was rather cleaver and must have had a lot of time on their hands to create this amazing remix. The took an awesome perspective on picking apart the song word by word and finding it in the Star Wars movie. I am truly amazed at the time it must have taken to create this and the creative remix that was made.

THIRD EXAMPLE: Can’t Tase This

I thought this was a rather clever coupling. This is an interesting remix in the sense that the media being used isn’t from a famous movie or box office media. The song however is famous and adds a very funny and uplifting, in a way, beat to this rather painful experience this man is having. The pausing of the song where the words would come in and instead using the words of the song write was a creative way of changing up the song.

Through the examples and the references watched, remixes are everywhere.  Many things created now-a-days are either manipulating old movies, songs, plays or images. Even if it is not clearly obvious that it may be a remix, often times ideas are constantly being reused but with the addition of creativity from the new producer.  Although it is not fair to say that with out the pre-existing media, we would not have a lot of the music and media being conveyed to us today, our media and music rely heavily on pass creations.