RiP!: A Remix Manifesto
Encyclopedia
RiP!: A Remix Manifesto is a 2008 open source documentary film
about "the changing concept of copyright
"
directed by Brett Gaylor
.
Created over a period of six years, the documentary film features the collaborative remix work of hundreds of people who have contributed to the Open Source Cinema
website, helping to create the "world's first open source
documentary" as Gaylor put it. The project's working title
was Basement Tapes, (referring to the album of the same name
) but it was renamed RiP!: A Remix Manifesto prior to theatrical release. Gaylor encourages more people to create their own remixes from this movie, using media available from the Open Source Cinema website, or other websites like YouTube
, Flickr
, Hulu
, or MySpace
.
grey area of remixing existing works. The film features appearances by:
The film made its US debut at the South by Southwest
festival on March 15, 2009.
The Canadian news-magazine Macleans called the movie as "a dazzling frontal assault on how corporate culture is using copyright law to muzzle freedom of expression."
Showing at the Whistler Film Festival
that took place 4 to 7 December 2008)., it also won the Cadillac People’s Choice Award.
At the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma
in Montreal
it won the Special Jury Prize. It was the closing film at Docs Barcelona It was a Special Selection at the South by Southwest
Film Festival, at Les Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois
, the Adelaide Film Festival
, Thessaloniki Film Festival, Silverdocs, Nashville Film Festival
, Victoria International Film Festival, Available Light Film Festival, Buenos Aries Film Festival, Sheffield Doc/Fest and the Munich Dokfest, and it will screen in 2009 in the New Zealand International Film Festivals
.
started a new project on his site, Open Source Cinema, dubbed RiP!: A Remix Manifesto 2.0. With this project, he invites users to take the original documentary, remix it, and upload their contributions to be included in a new, improved version of the film. Each chapter of the original film is uploaded separately for users to view and download to use.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about "the changing concept of copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
"
directed by Brett Gaylor
Brett Gaylor
Brett Gaylor is a Canadian documentary filmmaker living in Montreal, Quebec. Born in 1977, he grew up on Galiano Island, British Columbia. He is a member director of EyeSteelFilm documentary production company and its Head of New Media....
.
Created over a period of six years, the documentary film features the collaborative remix work of hundreds of people who have contributed to the Open Source Cinema
Open Source Cinema
Open Source Cinema is a collaborative website created to produce the documentary film RiP!: A Remix Manifesto, a co-production with Montreal's EyeSteelFilm and the National Film Board of Canada...
website, helping to create the "world's first open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
documentary" as Gaylor put it. The project's working title
Working title
A working title, sometimes called a production title, is the temporary name of a product or project used during its development, usually used in filmmaking, television production, novel, video game, or music album.-Purpose:...
was Basement Tapes, (referring to the album of the same name
The Basement Tapes
The Basement Tapes is a 1975 studio album by Bob Dylan and The Band. The songs featuring Dylan's vocals were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, at houses in and around Woodstock, New York, where Dylan and the Band lived...
) but it was renamed RiP!: A Remix Manifesto prior to theatrical release. Gaylor encourages more people to create their own remixes from this movie, using media available from the Open Source Cinema website, or other websites like YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
, Hulu
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...
, or MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
.
Characters
The documentary is particularly interested in the legalNon liquet
In law, a non liquet is a situation where there is no applicable law. Non liquet translates into English from Latin as "it is not clear." According to Cicero, the term was applied during the Roman Republic to a verdict of "not proven" where the guilt or innocence of the accused was "not clear." ...
grey area of remixing existing works. The film features appearances by:
- Gregg Gillis (better known as Girl TalkGirl Talk (musician)Gregg Michael Gillis , better known by his stage name Girl Talk, is an American musician specializing in mashups and digital sampling. Gillis has released five LPs on the record label Illegal Art and EPs on 333 and 12 Apostles....
) an AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musicianMusicianA musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
specializing in mashupMashup (music)A mashup or bootleg is a song or composition created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another...
-style remixes, which often use a dozen or more unauthorized samples from different songs to create an entirely new track. - Lawrence LessigLawrence LessigLawrence "Larry" Lessig is an American academic and political activist. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications, and he has called for state-based activism to promote substantive...
, an AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
academicAcademiaAcademia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
and political activist, and a professor of law at Stanford Law SchoolStanford Law SchoolStanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
and founder of its Center for Internet and SocietyStanford Center for Internet and SocietyThe Center for Internet and Society is a public interest technology law and policy program founded in 2000 by Lawrence Lessig at Stanford Law School and a part of Law, Science and Technology Program at Stanford Law School...
. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyrightCopyrightCopyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
, trademarkTrademarkA trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
, and radio frequency spectrumRadio frequencyRadio frequency is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of radio waves, and the alternating currents which carry radio signals...
, particularly in technology applications. - Cory DoctorowCory DoctorowCory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books...
, a CanadianCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger, journalistJournalistA journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and science fictionScience fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
author. Doctorow is co-editor of the blog Boing BoingBoing BoingBoing Boing is a publishing entity, first established as a magazine, later becoming a group blog.-History:...
and is an activist in favor of reforming copyrightCopyrightCopyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
laws. He is a proponent of the Creative CommonsCreative CommonsCreative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
organization, using some of their licenses for his books. Common themes in his work include digital rights managementDigital rights managementDigital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
and file sharingFile sharingFile sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...
. - Gilberto GilGilberto GilGilberto Passos Gil Moreira , better known as Gilberto Gil or , is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known for both his musical innovation and political commitment...
, the Brazilian musician and former Minister of Cultural Affairs who initiated pioneering programs in BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
through a partnership with Creative CommonsCreative CommonsCreative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
. As Minister, he sponsored a program called Culture Points, which gives grantsGrant (money)Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
to provide music technology and education to people living in poor areas of the country's cities. - Dan O'NeillDan O'NeillDan O'Neill is an American underground cartoonist, creator of the syndicated comic strip Odd Bodkins and founder of the underground comics collective the Air Pirates.-Odd Bodkins:...
, an underground cartoonist and founder of the Air PiratesAir PiratesThe Air Pirates were a group of cartoonists who created two issues of an underground comic called Air Pirates Funnies in 1971, leading to a famous lawsuit by The Walt Disney Company...
, a group which was famously sued by The Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
for copyright infringement. - Jammie Thomas, the single mom successfully sued by the Recording Industry Association of AmericaRecording Industry Association of AmericaThe Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) at the Capitol v. ThomasCapitol v. ThomasCapitol v. Thomas was the first file-sharing copyright infringement lawsuit in the United States brought by major record labels to be tried before a jury. The defendant, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, was found liable in a 2007 trial for infringing 24 songs and ordered to pay $222,000 in statutory damages...
case for Thomas' illegal downloading. The single mother, who made US$36,000 a year, was ordered to pay US$222,220 in damages for making 24 songs available for download on the KazaaKazaaKazaa Media Desktop started as a peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol licensed by Joltid Ltd. and operated as Kazaa by Sharman Networks...
file-sharing network.
Festivals and Awards
RiP!: A Remix Manifesto made its international debut at the IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) in November 2008. It won the festival's Audience Award.The film made its US debut at the South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
festival on March 15, 2009.
The Canadian news-magazine Macleans called the movie as "a dazzling frontal assault on how corporate culture is using copyright law to muzzle freedom of expression."
Showing at the Whistler Film Festival
Whistler Film Festival
The Whistler Film Festival is an annual film festival in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. It was established in 2001. The festival, which is held the first weekend in December, includes six juried competitive sections and one audience award...
that took place 4 to 7 December 2008)., it also won the Cadillac People’s Choice Award.
At the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma
The Festival du Nouveau Cinéma was known as the Montreal Festival of New Cinema and New Media until 2004. Founded in 1971, by Claude Chamberlan and Dimitri Eipides, it is an annual independent film festival held in Montreal and features independent films from around the world...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
it won the Special Jury Prize. It was the closing film at Docs Barcelona It was a Special Selection at the South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
Film Festival, at Les Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois
Les Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois
The Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois is a festival created in 1982 to celebrate the cinematographic production of Quebec, Canada.The goal of the festival is to promote the Cinema of Quebec and its makers in order to support its culture and stimulate its industry. It occurs in February, to coincide...
, the Adelaide Film Festival
Adelaide Film Festival
The Adelaide Film Festival is a biennial and non-competitive film festival held over two weeks in late February, in Adelaide, South Australia....
, Thessaloniki Film Festival, Silverdocs, Nashville Film Festival
Nashville Film Festival
The Nashville Film Festival , held annually in Nashville, Tennessee, is the oldest running film festival in the South and one of the oldest in the United States. In 2009, Nashville Film Festival received close to 2000 submissions from 86 countries, programmed nearly 260 films and had an attendance...
, Victoria International Film Festival, Available Light Film Festival, Buenos Aries Film Festival, Sheffield Doc/Fest and the Munich Dokfest, and it will screen in 2009 in the New Zealand International Film Festivals
New Zealand International Film Festivals
The New Zealand International Film Festival is a film festival held annually across New Zealand throughout the latter half of the year.In 2009 for the first time the Festival relinquished its various regional names to be called the New Zealand International Film Festival...
.
RiP!: A Remix Manifesto 2.0
On February 27, 2009 Brett GaylorBrett Gaylor
Brett Gaylor is a Canadian documentary filmmaker living in Montreal, Quebec. Born in 1977, he grew up on Galiano Island, British Columbia. He is a member director of EyeSteelFilm documentary production company and its Head of New Media....
started a new project on his site, Open Source Cinema, dubbed RiP!: A Remix Manifesto 2.0. With this project, he invites users to take the original documentary, remix it, and upload their contributions to be included in a new, improved version of the film. Each chapter of the original film is uploaded separately for users to view and download to use.
See also
- CopyleftCopyleftCopyleft is a play on the word copyright to describe the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work...
- Free software philosophy
- Public domainPublic domainWorks are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
- Good Copy Bad CopyGood Copy Bad CopyGood Copy Bad Copy, A documentary about the current state of copyright and culture, is a documentary about copyright and culture in the context of Internet, peer-to-peer file sharing and other technological advances, directed by Andreas Johnsen, Ralf Christensen, and Henrik Moltke.It features...
- Steal This FilmSteal This FilmSteal This Film is a film series documenting the movement against intellectual property produced by The League of Noble Peers and released via the BitTorrent peer-to-peer protocol....
- Girl TalkGirl Talk (musician)Gregg Michael Gillis , better known by his stage name Girl Talk, is an American musician specializing in mashups and digital sampling. Gillis has released five LPs on the record label Illegal Art and EPs on 333 and 12 Apostles....
- Lawrence LessigLawrence LessigLawrence "Larry" Lessig is an American academic and political activist. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications, and he has called for state-based activism to promote substantive...
External links
- RiP!: A Remix Manifesto at the National Film Board of Canada
- RiP!: A Remix Manifesto 2.0 Project Page
- EyeSteelFilm