By far my favorite video we were asked to review this week was Disney Used to Explain Copyright (here be the clip): .
I liked this video so much because of its tact, I shared it with several friends. Since YouTube uses ContentID to identify audio or video that is known to be copyright, the video cleverly uses only tiny bits of clips that would be extremely hard to track by using simple algorithms (or whatever they use to identify copyrighted works). Besides the fact that the video was clever, it also did a fantastic job of conveying its message about copyrighting. I didn’t really have the greatest idea of how “fair use” worked until watching the video. Basically, it would be unethical to sew someone who uses copyrighted material that also uses a fresh idea, and doesn’t look to defame the material borrowed. It would be silly if Webster decided to copyright the dictionary, so every time we define a word, we have to pay a fine.
Last week I mentioned that the movie Airplane! was one of my all time favorites. It’s rare to find a scene that isn’t some sort of parody “remixed” into another hilarious scene. Because of “fair use,” we can enjoy the Cinema Gods’ gift the way it is, and other movies like Scary Movie or shows like Saturday Night Live. The Kermit the Frog remix shown here:
inspired an idea I might try to take just the video from a clip, and just the audio from another, and try to synch them together. I always love when I have headphones in to see if people walk to the beat of the music I’m listening to, or if the reporter on the TV looks like he’s spitting some fresh beats while giving the news. I feel comfortable with a few ideas for this week now because of these videos.