Is Piracy all bad?

The ways in which content is created and shared has changed so radically, it has left many traditional media players confused and bewildered.

I can imagine many jaws dropping when they read this effusive thank-you letter, written by an indie film producer to Releaselog. The cause for Eric D.Wilkinson’s gratitude: internet rankings of his movie,”Jerome Bixby’s The Man From Earth” have gone through the roof, thanks to an act of “piracy.”

Releaselog | RLSLOG.net » Piracy isn’t THAT bad and they know it
http://www.rlslog.net/piracy-isnt-that-bad-and-they-know-it/

I do feel that we should abandon some of our cherished notions of ownership and control. Perhaps the Web is the medium through which you need to give away some in order to get a whole lot more in return.

Olympics Logo Bike: A Grand Gesture

Whenever I tell people I am making a documentary about the Olympics, one of the first questions they ask me is: “Are you featuring athletes?”

When I say that I am making a film about ordinary people and their Olympics dreams, the response I often get is one of surprise, even of incredulity.

But I can point to ample evidence of the extraordinary efforts some Chinese people have invested into dramatizing their passion for the Olympics.

Check out this story about a man who has modified his bike into the shape of the Olympics logo:
Sunday Photo: Olympics Logo Bike :: China Digital Times (CDT) 中国数字时代

Talk about grand gestures…

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Sounds of Beijing

I have worked in TV my entire career. But secretly, I enjoy radio more. By that, I mean really well-produced radio features that use sound to trigger the listener’s imagination.

I am into the final stages of post production for my documentary about the Beijing Olympics and I have been hunting obsessively for sound recordings of Beijing.

Here is a gem of a sound collage that I have found on the web:

Perhaps it is because I am a foreigner but to me, each environment in Beijing sounds a little different from the others. Urban vs Suburban. Old vs New. Downtown vs Outskirts.

Listen, for instance, to the sound recordings of the Dazhalan district in Beijing, an old area that is being demolished.

Like pictures, sounds give us important cues to urban transition and transformation.

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TED: Cool Channel

If I could start a TV channel from scratch, I would format it like TED .  Originally a conference of technology  and entertainment trends, TED has broadened its content to cover many contemporary themes.  It has also started putting its video archives online.

Here is why I love TED as anexperience:

• Great content: inspiring and often entertaining talks by the movers and shakers of our times.
• Clear focus: Powerful ideas — that is what TED has to offer and you’d find it on the site consistently.
• Intuitive: It is easy to view videos, leave comments and participate.
• Enlightened: Content is licensed under the creative commons and you are empowered to spread the ideas far and wide.
• Good-looking:
  By that I mean the visual aesthetics of the site are pleasing…and
  most importantly, no technical glitches to interrupt the experience.

Kylie Gets Her Own Social Network

And now you really can’t get her out of your head… Kylie Minogue has an entire social network dedicated to her.

http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/11/an-entire-socia.html

It is clear that the social network is going the way of the blog. Soon, everyone can get his or her own and host it anywhere they’d like.

The question is: will your fans and/or friends follow you?

Cory Doctorow: Why Giving Away Books online make sense

How do you defend your intellectual property rights when technology makes it so easy for just about anyone to copy and distribute your creative work online?

The music industry, the publishing industry and now, even the TV industry have to grapple with this question.

Some musicians, most notably Radiohead, is allowing fans to buy direct on the Web at a price they see fit. Others think the answer is to give it away online FREE.

I have been fascinated by the creative commons movement and what Cory Doctorow science fiction writer and BoingBoing.net founder has achieved by giving away his e-books free.

Kotkke.org has this interview with Doctorow.

http://www.kottke.org/07/11/cory-doctorow

I particularly like what he says about the role of serendipity in this new way of distributing: “So for one thing, the free online distribution of my work has created new opportunities—it’s like dandelion seeds blowing around that find all the cracks in the sidewalk that I never would have been able to find just by walking around and planting them.”

The idea of dandelion seeds blowing in the wind is almost poetic.

Errol Morris NYT blog: And You Thought Your Blog Post Was Long

Be short and sharp.  Post frequently.  You are writing for the Web 2.0
audience with the attention span of a flea.  That is the standard
advice handed out to the newbie blogger.

Well, not if you are Academy award winning documentary filmmaker, Errol Morris. The man who crafted films such as Fog of War:Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, Thin Blue Line and Fast,Cheap and Out of Control simply would not be bound by the same rules.

His blog posts read like the interviews in the best of his documentary films, long, rambling and fascinating. 

Errol Morris – Zoom – New York Times Blog

Enjoy!

BBC Film Network Filmmaking Guide

The BBC’s online film network has produced a new film making guide.

I like the way the guide reflects new dynamics in production and distribution as short form content and online video-sharing becomes increasingly important.

BBC – Film Network – filmmaking guide: index

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DIY video summit

We live in the era of DIY media.

The boundaries of the media industry is melting all around us. In the old days, you could define precisely who is a filmmaker or a journalist, now anyone can be self-appointed member of the media industry.

Reflecting this seismic shift, the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts has organized a 24/7 – a DIY Video Summit.

Speakers and participants transcend industry silos. This new breed of DIY filmmakers include academics, activists, installation artists and tech geeks. For them, video is often a means towards some other end, rather than an end in itself.

Check out the eclectic program offerings here.

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Art Vs Design

A friend, who is a student at one of China’s top universities, asked me an intriguing question the other day: “What is the difference between art and design?”

The textbook answer she has been given at school? “Design is more commercial.”

Designer, Paul Rand is one person who has demonstrated beyond a doubt the commercial value of good design.

He has created some of the most memorable logos of our times, including the IBM logo and the UPS logo.

Watch this 4 minute tribute to Paul Rand’s life work.

One Show – Paul Rand Tribute Film (2007) 4:00 (USA) | Adland

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