Everything is a remix. WELCOME TO THE SINGULARITY

Let me preface this by saying that I am not going to post a single original thought here. It's all stuff that someone else put together first. Even the name of this post is taken from other people, most notably the great documentary series "Everything is a Remix".

Once upon a time there was a little song you probably never heard of. Either it was Baah Baah Blacksheep, twinkle twinkle little star, or the ABC's, I forget. But anyway, the song was WILDLY successful.

Then this band Gotye TOTALLY stole it and made it into a song about heartbreak and loss, which was NOT the original intent of the author. But that didn't matter, because it was WILDLY successful. AND THEY DIDN'T PAY THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR ONE DIME

Then this OTHER group of people made it into a song about how a whole bunch of people can play on the SAME guitar. So I guess it was about sharing. But this little video was also WILDLY successful.

But then a bunch of jokers came in and made their own videos of the song, which were clearly just ripoffs, and they made it into things about Star Wars which was NOT what the original artist intended. However this didn't seem to matter, because many, if not all, of the videos were WILDLY successful. (latest internets show approx. 1 gabillion versions, which is slightly more than the covers of Baah Baah Black sheep, yet it has less bad animations)

Even some dudes drove around in their car talking about how much they hate the song, and it's WILD popularity, but still managed to sing the whole song. This was mildly popular, which is still pretty wild.

So here's the kicker. That Gotye guy, who stole the song from the sheep and didn't pay him one cent, went and stole back the covers of his song and made it into a new song. It's like he got the whole internet together to sing a song that wasn't even really his.

Which makes me wonder a few things:

Would you be mad if someone stole your song?

What if you still kept your song, they just sang it, would it still be stealing?

What if they made the song into something else that was more popular than your song, would that still be stealing?

What if you stole someone's song and made your own thing out of it, but then they came back and stole your song again. Is that stealing? Grand theft autotune?

Maybe we aren't really talking about theft, but something else altogether. If  Gotye  got mad at all the people stealing, I don't think the song would be such a cultural touchstone.

But it also makes me think, that whole internet orchestra thing is pretty amazing. I am glad that Gotye thought of it, because that is TOTALLY original. 

except NOPE:

(this is my favorite song of all of the songs in this blog post)

Which reminds me of one important thing. The internet is powerful and incredible. But don't think of it as a bunch of computers, think of it as a HUGE copy machine where some ideas and thoughts get magnified and others disappear and dwindle and die, but they all leave copies, copious copies in fact.

If you want to talk more about this, leave a comment below.

Or call me...maybe.

(P.S. I stole SO many of the ideas shared here)

Live On

Surviving and Living

What is motion design?

It's this:

"Motion Design" Center : "What is Motion Design ?" from Motion Plus Design on Vimeo.

I will also accept that as the answer for the question "What is awesome?"

words are like

this is kind of wow

PATHS OF HATE long trailer from Platige Image on Vimeo.

Lapse in Time II

I'd like to introduce you to the most incredible time lapse video available.


Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

PLEASE, watch it full screen. and in HD

your welcome.

Fashion Tales

I love papery shapes and textures. I got to put this series together for one of my clients who make an amazing bag. It was to build anticipation for a new bag, that's not too big, and not too small. You can see the whole collection here.

Or you can just check them out below:



Client: Miche
Writting and Direction: Damian Dayton
Production: Kineto Pictures 
Associate Producer: Genevieve Barr
DP: Tom Bottom, Travis Babcock
Animation: Bryan Moore
Music: Matt Cropper
Design: Cindy Ferguson
Post Production: Travis Babcock, Kineto Pictures
Styling: Caroline King, (She also cooks)
Make up: Dawn Weidauer
Hair: Casie Norris and Jen
Gaffer: Alex Lee

Space

Makes me want to shake these leaden fetters and unslip these bonds:

Countdown - HD from Desrumaux Celine on Vimeo.

Move, Eat, Learn

I love this with all of the parts of me.

MOVE

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Are you nostalgic for chicken

Does the smell of chicken make you think of love?

The power of the editor

Behold, watch as the editor can turn something as horrible as a simian uprising into something as delightful as a dance party.

Projected Project

I have long been a fan of Kutiman, his "mother of all funk chords" really opened my eyes to what's possible in the ReMix culture




So I was glad to see he had a new video out. I love the way he has projected images on papery surfaces re-inforcing the meaning of the image. I am at least a little mad that I didn't think of it first.

Final Cut Pro X

Final Cut Pro has been the choice of our company since Final Cut Pro 3. In the early days it wasn't quite a professional solution, but it has gradually improved. The main benefit of Final Cut Pro is that it has been accessible enough to raise a generation of editors on. Editors that could try it out in High School, and then gain employment after college using the same software. In the last few years it has become powerful enough that major directors and editors are using it on feature films. It's not perfect, but it's a pretty great solution for a business like mine.

I have 5-6 full time edit bays that cost upwards of $30,000.00 but I can also install it on a $500 laptop for rough cuts. I met an editor for animated features who was learning how to use Final Cut a few years ago. I asked him why he was moving down from the super high-end editing software to Final Cut and he said, "It's just a tool, like a hammer, the knowledge on how to build a house is what matters." A good tool is like a hammer, you can build a home with it or a little birdhouse. I guess that's why editors are so upset. Granted they would grumble anyway if you changed the interface, but what they are more concerned with is that it can no longer pound nails. Imagine if they introduced a new hammer that was light and fast, but couldn't work on any of your previously built homes, couldn't build homes to code, and didn't work with all nails.  Also, they are going to stop building regular hammers and nails, so hang on to your existing stuff in case you ever want to do any carpentry on your existing homes again. You'd complain about more than just the color of the hammer.

Sure it's a belabored metaphor, but that's why I don't laugh so much at the video below, It's not just that it isn't a good editing software, it's that they are abandoning a great software that will become less and less relevant.




So far Apple promises to "fix" a lot of the issues that editors have, but I don't know if they can fix the fundamental issues. Backwards compatibility and tape exports specifically.

Timelapse

This could be just a simple thing, but it isn't.

VGS to SLC from Northern Lights on Vimeo.

NOTE: that when filming time-lapse you don't record sound, so all of the SFX were added afterwards. It's a subtle but important effect. Anybody know this guy? I'd love to work with him if he is local.

Give 'em a hand

You've probably seen this, but it's worth mentioning

I love papery things

"Believer" by Jen Stark / Music by Dan Deacon from Jen Stark on Vimeo.

after effects

All of the visual effects for this were done in After Effects. impressive.

Memory Tapes "Yes I Know" from Najork on Vimeo.

This may offend you

Or it may totally delight you

IS TROPICAL - THE GREEKS (official music video) from EL NINO on Vimeo.

The music is in the glitch

click here

Beat streets

From the future

Memories

I've always liked this video from an old classmate of mine:

Get Drrrty

I got to work with the very talented Devin Graham on this

The Trip

I can't wait for the movie. I hope it comes to Utah (probably not)

A man and his bike

This piece is nice

You probably saw the Google Masthead

The one with Martha Graham on it. But did you see this?

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

Everything is a remix

Perhaps the reason to look at a site like this is because everything is a re-mix, and if you want to create something, you need bits and pieces to create it from.

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

The video isn't that impressive...

But the window into the creative process is.

Video, but not video

I just though I'd share this bit of loveliness

I little glass in your eye

via Put this On. A fashion blog run by one of Ira's NPR comrades.

Not a word

How much can you say, by not saying anything?

Symmetry from Everynone on Vimeo.

from everynone via Swissmiss

I love when beauty comes together

Like when lovely illustration crashes into elegant design and the result is this lovely animated music video

I'm digging

this got in my eye (via Drawn).

Anybody know who did the song? it sounds a little like the Unicorns.

Claudio Salas Reel from Claudio Salas on Vimeo.

THURSDAY is better than FRIDAY

Via the Drawn blog

Thursday from Matthias Hoegg on Vimeo.

Now why doesn't a thing like this go viral?

Typhoid Mary

So everyone knows, this video is awful and yet you can't turn away

Everyone is debating about whether or not it is "good" and I say that is the wrong question. The right question is that if this is a viral video, and we have an epidemic. Who is patient zero? How did this spread so quickly. Once major networks get a hold of it, it's understandable, but to get there it has to reach a critical mass. It spread across several channels, they infected enough key carriers to get this video to hit your inbox, probably somewhere last week.

I wish it was JUST about content, but it is also about delivery systems.

P.S. Most news reports say that the family paid the label $2,000 to make this song and video. I am calling B.S. as the owner of a small production company, a cursory breakdown tells me that even to do this music video poorly, they spent at least $10,000 to break even, (I could do a detailed budget if you are interested) but I am sure the company wanted to make money and I guess that they charged them closer to $15,000, but that is purely speculation on my part.

Knock out!

Well, I didn't expect that

Deving goes big in Hawaii

Big Waves with just a little camera

It makes you really want to count your blessings.

Death

I suppose that death comes to us all.

It makes me wonder if there is a video game out there that has any pathos in the death. They are all bright spurts of light that quickly get out of the way so you can live again.

Feris Bueller's day of longing and angst

This has been doing the viral rounds

If you need any more evidence of the difference an editor can make check out this:

More Beauty

Here are some more beautiful images from Hawaii

Now, I would just love to talk Devin into using his beautiful images to tell a story.

Content is King

Sometimes if you have something amazing people will watch it, no matter how you shot it or what camera you shot it on. The video below has like 70,000 hits (and climbing) it's AMAZING.

watch this first and then answer my question below:

Now would you watch that again if I could adjust the camera angle up about 5-10 degrees?

Even if content is more important than form, it doesn't mean you should stop trying to make stuff look better.

Worth Sharing

Interesting collection of 10 ads worth sharing from TED (you know that guy with all of the interesting talks).

Which begs 2 questions:

1)Is 3 minutes the new 30 seconds? (the spots vary in size from 30 seconds to 5 minutes, but most are around 3 minutes)

2)Why does TED use such an awful video player if they are trying to show off beautiful video? (you can find most on Youtube).

Love this

Not just because of the story it tells, but what it does:

Typography is powerful

Typography animation is a simple and powerful way to tell a story. We trust the words more and the focus is not on flash, but on the story.

For it to work well, you have to have a compelling message.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grrXEpqCwcE&feature=player_embedded

Because Visual Effects (VFX) are important

i love pixel art

but I don't think it is for everybody

Audience Calibration Procedure from Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery on Vimeo.

but it is definitely for me.

Multiple Choice

We had a series of ads run last week during the Daytona 500 for Z-line designs. This was our original concept:

This version came with a microsite. Perhaps the commercial is a little odd. Do you like odd? For a number of reasons we had to change it, so now it looks like this:

But mostly they like this ad:

Which spot do you like? Which spot is more likely to make you check out their website? Which spot is makes you curious about their brand? Would you go into a store and look for a Z-Line Design piece of furniture?

here is an added bonus

PONIES!!!

Stealing/Borrowing/RE-mixXxing

Kanye Had a music video pulled from youtube because it causes siezures.

But to me, the bigger issue is that they copied the look from a lesser-known french film, but more to the point, they didn't do it as well. (skip to minute 1:00)

You have to make it through the blinking footage, if you can't wait, just click this instead (It'll take you right there)

Notice how the french film is done much more elegantly, with greater use of fonts and animation from one to the next.

Does this still qualify as Ballet? Does it matter?

Commercials

In my family you can clearly delineate those that like Miracle Whip and those that don't.

Does this work for you? Does it make you talk about Miracle Whip? Do you hate it more? I am talking about it, but will you?

Does the idea that "Miracle Whip is not for everybody" come through? Are they trying to hard to say "only the cool kids like Miracle Whip".

I am not quite sure.