Help translate Everything is a Remix: The Force Awakens
For you bilingual Remix fans, we could use your help translating "Everything is a Remix: The Force Awakens" into other languages. Head over to Amara to add your language. All contributions are welcome, and you don't need to translate the entire video. Just do what you can, then someone else can pick it up from there.
These subtitles will ultimately be added to both YouTube and Vimeo.
Help us choose the next Everything is a Remix video!
Wow, the response to the first week of the Kickstarter and the new Everything is a Remix video has been amazing! Thanks so much!!! The video is already a Vimeo Staff Pick and has been featured in Boing Boing, Daring Fireball, Slate, and Filmmaker Magazine, among many, many others. We’re excited to take backer rewards to the printer and get our supporters some awesome t-shirts and get to writing “The Remix Method: Beta Edition.”
Now that we’ve hit the goal, half of every dollar we receive during this Kickstarter goes toward making new free video content (the other half goes to printing the t-shirt and mailing them out). If you pledge to this Kickstarter and want even more than 50% to go towards funding new videos from me, consider adding $5, $10, or $20 to your reward selection. If you want 100% to go towards video production, just click "No thanks, I just want to help the project" when prompted to select a reward.
Proceeds from this Kickstarter help support the time and resources it takes for our two-person operation to produce these videos. For example, the Force Awakens video took seven weeks full-time to research, write, and produce.
If we hit $20,000 we can definitely produce another Everything is a Remix video. But we’re going to aim big and try to hit $50,000. These proceeds would underwrite us for at least four months. That means we can take on fewer clients for the rest of 2016 and have time to produce more free videos.
To get to $50,000 will definitely require some larger backers. So if you're interested in booking me for a talk or becoming an underwriter, please get in touch. Or if you know anyone who might be interested, please forward us to them.
Alright, on to audience participation! We're seeking your input on what to do next. I’ve set up a poll where you can rank ideas for potential videos. This is just info gathering, not a public commitment to anything, but I’m interested to find out what’s most exciting to you guys. Here's your choices.
Everything is a Remix: Kanye An audio-centric investigation into the work of Kanye West. This will be designed first and foremost as an audio piece and the visuals will likely be more restrained and simplified than usual.
Everything is a Remix: Video Games This one will involve considerable crowdsourcing because I’m not a gamer. So I only know the basic premise: I’ll look into remixing in video games.
Everything is a Remix: Blurred Lines The “Blurred Lines” case is the most important copyright suit since the conclusion of the original Remix series. I’ll compare “Blurred Lines” to its inspiration, Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up,” and also investigate Gaye’s sources.
Not Everything is a Remix This is simple: take the storytelling and reasoning style of Everything is a Remix and use it on a totally different topic. For instance: How do we get ideas? Why are our brains attracted to tabloid headlines? What is the ideology of The 700 Club?
Here’s a link to the poll. It only takes a few seconds to fill out!
http://kirbyferguson.polldaddy.com/s/kirby-ferguson-video-ideas
A note about the ideas above: these are early concepts and might change radically once I start developing them.
And if you haven't backed yet, you can head over to Kickstarter now!
Everything is a Remix: The Force Awakens
The remix method of copying, transforming and combining is definitely used in The Force Awakens, as well as the other works of JJ Abrams. Is remixing a weak point in The Force Awakens? Is the remix method growing stale? Have we reached the limits of remixing?
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The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens: amzn.to/1rUENKc
Music Featured
"Rey's Theme," John Williams: amzn.to/1rUDXwV
"Bunsen Burner," CUTS: amzn.to/22gucpj
"They Won't See Me," The Field: amzn.to/23XB1eT
Movies & TV Featured
The Force Awakens: amzn.to/1TpnV8J
Star Wars Episodes IV-VI: amzn.to/23XAXvv
Star Wars Trilogy Episodes I-III: amzn.to/1steyug
Web Videos and Articles Features
The Force Awakens Trailer (Official) REACTION!!!, Tyrone Magnus
youtube.com/watch?v=NwvGP9EkBzM
Star Wars Force Awakens Final Trailer Reaction Megan, SawdustFilms
youtube.com/watch?v=LwHrBVOQ8qU
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Official TRAILER REACTION & REVIEW!!!, The Reel Rejects
youtube.com/watch?v=7oZJrKrhJB0
Trailer Reaction: Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Movieclips Trailers
youtube.com/watch?v=LQMo6cVGq9o
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer (Official) Reaction!, Superhero News
youtube.com/watch?v=E1QVZr242GA
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" - Trailer Reaction!, Dillon Garland
youtube.com/watch?v=xw8kCD77JzI
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer Reaction, ColliderVideos
youtube.com/watch?v=RQsbeMtfWg4
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Movie Review, Chris Stuckmann
youtube.com/watch?v=zBMW3y86cpo
Star Wars: Force Awakens Reaction, boogie2988
youtube.com/watch?v=7iGMgJ6H8E8
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review!, Screen Junkies
youtube.com/watch?v=rh_84ExOdhU
Star Wars: The Force Awakens gets 4 out of 5 stars, CBC News
youtube.com/watch?v=efkrvCFmZcA
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Angry Movie Review, AngryJoeShow
youtube.com/watch?v=hipPC2UfYBY
Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie review, Jeremy Jahns
youtube.com/watch?v=UNfqzpCgu9k
Star Wars: The Force Awakens — The Verge reaction roundtable, The Verge
youtube.com/watch?v=J2mgeAK6ESk
Review: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' is the Biggest Fan Film Ever Made
bit.ly/1TI8tQZ
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a prime example of Hollywood’s nostalgia problem
bit.ly/1ToiOEC
“Star Wars” and Decadence
nyti.ms/1Xmvs9u
Star Wars: The Force Awakens: 5 ways the new movie copies the original film
bit.ly/1TZTn9i
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is a Remix of "A New Hope"...That is Both a Good and a Bad Thing
bit.ly/22gw8OO
13 ways Star Wars: The Force Awakens is just a remix of A New Hope
bit.ly/1rUHBHc
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ succumbs to the worst parts of remix culture
wapo.st/22gwyVl
MORE LINKS TO COME
New video coming soon! Everything is a Remix: The Force Awakens
New video "Everything is a Remix: The Force Awakens" coming soon to an internet near you. Happy Star Wars Day. #maythe4thbewithyou.
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Everything is a Remix t-shirts and posters available for pre-order
Everything is a Remix t-shirts and posters can now be pre-ordered and will begin shipping in early 2016. We have the original, beloved "Everything is a Remix" t-shirt, as well as a brand new "Copy Transform Combine" design (see below). Our thanks to Dan Gilmore who created the icons back in 2012. The shirts are available in three colors and six sizes.
We also have a new, gorgeous "Copy Transform Combine" poster, which is available in three colors as well.
Kickstarter campaign ends tonight!
Last chance to get Everything is a Remix t-shirts and posters on Kickstarter! You can also get my new series, This is Not a Conspiracy Theory, for just $10. Campaign ends in 12 hours. Click here to back us on Kickstarter.
Stretch goal hit! New Everything is a Remix is a go!
We have hit our stretch goal and a new Everything is a Remix is a go! Thank you so much from me and Nora, my producing partner (and wife), who makes all sorts of behind-the-scenes stuff happen.
Contributions from here on out help me and Nora stay independent and keep creating innovative content for the net. Thank you for the privilege.
(If you've been meaning to back us, you can still do here until October 12th.)
Best!
Kirby & Nora
"The Basic Elements of Creativity" Desktop Wallpapers
The most popular visual from Everything is a Remix is now available as a desktop wallpaper. There are two versions of the design: one with the title, "The Basic Elements of Creativity," and one without. And they're available in two sizes: 1080p and 5k. If you don't know what that means, take the 1080p. Enjoy!
Kickstart us for a new Everything is a Remix
We've got a juicy and ambitious new stretch goal on Kickstarter and if we reach it I’ll cue up a new Everything is a Remix video in my production schedule. If you're a fan of the project, consider contributing to the campaign.
Everything is a Remix Remastered
- Get the Everything is a Remix t-shirt
- Become my Patron for more free videos
- Check out my acclaimed new series
For the first time, the whole series as a single video in HD.
In the five years since the series launched, Everything is a Remix has been viewed over two million times and produced a popular TED Talk. Amazingly, Remix continues to change the way people think about creativity, originality, and copyright.
To celebrate the five year anniversary, I've polished up the original four parts and merged them into a single video. For the first time now, the whole series is available as a single video with proper transitions all the way through, unified styling, and remixed and remastered audio. Part One has been entirely rebuilt in HD.
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TRANSCRIPT
Remix. To combine or edit existing materials to produce something new
The term remix originally applied to music. It rose to prominence late last century during the heyday of hip-hop, the first musical form to incorporate sampling from existing recordings.
Early example: the Sugarhill Gang samples the bass riff from Chic’s “Good Times” in the 1979 hit “Rapper’s Delight”.
Rapper’s Delight
The Sugarhill Gang
Good Times
Chic
Since then that same bassline has been sampled dozens of times.
The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash
Grandmaster Flash
Everything’s Gonna be Alright
Father MC
It’s All Good
Will Smith
2345Meia78
Gabriel O Pensador
Skip ahead to the present and anybody can remix anything — music, video, photos, whatever — and distribute it globally pretty much instantly.
You don’t need expensive tools, you don’t need a distributor, you don’t even need skills. Remixing is a folk art — anybody can do it. Yet these techniques — copying materials, transforming them, combining them — are the same ones used at any level of creation. You might even say: everything is a remix.
To explain, let’s start in England in 1968.
Part One: The Song Remains the Same
Jimmy Page recruits John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, and John Bonham to form Zed Zeppelin. They play extremely loud blues music that soon will be known as—
Wait, let’s start in Paris in 1961.
William Burroughs coins the term “heavy metal” in the novel “The Soft Machine,” a book composed using the cut-up technique, taking existing writing and literally chopping it up and rearranging it. So in 1961 William Burroughs not only invents the term “heavy metal,” the brand of music Zeppelin and a few other groups would pioneer, he also produces an early remix.
Back to Zeppelin.
By the mid-1970s Led Zeppelin are the biggest touring rock band in America, yet many critics and peers label them as… rip-offs. The case goes like this.
The opening and closing sections of “Bring it on Home” are lifted from a tune by Willie Dixon entitled — not coincidentally — “Bring it on Home.”
Bring it on Home
(Page, Plant)
Bring it on Home
(Dixon)
Performed by Sonny Boy Williamson
“The Lemon Song” lifts numerous lyrics from Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor.”
The Lemon Song
(Page, Plant)
Killing Floor
(Burnett)
“Black Mountain Side” lifts its melody from “Blackwaterside,” a traditional arranged by Bert Jansch.
Black Mountain Side
(Page)
Blackwaterside
(Traditional, Arranged Jansch)
“Dazed and Confused” features different lyrics but is clearly an uncredited cover of the same-titled song by Jake Holmes. Oddly enough, Holmes files suit over forty years later in 2010.
Dazed and Confused
(Page)
Dazed and Confused
(Holmes)
And the big one, “Stairway to Heaven” pulls its opening from Spirit’s “Taurus.” The estate of songwriter Randy California files suit in 2014.
Stairway to Heaven
(Page, Plant)
Taurus
(California)
Zeppelin clearly copied a lot of amount of other people’s material, but that alone, isn’t unusual. Only two things distinguished Zeppelin from their peers.
Firstly, when Zeppelin used someone else’s material, they didn’t attribute songwriting to the original artist. Most British blues groups were recording lots of covers, but unlike Zeppelin, they didn’t claim to have written them.
Secondly, Led Zeppelin didn’t modify their versions enough to claim they were original. Many bands knock-off acts that came before them, but they tend to emulate the general sound rather than specific lyrics or melodies. Zeppelin copied without making fundamental changes.
So, these two things
Covers: performances of other people’s material
And knock-offs: copies that stay within legal boundaries
These are long-standing examples of legal remixing. This stuff accounts for almost everything the entertainment industry produces, and that’s where we’re headed in part two.
END OF PART ONE
ONE LAST THING
Wait, one last thing. In the wake of their enormous success, Led Zeppelin went from the copier to the copied. First in the 70s with groups like Aerosmith, Heart and Boston, then during the eighties heavy metal craze, and on into the era of sampling. Here’s the beats from “When the Levee Breaks” getting sampled and remixed.
When the Levee Breaks
Led Zeppelin
Rhymin’ and Stealin’
Beastie Boys
Return to Innocence
Enigma
Lyrical Gangbang
Dr. Dre
Kim
Emininem
END OF PART ONE (REALLY)
Episode Three of This is Not a Conspiracy Theory is now live
Episode Three of my new series, This is Not a Conspiracy Theory, is now live. You can watch a preview above. If you've already purchased the series, you can log-in on VHX or Vimeo to watch the entire episode. If you've not yet purchased the series, you can do so here.