I found some time this evening to edit together some more from my interview with Ella yesterday after her second-day of First Grade –
Archives For Videos
I was remarking to myself the other day (this happens often, believe it or not) about just how much graphics-technology has changed in my own lifetime.
From my humble beginnings with an 8-bit Atari 2600 (I’m pretty sure I could still beat anyone at Centipede) and then ‘graduating’ to playing GoldenEye on the 64-bit Nintendo system, the graphic-ability of even the gaming consoles of my life has been ever-changing right before my eyes. I’m not even sure how many ‘bits’ are within our family’s Wii these days.
The same is true with computer graphics. I remember being pretty excited playing on the Mac computers in the computer lab of my Junior High School and manipulating basic shapes into some sort of a clickable ‘game’ with my friends during Computer Club (yep, I was that guy).
These days the “Computer Graphics Industry” has advanced beyond what I can even imagine. Think about it yourself next time you’re watching television and a majority of what we see now is aided by computer graphics.
A couple of years ago I upgraded my “graphics suite” of software to Adobe CS4 and I’ve become familiar and comfortable within the programs of Illustrator and Photoshop. Also in this suite of software are some video and graphics-manipulating programs that make me quite nervous. I’ve been editing my latest videos quickly within Adobe Premier, but have been nervous to dig any deeper than I’ve needed to with basic editing all I’ve approached thus far.
This week I dug out a piece of green cloth I saved from the dumpster one afternoon and brought it home with me. I also ‘hired’ a 6-year-old assistant to recite the Pledge of Allegiance after a day of school and I filmed her in front of my make-shift ‘green screen’ with my HD camera.
It was her idea to put a flag behind her when I suggested the idea on the way home from school. (she’s already a creative genius)
I really don’t know what I’m doing. I watch enough YouTube tutorials to get by and I’m scared I’ll break something every time I tweak a setting within the software, but what I came up with is what I’m hoping is a first-step into doing more with video in the future. I want to know and learn enough to ‘be dangerous’ and do fun things like put waving flags behind my kids as they say, “…with liverty and justice for all…”
Behold, my first green-screen attempt:
“I can’t afford Apple products.”
This is what my response is when I’m (often) asked why I’m I computer-guy and yet don’t use a version of the computer with a partially eaten apple logo that glows via nuclear reaction while the lid is closed…
It’s partially true. I’ve crunched the numbers and have had the numbers crunched for me when I’ve talked about my new non-Apple laptops I’ve purchased over the years. There is enough evidence to go either way, I think, with performance and quality versus affordability in the argument of Mac vs PC.
The truth is – I learned much of my early computing on an Apple product – it had a green-monochrome screen and I’m fairly sure I spent more time suffering from the electronic-version of dysentery (while playing Oregon Trail) than I did learning anything truly helpful in those days. I also currently have an old iMac in my home that my kids play on occasionally. I also love stepping into Apple Stores when I have the opportunity. I have owned a few iPods over the last few years. I’ve even wasted a few afternoons in the past watching Apple Keynotes via someone’s snuck-in webcam on an livestream to see LIVE what kind of earth-shattering technology Mr. Jobs and company have come up with (mainly so that I could Tweet it out and be cool).
But I’m definitely NOT a ‘fanboy’ of all-things Apple – I own an Android phone, a Dell laptop, an Android tablet, and a GoogleTV device. An ‘Apple fanboy’ would own an iPhone, MacBook, iPod, and an AppleTV – plus a pile of the related accessories and probably sport a small partially-eaten apple logo on their left bicep.
The latest headlines regarding the lawsuits Apple has filed against Samsung have been seemingly insignificant in their goings-on and especially in their outcome of Apple winning the suit and Samsung being forced to make amends for their apparent copyright infringements.
I am appalled by the result of these lawsuits.
Full disclosure: the Android tablet I own is a Samsung Galaxy Tab. The Android phone I own is a Samsung Galaxy S2. Obviously it would look as though I’m a bit biased because I’m on the ‘other side’ and own a piece of the losing company – but stay with me.
The court’s ruling that Samsung infringed upon (read: stole) the Apple product(s) in creating their own is probably fair but I don’t think it’s right. (For more on “fair vs. right” please take a time-machine back to my adolescence and almost any afternoon conversation with my father about how ‘unfair’ the world was back then.)
Other’s have described the danger’s of Apple’s winning suit better than me. Even before it was a court-case.
Back in June, Kirby Ferguson, a filmmaker was a featured TED presenter at TEDGlobal 2012 that I think gives us a unique and powerful perspective on the fact, as he says, that “Everything is a Remix”. I challenge you (Apple fanboy or not) to watch this short presentation and ask how the consistent patenting of ideas by the likes of Big Corporations is not only hypocritical but also detrimental to our society.
Why read the history of your favorite toy company when they’ve just released a 17-minute video depicting their company’s history!
Love this:
If you’ve not yet heard the song, “Somebody that I used to know” by the artist Gotye, congratulations – you have somehow managed to not be influenced by our culture over since January when the song was initially released and ever since has seemingly been on ‘repeat’ on every and all radio station within the contiguous United States. Seriously, the song has been #1 on MANY countries charts for MANY weeks since its release.
Since its release, the song has not only been one of the most-played on the radio but also has become one of the most duplicated on YouTube by everyone and his or her fourth-cousin. This is what happens in a culture obsessed by music. We can’t just listen to the original, we have to produce our own versions. And I like it that way.
With the over-abundance of cover-versions of the song available on YouTube, I was pleased to find this week a new video by Gotye released on his own YouTube channel entitled, “Gotye – Somebodies – A YouTube Orchestra” where he downloaded and edited together a collaborative version of the track featuring some of those THOUSANDS of cover-versions available. Admittedly he barely scratched the service of what was available. He writes in the video’s description:
Reluctant as I am to add to the mountain of interpretations of Somebody That I Used To Know seemingly taking over their own area of the internet, I couldn’t resist the massive remixability that such a large, varied yet connected bundle of source material offered.??
I was directly inspired here by Kutiman’s Thru-You project. ??Wonderful stuff!??
Thank you to everyone who has responded to Somebody That I Used To Know via YouTube. It’s truly amazing!
All audio and video in Somebodies is from the YouTube user videos featured, each of them a cover or parody of Somebody That I Used To Know. No extra sounds were added to the mix, but I used some EQ, filtering, pitch-shifting and time-stretching to make the music.??
A full list of links to the original videos is available here: http://www.gotye.com/#blog.html
???I avoided using any existing remixes of the song, or any covers from tv talent shows.?
As comprehensive and extensive as I tried to be with my downloading of source videos, I know there are many clips that I missed. Tay Zonday’s cover for instance, no internet mashup should be without him.??I used KeepVid.com to download the YouTube videos, Ableton Live for audio stretching, pitch-shifting and the initial video editing, and Adobe’s After Effects to put the final video together.
With the continued debate on copyright restrictions, legality of downloading videos from sources like YouTube, and the over-abundance of “asking for forgiveness instead of permission” within these arguments, it is refreshing to see the artist of a hugely popular song join in on the fun and release the next generation of copy-of-a-copy.
I think you’ll enjoy Gotye’s edit:
