Opening 1

For our first opening, we were required to watch a few videos. Some of them I had a significant reaction to. Others I really did not have much to say about. This will vary from person to person simply due to interest. Regardless, there were a few things I had to say.

The first video I viewed was RIP Remix Manifesto. This one really had me thinking about laws regarding copyright. Copyright laws in some cases really do stagger creativity in people. Someone may have some interesting new idea they came up with that involved some form of copyrighted media. The problem with that is that in order to act upon this new idea, this person would likely have to pay thousands of dollars for the proper licensing to use the copyrighted material in their work, or else risk being sued for copyright infringement. Therefore, this person cannot really do anything with their idea. The whole world is now missing out on this potential cool new thing.

While that is all true, I see it from the other side as well. If someone say, took a song I made and, without obtaining proper permission, put it in a film that made a lot of money I would be rather upset. There was potential for me to make a lot of money there, too, and some person basically took that away from me. To put it simple, I have conflicting views on the subject, but I am definitely support opportunities for more creativity, even if they do involve copyrighted material.

For the second video, I really do not know what happened. This video was Whispering in the Leaves: Chris Watson. Something weird happened where I simply had no reaction to this video at all. I watched the whole thing through and, for some reason, it just did not affect me in any way.

In addition to the required material, I watched a few other videos as well. The most significant was the Everything is a Remix series. This series really helped me to see things from the side of the person creating with what has already been made. So many different songs and movies lift elements from other songs or movies. Some of our most beloved pieces take quite heavily from other pieces. Even something as big as Star Wars takes a lot from movies. So much on this world would not exist if everything was completely original.

In the end, copyright laws can really be a hindrance in media. These laws restrict new ideas in creativity. While these do exist to protect the original creators, the laws may be a bit too strict.But, for now, I suppose we should all stick to trying to stay out of trouble.