Antonio Gould » User Generated Content

2 Fantastic examples of remix culture

Antonio — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:55:13 +0000

This has been making me gawp and bob my head up and down in equal measure today – if you haven’t seen Kutiman’s videos and you want to be impressed at what can be done purely with creative editing and some serious talent, then check them out.

These were all done by pasting together individuals playing instruments on Youtube. I just can’t even begin to get my head around how difficult this must have been to do.

This one’s my favourite – a lovely dubby number..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAvS0pc9NIw[/youtube]

And as a nice parallel, Domestica (my old local washing machine shop in Moseley, Birmingham) does its own take on The Wire’s opening theme. (I think I actually bought a fridge from there once about 6 years ago..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1zSYnPYuM8[/youtube]

A Web Page for Every Species

Antonio — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:57:34 +0000

This is one of the most fascinating posts I’ve read this year so far. It’s the story behind The Encyclopedia of Life.

It has it all: An ambitious idea way ahead of its time; an eight year story from idea through to conception; a fascinating mix of world-wide collaboration, physical devices (a handheld species identifier if you can believe it), totally unique data visualisation techniques; and at the end of all this we end up with something that is going to add a rather significant amount to the sum of human knowledge.

In short, a story of "how big things get done". Inspiring.

Reality Estate: Singing Birmingham’s Truths on 28th October

Antonio — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:20:18 +0000

Reality Estate is a rather large performance art event happening in Birmingham on October 28th 2007.

From the website:

300 participants

3 venues

3 professional, 3 community and 3 estate-led choirs

An audience of 3,000

1 aim: to sing Birmingham’s truths

On 28th October 2007, REALITY ESTATE will transform the Five Ways Estate, Shopping Centre and roundabout. Developed by Friction Arts and working alongside a roster of internationally renowned artists and the people of Ladywood, together they will ‘sing Birmingham’s truths’, accompanied by some of Birmingham’s best known choirs, to a backdrop of spectacular projections and lighting.

More at www.realityestate.co.uk

I’ve been working with producers Friction Arts for about six months now helping to embed web 2.0 approaches to the projects they run. It’s first stages at the moment, but the Reality Estate site is the first step, and a good one in the right direction in my opinion.

I’ll post more on this when I have time.

Jumpcut

Antonio — Wed, 09 May 2007 12:19:45 +0000

I’m not often really blown away by a new site but this one has really impressed me. Jumpcut is a system which allows users to create their own videos online quickly and easily.

To make a video you just need to:

Upload titles and imagery.
Upload your video clips (it doesn’t seem to complain much about formats which is nice).
Upload background music.
Whack it all together using a very simple interface.

I managed to put one together in five minutes flat – and the best thing is it’s already up on the web ready to add to your site. None of that waiting three hours for it to upload nonsense.

It’s beautifully made, ridiculously easy to use and is something I’ll definitely be using for projects in the future.

Sites like this are another step along the road to allowing anyone to create without needing a ton of equipment. Good one guys.

UPDATE: Also just found Eyespot which does a similar thing; will let you know how I get on with it.

technorati tags:JumpCut, OnlineVideo

New Media 4Casts Episode 3: Film, Documentary and the Internet

Antonio — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 21:08:03 +0000

This month’s show is for Film and Documentary makers and looks at how new internet technologies are changing the landscape of this industry. Includes interviews with Patrick Walker from Google, Fabien Rigall from Future Shorts and Emily Renshaw Smith from Current TV.

For more information on the shows and to subscribe to the podcast, please visit the New Media 4Casts Homepage.

Useful links for this show:

Useful links on web video

Video on the Web blog – Full of useful stuff on web video.
Online Video Industry Index – A great roundup of the major players in the online video industry.
Brightcove – Set up your own online TV station, including advertising revenue and direct sale systems)

Comments, ideas and suggestions

Please let us know what you think of the issues raised in the show. Do you have any other interesting stories or experience in this field? What would you like to see covered in future shows?

Listen to the Show

Download audio file (nm4casts-03.mp3)

Current TV looking for film and documentary makers

Antonio — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 22:46:22 +0000

I spent an enjoyable half-hour this afternoon interviewing Emily Renshaw-Smith from Current TV for the next show in the New Media 4Casts series for 4Talent. The show will look at the opportunities opened up by new technology for film and documentary makers. It’s been a really interesting one so far and we should be online within a couple of weeks or so.

Here’s the beef, taken from the email I originally received about the project:

“Current TV, which launched August 1, 2005, is the first national network created by, for and with an 18-34 year-old audience. The network shows young adults what’s going on in their world, in their voice. Current is also the first network in history whose programming is supplied in part by the very audience who watches it. It has developed the television industry’s leading model of “viewer created content” (VC2), which comprises roughly one-third of Current’s on-air broadcast, and allows the audience to submit short-form, nonfiction video “pods. Its award-winning programming ranges from the current trends in technology, fashion, music and videogames, to pressing issues such as the environment, relationships, parenting, finance, and politics. Current is available in 30 million U.S. Homes and will be launching in the UK and Ireland in March.”

“… We’re launching in 8+ million homes in the UK and Ireland in March. And we’re looking for filmmakers who can help us make an impact when we do. …”

They’re also running a competition – 1st prize is lunch with Al Gore. Not a bad contact to have in your address book I reckon. It’d be great to see a Midlands based filmmaker win this.

If you’re interested, get in touch using their website.

Get your name in lights

Antonio — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 08:51:21 +0000

A great example of how to mix online and offline elements to create a great participative project. Check out the website and tell them who you think should be projected in gigantic letters across Birmingham City Centre.

Get yourself a free photography website

Antonio — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 21:45:07 +0000

A great article on how to build yourself a free photographic website using free software by Stef Lewandowski.

TV Still has its Hands Over its Ears.

Antonio — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 22:13:01 +0000

Here’s a very good example of how some parts of the TV industry still have their heads buried firmly in the sand when it comes to how online video is going to radically change their business.

“The Long Tail…is not an economic reality and it has almost no relevance to the economics of the television business”. A quote from Shelly Palmer, chairman of the national Advanced Media Technology Emmy Awards Committee

Oh dear.

(Courtesy of Chris Anderson)

PS Here’s more on The Long Tail if you’re unfamiliar with the concept.

Brightcove: Set up your own online TV channel

Antonio — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 21:58:49 +0000

I’ve just been having a play with Brightcove, a system which allows anyone to set up their own online TV channel. It’s quite like YouTube but much more geared to content producers who want to charge for what they want to do and make a business out of it. It has other advantages over YouTube. I put together my own channel to test it out, and here are my initial thoughts:

Easy to sign up
Easy to use
Comes with its own offline software application (the PublishPod) which converts the video before you upload it, unlike the annoying YouTube process which forces you to do it yourself, degrading the quality.
It’s possible to set charges for each individual video. This is the first time I’ve seen this available in the UK, although I may be wrong.
The player skin looks better than the YouTube one

I’ll post more as I play with it. Here are the results – it took about 20 minutes in total from start to finish to set up the channel and upload this video.