What it do? Remixin’!

Mash up, mix up, remix, re-doin it all up. That’s what these past two weeks have been all about! These weeks have been quite the whirlwind, but like every week, they brought something new and fun to learn! In order to get my toes wet, I started off these assignments with exploring two references as well as three examples to further learn about all of these concepts. I thought doing this week’s work chronologically was the beast way to really understand all the nuts and bolts that really go into remixing, mashing up, along with the fine lines of copyrighting! Here are the fine bits i’ve learned this week:

A Fair(y) Use Tale:

This was the first video I watched and I’m so happy I did! During video, the biggest hassle I faced was copyright issues in my mash-up video that I made. It was completely genius because it took Disney snipbits, did some pro cutting and editing to form a video that told all about the rules/guidelines that follow copyright problems that plague videos. This was somewhat ironic just because it was using Disney videos to show what copyright was all about, so you’d assume that they’re crossing some sort of line, right? Nope! I learned all about ‘fair use’ and that’s exactly what this video was all about — using other videos to create something new and original. A great way to begin the learning for this week!

The New Prohibition:

The second video i watched was the link above, and while I really enjoyed the creativity in the first one (see above!), this one definitely got more of my attention. Why? Well it had the same creative aspect as the first but in just the beginning, I enjoyed how it mixed the beginning recent pop culture into its video. Copyright is not an easy thing to understand, especially since there are so many shades of grey, so it’s hard to really pinpoint one exact definition for it. However, this video does an excellent job showing how irrelevant copyright truly is, by using the Harlem Shake as his prime example. Andy Baio, the man who made this entire video, goes into an explanation of how the song actually goes back to the 1970′s, however, the man who originally came up with the song didn’t even mind that a DJ in Brooklyn took his song and turned it into what we know it as now. The quote below stresses every idea that Baio was making during his video, that in order to create new things (games, movies, etc.), we have to start somewhere. Therefore, to enforce copyright everywhere is redundant if we ever want for there to be more games, or movies, or songs. However, this video does cause me to worry some just because it makes worry now because fair use is not law, and all lawsuits settle out of court…So if someone feels as though I’m benefiting off of their videos, whoops, there goes my entire life savings. It really gives you something to think about as you begin remixing and mashing up.

“The act of borrowing ideas is integral to the creative process. There are games that came before Infiniminer, and there are games will come after Minecraft. That’s how it works.” -Zach Barth, Infiniminer

Scary Mary:

So one of the hardest parts of reviewing this movie is figuring out whether it’s a remix or a mash up (I still haven’t exactly figured out which is which, and what is what..) and what category it falls under. However, the creator did an excellent job really incorporating A Violent Attack from ‘American Haunting’,  as well as bits and pieces from the original Mary Poppins movie. I have seen the original movie about 2490723409732 times, however, I have never seen it done quite like this. The creator most definitely got me by making it scary, with the music giving a suspenseful tone and the exact scenes he chose to give an ominous. I also had to look up the definition of recut because I noticed that it was dubbed as a recut (rather than remix or mash up). Although wikipedia has its own definition, I happen to prefer this one, which basically states: while it may contain scenes/dialogue from the   original movie, it uses them in an entirely new way (context-wise), mashing up scenes to give it new meaning.

The Shining Recut:

I decided to do this one to go further into understanding recutting and what exactly it entails. For those who have The Shining, it’s a horror movie from the 1980′s that scares me like no other every time I watch it. So I figured that I should watch it to see what sort of ‘recut’ they do it with it. Unlike Scary Mary, the exact opposite was done, and they it into a rom-com movie! It’s incredibly ironic because the movie is anything but funny, however, aside from the perfect editing and cutting to make the scenes go as if they’re suppose to be comedic is the upbeat background music. Music, as we’ve learned, can effect a lot especially if it’s used properly.  The creator did an awesome job really changing the entire storyline into something completely opposite.

I Knew You Were A…Goat?:

So for the third video, I decided to use my own video to make sure I’m understanding the concepts accurately. The creator took Taylor Swift’s ‘I Knew You Were Trouble‘, and mixed it with a screaming goat, which I would qualify as a remix. Why not a recut? Because it doesn’t create something new, as a recut would. As for a mash up, when I think of mash up’s, I think of putting two songs together to create a new song with new meaning. Therefore, since this video isn’t creating a new idea, just replacing part of the song with another video, it seems to fit perfectly as a remix! I’ve also watched this about a dozen times and it has yet to get old!

So I explained this to…myself. But really it was my mom! I just couldn’t get her voice recorded well over Skype so I took her answer and recorded it myself. Don’t worry though, that’s not what my mom actually sounds like. I showed my mom The Shining clip, which she thought was hilarious because she’s seen it before, and she just thought it was funny how someone could give it an entirely new meaning.