Try Hard: Diy Filmmaking and Remix Culture

Thomas Javier CastilloThomas Javier CastilloBowling Green State UniversityBowling Green State University

How do (Low-Budget) Filmmakers engage with remix culture?

● Recent Scholarship has located a number of moving image-based remix practices.

● Stedman: “Vidders”: Fan-made video tributes to television shows and films.

● Knobel and Lankshear: Anime Music Videos, Machinima.

● Here, the DIY fan remake as a remix practice.

● Recent Scholarship has located a number of moving image-based remix practices.

● Stedman: “Vidders”: Fan-made video tributes to television shows and films.

● Knobel and Lankshear: Anime Music Videos, Machinima.

● Here, the DIY fan remake as a remix practice.

The Remix● Stedman: Remix in “a broad sense...that

includes any act of composition that involves the deliberate manipulation of previous passages, clips, or samples throughout a majority of the work.”

● Knobel and Lankshear: “By the art of remix, we mean the aesthetics, appreciation, form and composition dimensions of remix practices.”

● Stedman: Remix in “a broad sense...that includes any act of composition that involves the deliberate manipulation of previous passages, clips, or samples throughout a majority of the work.”

● Knobel and Lankshear: “By the art of remix, we mean the aesthetics, appreciation, form and composition dimensions of remix practices.”

The Remix Cont'd● Costanzo: A generous approach toward

composition: “Whenever people write or read, or watch or make a movie, they are combining words, images, ideas and other experiences into meaningful relationships. They are composing in the fullest sense of the term.”

● Historical context: Trash Cinema, Found Footage. Moving image remix did not start circa 2000 CE.

● Costanzo: A generous approach toward composition: “Whenever people write or read, or watch or make a movie, they are combining words, images, ideas and other experiences into meaningful relationships. They are composing in the fullest sense of the term.”

● Historical context: Trash Cinema, Found Footage. Moving image remix did not start circa 2000 CE.

Emulations/influencers of Diy Remake

Truly Diy fan remakes

Truly Diy fan remakes

Star wars uncut● A DIY, (mostly) shot-for-shot fan remake of

Star Wars.● Crowdsourced: Multitude of

authors/remixers.● Web-based: semi-interactive website

interface and streaming distribution.● Mashup: 15-second fan clips edited together

to create the entire film.

● A DIY, (mostly) shot-for-shot fan remake of Star Wars.

● Crowdsourced: Multitude of authors/remixers.

● Web-based: semi-interactive website interface and streaming distribution.

● Mashup: 15-second fan clips edited together to create the entire film.

SW uncut as Remix● Stedman: Practice-centered approaches to

study of remix.● Borschke: A tendency for remix scholars to

discount the material, compositional aspects of remixing: the term now far removed from its music roots.

● Is everything really a remix?● If so, what are the elements of that remix?

● Stedman: Practice-centered approaches to study of remix.

● Borschke: A tendency for remix scholars to discount the material, compositional aspects of remixing: the term now far removed from its music roots.

● Is everything really a remix?● If so, what are the elements of that remix?

SW uncut as Remix● An extremely well-known and culturally

influential text with a fervent fan base.● A specific rhetorical terrain that necessitates

an intimate knowledge of the text to re-produce as well as view and understand the remake.

● A variety of compositional strategies.● Why watch? Why make?

● An extremely well-known and culturally influential text with a fervent fan base.

● A specific rhetorical terrain that necessitates an intimate knowledge of the text to re-produce as well as view and understand the remake.

● A variety of compositional strategies.● Why watch? Why make?

Style● A variety of stylistic and technical approaches:

shockingly good animation● A variety of stylistic and technical approaches:

shockingly good animation

Style Cont'd● Low-budget video: the earnest DIY approach● Low-budget video: the earnest DIY approach

Style Cont'd● Cut-out masks: Low-fi simulacrum. ● Cut-out masks: Low-fi simulacrum.

Style Cont'd● Cats. The webcam meets the DIY remake.● Cats. The webcam meets the DIY remake.

Style Cont'd● Star Wars in 8-bit glory: Layers upon layers of

references.● Star Wars in 8-bit glory: Layers upon layers of

references.

Style Cont'd● GIF-style Star Wars.● GIF-style Star Wars.

Style Cont'd● Lego Star Wars. An genre unto itself: the Lego

remake.● Lego Star Wars. An genre unto itself: the Lego

remake.

Style Cont'd● Yellow Submarine Star Wars.● Yellow Submarine Star Wars.

Style Cont'd● Low-fi Trash Cinema. Star Wars by way of the

Kuchar brothers.● Low-fi Trash Cinema. Star Wars by way of the

Kuchar brothers.

cats v. legos● The devil is in the details: How is something

different when done with cats than with cardboard cutouts? When done with GIF animation than with 3D computer animation?

● How does style become rhetoric? What are the aesthetic values at play? What are the goals of the composition?

● The devil is in the details: How is something different when done with cats than with cardboard cutouts? When done with GIF animation than with 3D computer animation?

● How does style become rhetoric? What are the aesthetic values at play? What are the goals of the composition?

The Art and craft of diy remakes

● How technically assured/”real” is the remake?● How closely does it match the text in terms of

timing, shot selection, and performance?● How much does it change the text and where?● How does it comment upon or re-interpret the

text?● How does it degrade the text?● How are they going to pull that off? The

pleasures of low-budget spectacle.

● How technically assured/”real” is the remake?● How closely does it match the text in terms of

timing, shot selection, and performance?● How much does it change the text and where?● How does it comment upon or re-interpret the

text?● How does it degrade the text?● How are they going to pull that off? The

pleasures of low-budget spectacle.

Audience and Authorship

● Fan remake as tribute but also challenge: Han shoots first in Star Wars Uncut.

● Close readings required for maximum effect on the part of both audience and author.

● In the crowdsourced context, the audience is the author.

● Fan remake as tribute but also challenge: Han shoots first in Star Wars Uncut.

● Close readings required for maximum effect on the part of both audience and author.

● In the crowdsourced context, the audience is the author.

Audience is Author

● Cinephilia and videophilia become something more active, critical and participatory: Collaborative Remix Zones: Hudson and Zimmerman.

● Frolunde: “Remix is herein related to dialogic notions of the ‘inter-animation’ of multiple voices: in other words, remix is part of how language evolves as a continual dialogue within texts, between people and with previous works and authors.”

● Cinephilia and videophilia become something more active, critical and participatory: Collaborative Remix Zones: Hudson and Zimmerman.

● Frolunde: “Remix is herein related to dialogic notions of the ‘inter-animation’ of multiple voices: in other words, remix is part of how language evolves as a continual dialogue within texts, between people and with previous works and authors.”

Star Sources● Borschke, Margie. "Rethinking the Rhetoric of Remix." Media International

Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy.141 (2011): 17-25.

● Costanzo, William V. Double Exposure: Composing Through Writing and Film. Upper Montclair, N.J: Boynton/Cook Publishers, 1984. Print.

● Frølunde, Lisbeth. "Machinima Filmmaking as Culture in Practice: Dialogical Processes of Remix." Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 2012. 491-507.

● Knobel, Michele, and Colin Lankshear. "Remix: The Art and Craft of Endless Hybridization." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52.1 (2008): 22-33.

● Hudson, Dale, and Patricia R. Zimmermann. "Cinephilia, Technophilia and Collaborative Remix Zones." Screen 50.1 (2009): 135-46.

● Stedman, Kyle D. "Remix Literacy and Fan Compositions." Computers and Composition 29.2 (2012): 107.

● Star Wars Uncut. http://starwarsuncut.com. Online.

● Borschke, Margie. "Rethinking the Rhetoric of Remix." Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy.141 (2011): 17-25.

● Costanzo, William V. Double Exposure: Composing Through Writing and Film. Upper Montclair, N.J: Boynton/Cook Publishers, 1984. Print.

● Frølunde, Lisbeth. "Machinima Filmmaking as Culture in Practice: Dialogical Processes of Remix." Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 2012. 491-507.

● Knobel, Michele, and Colin Lankshear. "Remix: The Art and Craft of Endless Hybridization." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52.1 (2008): 22-33.

● Hudson, Dale, and Patricia R. Zimmermann. "Cinephilia, Technophilia and Collaborative Remix Zones." Screen 50.1 (2009): 135-46.

● Stedman, Kyle D. "Remix Literacy and Fan Compositions." Computers and Composition 29.2 (2012): 107.

● Star Wars Uncut. http://starwarsuncut.com. Online.