Democrazy

Since the advent of the red camera, high quality video has yet to be so affordable. Of course I use the term affordable loosely. Affordable, meaning if you have a few thousand dollars to flush down the drain and can still, you know, pay rent or buy food. Everybody knows what I’m taking about, those frivolous things we can’t help but splurge on a couple days out of every month. For those of us unable to afford such equipment, we have had to download, patch and torrent our way to quality footage worthy of our re-edits.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html


Re-edits bring another obstacle to the challenge of recreating new content. Larry Lessig, raised a valid point during his presentation at the 2007 TED gathering in Monterey, California. The idea consisted of copyrighted video and democracy. More specifically the use of commercially made video content re-edited to birth entirely new non-commercial content with new messages. Lessig, closed his presentation with a look into the future where he described a proposed law which would automatically remove any YouTube content made from copyrighted material.

This might not seem to be a big deal, but the reality of the situation is we are media students. As students, we look at the bigger picture. We stare into the future wondering what it has in store for us. And the grim picture Lessig foreshadows could very well thwart our ability to post our reels online. These days many employers request a resume, cover letter and a link to your reel. It is in these reels where we showcase our post production expertise to prospective employers. Without the ability to post our reels somewhere online for prospective employers to see, how will we be able to prove what we ‘ve got to offer?

We must stand up for ourselves and more importantly for the content we create or better yet re-create. Cameras, lighting equipment and locations are equally expensive as they are difficult to acquire. Why not use what footage others have created and re-edit it, it is not plagiarism. It is not stealing. We have to work with what we’ve got when we’ve got it. Let’s exercise our democratic right and continue to pursue those careers.