I'm a firm believer that you could spend your entire life watching youtube videos and on your death bed you won't have seen all of them. It's something that spread like a virus, and quite frankly, I'm glad I've caught it.

I figured I'd try and bring you a new video or song every weekend that you probably haven't heard of, is on the verge of breaking out, or is fitting for the occasion.

This week, it's the Lost Daze remix of former Destiny's Child member Michelle Williams. Her song "We Break The Dawn" was a smokin' hot summer jam but never really caught on. Luckily, this remix is sitting in the top  5 on the Billboard Dance Charts. Good luck Michelle, keep turnin' out the dance jams.

One of the models for remix videos I share with my students is the political collage that recuts political speeches to offer subversive messages - a classic from the 1980s is the Reagans' pro-drug message, and a more recent one is remixed Bush State of the Union speeches. George and Stephen followed this prototype to remix a Rupert Murdoch interview - I like how the form of the remix becomes increasingly odd and uncertain, with stutters and flaws suggesting a breakdown of the media machine:

Mica and Ernest took an experimental approach by playing with the possibilities of using the time-based control of video text to highlight how messages can be manipulated and controlled, focusing on multiple visions of Mica's home country of Argentina. Be sure to watch through to the end for the payoff:

Another subgenre of remix video we watched was the parody trailer, especially the idea of shifting genres (like the classic Shining remix). Derek and Jessie took that approach with Independence, although they note that their goal was "to highlight the signifiers of romantic comedy under the frivolity that Independence Day seems to exhibit as a sci-fi/action genre film."

Finally, Ross and Thompson take the logic of the trailer, and make a trailer for media convergence itself:

As always, comments are welcome, and feel free to poach this assignment for your own pedagogical purposes.

clipped from nldfilm.com I posted a small, very low-resolution demo of my 72-minute re-edit, called the "Night of the Living Dead Survivor's Cut" on Archive.org. Within a day I had 50 downloads, then 100, then it was 100 per day. I figured at this point, why not go for the gold, so I asked for the opinion of someone that had experience with re-imagining the film. I contacted Tom Savini via email. He just happened to be connected with writer Dave Dreher, who was writing for Creature Corner. Dave wrote an article...and boom! From there the Internet publicity went global - respected sites like Diabolical Dominion critically acclaimed the Survivor's Cut. After just a few weeks I was seeing articles being written by International sites like Oh My Gore and Zombis among others!) �

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/12/13/the-force-will-be-with-you%e2%80%a6-because-you-control-it/ Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:25:35 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/12/13/the-force-will-be-with-you%e2%80%a6-because-you-control-it/

clipped from www.wikinomics.com As YouTube gets hit with yet another lawsuit, it’s becoming�increasingly clear that the fate of content creation and distribution on the web will be bogged down by legal wrangling for years. However, at the same time there are a lot of interesting innovations happening that demonstrate how companies and content creators can effectively leverage the Web 2.0, rather than trying to fight it. The most�recent of these is Lucas Films and Eyespot.com teaming up to allow users to create their own Star Wars movie. Rather than trying to prevent fans from�creating and sharing videos related to the popular movie series, users are being given over 250 scenes/ musical selections to mix and match, and they are also free to use their home made material as well. To quote the press release directly:

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/all-killer-no-filler-horror-remix/ Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:55:08 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/all-killer-no-filler-horror-remix/

clipped from www.horrorremix.com If you're familiar with horror films, you most certainly know that 99% of them have serious down time or filler. All Killer, No Filler A Horror Remix is taking a bad horror film, cutting out all the filler and condensing the gore, cheese and t&a into approx. 30 minutes. This blog will post video podcasts and announce Dallas / Fort Worth showings of these condensed trash cult films from the 70's and 80's. Video Podcast: You can subscribe to the Horror Remix podcast in iTunes by copying http://feeds.feedburner.com/HorrorRemix into “Subscribe to Podcast” under the Advanced menu.

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/movie-remix-urbanlenz/ Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:50:33 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/movie-remix-urbanlenz/

clipped from www.2dk.net In the music industry, remixing has long been an established and increasingly popular technique. On the other hand, exhibiting movies in theaters is a very complex business, bankrolled with enormous capital and employing hundreds of staff. Most movies run only a few weeks in theaters; after that, they can be appreciated only on rental video or DVD. The special feature in this exhibition, "Movie Remix," is a trial in which movies exhibited at theaters are reconstructed as remix material. At the first memorial "Movie Remix," "URBANLENZ" had four artists of differing styles remix the film "Ichi the Killer" by Takashi Miike, the director who shocked the world with his bold cinematic creations. Visitors experienced how each artist arranged the same elements to come up with their own director's cut.

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/video-editing-20-8-ways-to-remix-online-videos/ Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:46:11 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/video-editing-20-8-ways-to-remix-online-videos/

clipped from www.readwriteweb.com So you've shot your masterpiece, but it's a little rough around the edges. If you have any hope of winning that Oscar, you're going to need to do a little editing. But renting out an editing bay means thousands of dollars and figuring out what all the shortcut keys on the Avid keyboard do. But wait, you're in luck! Friday evening, YouTube launched their new video editing tool: YouTube Remixer, in partnership with Adobe. Avid it's not, but perhaps it's just what you need to turn your raw vacation footage into Spielberg or Coppola. Unfortunately, YouTube's Remixer debuted to some rather tepid reviews, in part because it is more or less the same software Adobe rolled out with Photobucket in March. But wait, you're in luck again! There are a bunch of other online video editing tools, and we'll take a brief look at some of them below (though again, don't expect Avid).

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/the-weblog-project/ Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:42:57 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/the-weblog-project/

clipped from www.theweblogproject.com What Is The Weblog Project? TheWeblogProject is the first open source, FREE, grassroots movie to promote and evangelize bloggers, the blogosphere, and their potential. TheWeblogProject is conceived to be a completely different kind of movie, because featured stars, producers, fundraisers and actors of TheWeblogProject movie have all a unique trait: they are all bloggers. We have no other agenda but the one of helping bloggers tell everyone else what this media revolution is all about. TheWeblogProject is different from a traditional movie in several other respects: It will be distributed, FREE, via P2P and via the Internet Archive, under a Creative Commons Attribution License. It will be Folksonomy-enabled. It will be Open Source(d). Complete source footage will be distributed to all supporting bloggers (and not) for unlimited remixing.

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/video-remix-wikipedia/ Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:58:20 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/video-remix-wikipedia/

clipped from en.wikipedia.org A video remix is a derivative video from the original version, made using techniques of video editing or digital media "mixing". User-generated digital video seen on sites such as Google Video and Youtube provides a large pool of digital video content which can be used as base works for new mixes and remixes. Many video remixes will include several segmentes of video, music and/or narration audio overlays as well as standard video transitions and effects. Video remixing can be accomplished through the use of desktop video editing tools from companies like Avid/Pinnacle, Ulead, Apple, or Microsoft. There is also talk about video editing as an on-demand server-based application (software as a service) hosted for users over the Internet and accessed through your browser.

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/international-remix/ Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:56:26 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/international-remix/

clipped from media.sffs.org The program also pays homage to a lineage of cut-and-paste sensibilities that pervade modern media aesthetics, echoing many experiments in cut-up artistic practice such as Kuleshov, Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov's film tests and Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray's Dadaist use of ready-mades and absurd juxtapositions. These early experiments (and others like them) helped pave the way for the powerful artistic concept known as montage, which itself has been repurposed and remixed over the years through contemporary practices such as pastiche aesthetics, collage and mashups, which, in turn, owe a huge debt to the breakout of hip-hop turntablism in the early 1970s.

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/copyright-culture-remixed/ Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:52:43 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/copyright-culture-remixed/

clipped from www.copyrightculture.com Produced by Rebekah Farrugia and Jennifer A. Machiorlatti, Copyright, Culture (Remixed) is a series of volumes of short films that looks at the impact that increasingly restrictive copyright laws are having on fair use and the creation of culture. The films underline the ways in which creativity is, and will continue to be hindered if the current, excessive intellectual property regime continues. The films are specifically concerned with the impact of copyright and intellectual property laws with respect to musicians, visual artists, and filmmakers, especially in regards to their ability to create in the digital age. Increasingly, with every copyright law reform, most recently the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998) the capabilities of digital technology are in direct conflict with current regulation. Stay tuned for more...

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/outfoxed-offered-for-remix/ Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:28:51 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/outfoxed-offered-for-remix/

clipped from www.wired.com For years, the remixing of songs, both licit and illicit, has been almost as common as the release of original music. The same has not been true of films: There have been only a few recuts of films by people other than the original director or editors, and few if any were legal. "I hope there will be a series of creative, interesting and different ways that this material will be utilized by all kinds of different folks," said Greenwald. "And I look forward to seeing what comes out of it. And toward that end, the possibilities are very exciting as to what people will do, because there are no limits other than creativity." Why is remixing so common with music, but so rare with films?

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/mod-films/ Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:53:16 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/mod-films/

clipped from modfilms.com Film is going to change dramatically in the next ten years. Not just in production values, as in the last ten years, but in production methods and how the films are packaged for audiences. Digital asset management is going to be the key to commercial and creative re-use, increasingly the likelihood of any film investment returns. The key will be the exploitation of new means of leveraging film assets instead of throwing them away after a film is released. In this way films can become their own commercial production libraries. Re-use has never been a focus of film-making but it is fundamental to exploiting creative potential in any industry. In order for film and interactive productions to work better in tandem, there has to be a shift in perception. The film print is now only one part of the master. MOD Films makes re-mixable films and tools for film re-use. Sustainable Story Systems.

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/towards-an-open-source-collaborative-media/ Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:44:18 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/towards-an-open-source-collaborative-media/

clipped from www.masternewmedia.org As Web 2.0 opens up the possibilities for online collaboration and open source culture, the media are being seized by the ''people formerly known as the audience". With collaborative efforts transforming the face of news media, music and video production, and even film-making the possibilities for everyday people to create independent media are growing exponentially. In the wake of this surge of user generated content, the mainstream media are struggling. Newspaper sales are dwindling, DVDs and CDs are becoming relics that no one is interested in, and TV viewing figures are feeling the impact of YouTube's success.

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/a-swarm-of-angels/ Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:42:59 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/a-swarm-of-angels/

clipped from aswarmofangels.com A Swarm of Angels updates the current filmmaking models of Hollywood and independent film to create cult cinema for the digital age. Whether you call it Cinema 2.0, or Open source cinema, it’s an innovative participatory experience you can be part of. We are gathering 50,000 people in a giant new media experiment to be part of an exclusive community which funds and helps make this film. We want people to freely download, share and remix the feature film and all original media made for this project and have embraced the flexible digital-age copyright of Creative Commons toward this end.

]]> http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/23/ Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:07:30 +0000 remixingcinema http://remixingcinema.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/23/ This 'remix trailer' is an EPOC for the Remixing Cinema project.

clipped from remixtheory.net Another example is Youtube, a community site, which like Wikipedia is driven by the community. If a video is offensive or deemed inappropriate the community will let Youtube staff know immediately. Youtube also has a complex tie in with the corporate media, in which copyright infringement is always present, and it is quite common that when a corporation finds it to their benefit, they demand their material to be removed if it was posted without permission. This opens the door to the complexiies brought about by the creative possibilities of “free culture” and “remix culture.” For a detailed analysis of how the Selective and Extended Remixes are at play in new media art, please read the section “Remixes” in Turbulence: Remixes + Bonus Beats.

]]> http://bollywoodvideo.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/vaseegra-hindi-remix-2/ Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:47:00 +0000 khilla http://bollywoodvideo.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/vaseegra-hindi-remix-2/