2: Remix

Digital tools are ideal for sampling pre-existing media elements and remixing – or transforming – them into new creative works. With these tools we have the ability to hybridize, collage, combine, cut, paste and duplicate infinitely. Another strategy is to erase, or relocate elements in order to point out new possibilities or relationships. Consider repurposing existing media in surprising ways to create a personal statement, an alternate reality, a political statement, a poetic statement, or a joining of the past with the future.

Techniques: montage, collage, masking, layering, transitions and effects in After Effects and Premiere, plus basic digital audio.

Source footage/media/audio: You can generate some of your own, but you must also use at least one type of pre-existing media element. Please read this guide to finding interesting public domain works online. Archival movies can be sourced legally from Prelinger Archive.There is also a meta search tool here: Let’s cc that will help you find Creative Commons licensed media across multiple sites. You must keep track of your media, sources and licensing so you can add the information into your end credits.

You can make use of work that has a certain types of Creative Commons licences, as long as you are following the licence restrictions and you are making significant creative work of your own with it. Consider licensing your own work so you can contribute to the creative pool in the way you chose. It is free. You are permitted to use copyrighted material in your artwork, only if you can explain to me how it falls within the Fair Use Principle. We will follow these professional guidelines: College Art Fair Use best practices  http://www.collegeart.org/fair-use/best-practices#MakingArt (Links to an external site.)

Please note that “Educational Use” does not apply in this class, because we are making artwork for display, not just educational videos.

Related readings: Remix Theory (Links to an external site.)

Related artists/projects:  Dara Birnbaum Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman 1978 | Michael Bell-Smith | Jeremy Blake | Paul Pfeiffer Jason Salavon | Martha Rosler | Omer Fast | Jenny Odell R. Luke DuBois | Jillian Mcdonald | McLean Fahnestock

What to turn in: Your final movie should be rendered at a minimum size of 1280 x 720 (square pixels) and maximum 1920 x 1080. Running time should be between 1 and 3 minutes. Copy your properly compressed movie file into the folder titled “PROJECT 2” on the instructor computer before class starts on the due date. If your movie file does not play smoothly, you need to re-render it with more compression.

The source media files that are not created by you must be documented in the end credits of your final movie. You must  cite exactly what type of licence the media file has, ie. public domain, Creative Commons Attribution, No Derivative Works, Share Alike, etc. or copyrighted. Be prepared to defend your use of copyrighted materials under Fair Use principle.

You are also required to have an accessible backup of your files – in the cloud, or on external hard drive – in case of file error problems.

This project is 15% of your overall grade

“The function of the imagination is not to make strange things settled, so much as to make settled things strange.” – G.K. Chesterton, essayist and novelist