Congratulations to all of our winners! After a gruelling public vote and an even more intense celebrity judging round, the winners of the 2008 Total Recut Video Remix Challenge have finally been determined. The competition was tight, but there was one clear winner that our judges felt managed to capture the true essence of remix culture in the most inspiring way. So, without further ado, here are the winners!
** Second Place ** Composition by Jata Haan, The Netherlands
** Third Place** Remix Culture II by Ricardo Carrion, Switzerland
Our winners will receive a brand new laptop computer, a digital handheld camcorder and a digital media player for first, second and third place, respectively, sponsored by Total Recut. Avid's Pinnacle have very generously provided us with a copy of their video editing package, Pinnacle Studio Ultimate v12, for three of our runners up - fourth, fifth and sixth place. Pinnacle also offer all of our participants a complimentary download of their video editing software, Videospin. Simply click the link below to download it. The remaining finalists will each receive Total Recut merchandise and a copy of one of our esteemed judge's books. All of our contestants will receive a free copy of Videomaker magazine*, compliments of Videomaker.
I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our judges, Lawrence Lessig, Henry Jenkins, JD Lasica, Kembrew McLeod, Matt Mason, Alison Hanold (on behalf of Pat Aufderheide), Luminosity and Mark Hosler for so generously offering their time, interest and support on this project. And of course, thank you to everyone who participated by creating and submitting videos or by watching and voting for them - without your ongoing involvement, this competition would not have been possible, and this community of remixers would not exist. And for those of you who didn't make it into the final this time, don't worry - we will be hosting more remix challenges in the near future, so watch this space...
Congratulations to DJ Le Clown, Jata Haan and Ricardo Carrion - it's great to see that remix culture has truly become a global phenomenon. We had entrants from all over the world, and 6 different countries were represented in the final! Remix is now within the grasp of anyone with a computer and an internet connection - take advantage of this unique opportunity - remix everything, encourage freedom of expression, have fun and most of all, make a difference.
JD Lasica: I LOVED this mashup. It perfectly captures the spirit of anarchy, irony and pop culture that infuses remix culture in its purest form.
The technique was skillful, the typography cool, the soundtrack properly thematic and, while it went on a minute too long, I can easily forgive that.
Matt Mason: Pretty standard. Didn't say anything to me about NYC, or xmas, or anything much. Also: Benzino?!? WTF?!? Should have included a good NYC MC.
Luminosity: Overall Impact - Excellent.
Creativity - If DJ Le Clown actually did the audio remix as well, I was blown away.
Communication - It didn't define remix culture as much as it threw me into a vid that celebrated it.
A little long, but very, very well-done.
Mark Hosler: Kinda fun and nicely done for what it is - an appropriated music video. But I wish the actual found lyrics added up to something that made sense. Santa Claus in NYC? What? I wish this had been about something, instead of seeming totally random.
To read Mark Hosler's full commentary, CLICK HERE.
JD Lasica: Interesting and creative use of the medium.
Alison Hanold: I like the way you've used clips to create a visual composition instead of an essay or narrative -- the sound effects really take it up to the next level.
Matt Mason: Points deducted for credits at beginning. 22 seconds in you start the film? You have less than four seconds to get someone's attention online, and nobody cares who you need to thank. Do it at the end, more people will watch it, then thanking people means more. Good idea, though.
Luminosity: Overall Impact - A big duh?
Creativity - Beautiful composition (design)
Communication - Didn't tell me anything other than how pretty the Opera House is. I thought the vid was gorgeous, but it didn't answer the challenge at all, IMO.
Mark Hosler: This smart and elegant short embodies the ideas in the actual work itself and in a new and inventive way. Half way through viewing it I realized what it must be made from - images taken by others found on FLICKR. Really subtle and nicely done. This should be expanded into a much larger work. MORE
JD Lasica: I enjoyed the clips (and Aaron Swartz's comments). Still, I think we're at a point where remixes about remix culture are a bit too self-referential.
Alison Hanold: Using the interview of Aaron Swartz makes for a strong and very clear answer to the question "what is Remix?" and the images you chose supported what he was saying well, but I would have liked to have seen more "value added" by the images: it seemed as though that interview was carrying all the weight of the video.
Matt Mason: Very Adam Curtis. Better than part one.
Luminosity: Overall Impact - Excellent.
Creativity - Loved the consistency of the stock footage.
Communication - This is one of those vids where I think I'd get it even without the voice over.
Humorous, subversive, a little scary.
Mark Hosler: Steals from a guy (Craig Baldwin) who steals to make his art. I've always thought appropriating from appropriators was a pretty lazy approach. As for the rest for this, just the fact that it's all stolen is not enough to tie it together for me. Bad sound mix. MORE
JD Lasica: Nice combination of original (I assume) and appropriated footage.
Compelling music. Credits?
Matt Mason: Love the tune! Creative use of samples.
Luminosity: Overall Impact - Very enjoyable.
Creativity - Great use of repetition in the composition.
Communication - It *showed* me remix culture. Yes. I enjoyed counting off the sources that I knew.
Mark Hosler: Not enough to just have a song about "my bike" and steal shots of folks riding bikes. Needs more layers to it to hold my interest. Too simple. MORE
Alison Hanold: Good use of actors' lines to make your point about remix and fair use; I would have liked to see you expand the point a bit more.
Matt Mason: Pretty standard stuff.
Luminosity: Overall Impact - Short, to the point. Expected a little more than I got.
Creativity - Liked the disparate sources linked together, but I thought it was a poor rip-off of the Disney cartoon remix. (not that I have a problem with rip-offs--after all, I've been called a rip-off artist for seven years.)
Communication - I don't think I'd really know what "fair use" was after watching this short vid. Just showing the text on the screen and then having Clint Eastwood say he had to look it up isn't enough. It's a start, though.
Mark Hosler: Cute, gets an idea across, wish it took the idea further. Seems unfinished.
To read Mark Hosler's full commentary, CLICK HERE.
* Please note, due to a potential conflict of interest, Lawrence Lessig did not submit ratings for this video.
Professor Lessig's
votes for 'Read-Write remix' by Matt Agnello, were objectively substituted by Owen Gallagher, founder of TotalRecut.com.
:: Judges' Comments ::
JD Lasica: I liked this. A nice and fitting tribute to Lessig, the spiritual leader of remix culture.
Matt Mason: Way to bribe one of the judges!
Luminosity: Overall Impact - Blatant suck up to the judge. LOL.
Creativity - Very creative blatant suck up to the judge. (still laughing)
Communication - When you use LL's words, there's no question that there's an understandable communication about the definition of remix.
Mark Hosler: Making Lessig say the start of Lennon's IMAGINE is cute, though the rest of this short is kind of incoherent and has bad sound. MORE
JD Lasica: Amazing technique, adding in modern footage to classic Hollywood films.
Matt Mason: Good concept! Well put together and original.
Luminosity: Overall Impact - "Where Are They Now?" I laughed out loud.
Creativity - Excellent derivative work.
Communication - I don't think the video especially communicated an answer to the question of what remix culture is. Hardware Wars! I enjoyed this vid a lot.
Mark Hosler: Very clever technically, clever concept, horrible sound and a very bad choice for voice over talent, but most of all it tries to be funny and it's simply not funny. Kiss of death. MORE
JD Lasica: Clever juxtaposition of O'Reilly and O'Reilly. Disturbing imagery of US troops at the finish.
Matt Mason: Didn't know what the point was, but liked the Bill O piece at the beginning.
Luminosity: Overall Impact - Hilarious.
Creativity - Great fuck mashup.
Communication - Other than the mashup, I don't see it communicating what remix actually is.
I found this vid very entertaining even though I think it fell short of answering the challenge.
Mark Hosler: First bit with old O'Reilly VS. new O'Reilly is very nice, funny, and could have been expanded into the whole piece. The rest is not so interesting and seems essentially unrelated to the start. Just the fact that it's all stolen is not enough to tie it together. Steals from Brian Boyce. That's rather lame in my book. Brian's work is fantastic, so this filmmaker might try to make his own cool transformed stolen stuff and not just steal other folks cool transformed stolen stuff. I know, I know, I sound like an old curmudgeon here. Sorry! MORE
Alison Hanold: I like the eerie, 1950's mad-scientist vibe of this video; the satire really works well.
Matt Mason: Not great.
Luminosity: Overall Impact - I wanted to watch it again and again, but not for the remix culture challenge.
Communication - The audio communicated the definition of remix, but without that, it would have been a pretty mess.
I found this vid incredibly appealing visually.
Mark Hosler: Nicely edited. Bad sound mix makes it hard to follow. MORE
Alison Hanold: Great topic and great juxtaposition of visuals with audio; I would have liked to have seen a few more examples and a stronger resolution to the piece. Also, I feel the definition of detournement at the beginning of the piece is unneccesary.
Matt Mason: Writing at beginning too small, slow start. But the video itself was good.
Luminosity: Overall Impact - My first thought was "what a waste of black space."
Creativity - I thought the idea was strong, but the vid was lazy.
Communication - Don't tell me words don't matter. What a statement. Yes. This could have been so much better, so much stronger. I thought, as I watched the final entries, that this would be the one, but I was ultimately disappointed because it didn't really prove its point. Words *do* matter. I wish I had seen more of that.
Mark Hosler: Crude and gets an idea across, but it's too juvenile and finger pointing in tone for me. Yes, that's a bad word. We know that. This needed to make a deeper critique. MORE
Xmas in NYC - 63%, Composition - 56%, Remix Culture II - 55%, My Bike in C Minor - 54%, Remix Culture - 50%,
Read-Write - 49%, True Hollywood Robots - 49%, Clusterfuckers - 48%, Remix Culture I - 45%, Detournement - 43%
- Interesting Statistics -
Mean Overall Score - 154.2, i.e. 51%, Standard Deviation - 17.77, i.e. 6%
Mean Overall Judges' Votes - 192.75, i.e. 64%, Standard Deviation - 22.75, i.e. 7.5%
Highest Individual Score - 30, i.e. 100%, awarded by Mark Hosler for 'Composition.'
Lowest Individual Score - 3, i.e. 10%, awarded by Lawrence Lessig for 'Detournment.'
Judge who gave the highest marks overall - Henry Jenkins, 225, Average - 22.5, i.e. 75%
Judge who gave the lowest marks overall - JD Lasica, 162, Average - 16.2, i.e. 54%