Mikhaela's older posts on the evolution of the Frankenstein project

I just wanted to flesh out some prospective directions for the project that will give it more clarity and direction.


What if we take Tara's idea about memes and how it is this crazy out of control fad (creation chaos) and then show how memes can actually be good and useful (redeeming qualities). We can create our own meme about Frankenstein (from open source content) and use him as the gateway or lens to look at redeeming qualities of open sources/ place him as our "creation" in our retelling of Frankenstein.














Or we can focus on videos, ie remix videos. So we can talk about how music has been remixed a lot and the redeeming qualities of a good remix for example I hated the original Umbrella song by Rihanna, but then the remix came out and I liked that the first 10 times I heard it.



But now everybody is able to create them and it is getting chaotic. Now remix videos are autotuned, funny, but pointless.






We can also talk about how people are using remixes for political purposes:




We can create our own remixed version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, call that our monster and discuss the problems with open sourcing and the chaos that this remix culture has created. We can discus the redeeming qualities of creating our monster out of open sourced materials.







I just thought up a third option. We can create a picture of Frankenstein using open sourced materials and then retell the story of Frankenstein and discuss the monster as this new open source craze. Where there is so much data available that is not open sourced, but illegally ripe for the picking and the difficulties/redeeming qualities of finding actual available open sources for creating our Frankenstein.




We can imbed which monster we choose into our flash video.




To answer the question I posed on Google + our monster can be our remix creation or the product of open sourced materials. We can create our own monster using remix culture and open sourcing.




I couldn't think of a good way to use minecraft. I think our project should include, making our monster, remixing the story in a video, then embedding all of the information we have gathered in our flash video. That gives our project 3 tiers to work on and we can work in pairs on each level.

What is Remix??

Remix is defined on Wikipedia as "an alternative version . . . made from an original version. Remixing is the adoption, alteration, and recombination of preexisting cultural texts (songs, literature, paintings, etc.) to create something new." Remix can be done professionally by the group that produced the original. For example the original song "Umbrella" by Rhianna was remixed and reproduced to create the "Umbrella Remix". Remix can also be done by third parties, where the original material was used to create a new product. As an example a clip from the news about a bed intruder was remixed into an auto-tuned into an overnight sensation. Remix isn't just limited to music and viral videos. The film industry has been using remix for years. The story lines from plays like Shakespeare's Hamlet have been remixed into films such as including The Lion King. Literature as well has been bitten by the remix bug. A good example would be Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice being remixed into Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

To get more information about remix and remix culture read Lawrence Lessig's book Remix. It is a great resource. In his book he discusses how the digital age has created two different cultures. The Read-Only culture, which is information provided by a professional source (traditional book), and the Read/ Write culture, which is a reciprocal process between producer and consumer to enhance the original product (remix). The Read-Only culture is more like passive consumption and the Read/Write culture actively consumes and then takes the original and gives it a new or enhanced purpose. Lessig says that the Read/Write culture is the one expanding capabilities and projecting us  into the future with the technological resources we all have access to. Lawrence Lessig says that good remix isn't stealing other people's work, but using someone else's idea or product to give enhance the meaning, give it new meaning, or as a catapult to produce a new idea.

Gwen: The Success of a Failed Coup

Our group started out with some fabulous ideas. But then we struggled a little bit. When it came to be mid semester and we didn't have a concrete idea of what our "thing" was going to be, I was getting worried. So, I decided to hijack the group project and start working. My hope was that my group would love what I was doing and jump on board, or that they would hate it and come up with a creative alternative. Guess what! It worked. They came up with something far more creative and less ho-hum than what I was working on (I say this in all sincerity- my feelings are not hurt in the least).

So, here is what I came up with.

This was the first step.

Then Curtis sent me the relevant videos, and this is as far as we got before the project was reborn in a more beautiful form:

Mash Up Progress

Tara made a list during class of what we are all working on at this point:

We need to finish the quotes. And start posting everything to the blog. You should all be able to post or have an open invite.

So lets gets the last of the quotes found and all put together for each of the segments

Then lets start working on our static pages on the top of the blog
We changed the URL to match our over all title

http://themonstermashup.blogspot.com/

we have:

What is this all? (about the project and the plans)
Why Frankenstein? (why we chose it)
What is Remix?
Why does it matter? (what is the controversy)
What's the benefit? (why is remix good?)

and we can change or whatever to these

Also we need to make the story opener and closer
to give to Curtis

And we need to talk to these guys:
John Barton --does voice overs
TMA 295 -- Sharolyn Swenson

someone about obtaining the byu.edu to host the flash page

Prototype 2

We decided that the grave scene needed skewed a little bit. We decided to focus on larger genres rather than specific remixes. We also decided to choose things that would make our project lasting rather than dated to the current fads.



Each different element needs something coming from the headstones.

Books- Twilight (all the creepy twilight books that have come out now)
Film- Starwars (wookie), Mary Poppins, LOTR
Music- Elvis, Rebecca Black, Auto-tune guy "they be snatch'en your people up"

Also, a lot of times you can make people more interacted when you add easter eggs, or parts that aren't necessary but are kind of fun. For instance, I've made it so when you click on one of the headstones in the background a zombie pops up moaning "zombie web."

Remix PowerPoint Outline

We did a presentation on remix. This was our outline. 

Remix PowerPoint Explanation

Slide One:

Nothing is new, everything is old elements used to create new ideas.

(picture of a wheel to a carriage to a car)

Slide two: A remix is simply something that takes an idea or concept and augments or changes such an idea for better or worse.

Slide three: However, a modern definition of Remix culture simply goes beyond changing old ideas.

In todays world, creation and publication have never been easier. (youtube, blogger, etc.)

We’ll use an example to explain: The example of the Hope Obama poster (I’ll explain this)

Slide Four:

Where copyright was once mainly exercised on corporations, meant as a means to protect rather than imped individual creativity, today the amateur creator finds themselves under attack.

Slide Five:

Remix Culture realizes that society can either go two ways, a “read/only” society where things are created by a few elite then simply viewed by the public with no more effort than admiration. OR

A “read/write” culture where people are encouraged to add on to ideas and develop their own branches based on an idea. This perspective is remix culture.

Slide Six:

So why not Creativity?

Copyright infringements

Misdirection

Graphic Material

A complete strain on the economic system

Slide Seven:

So, can remix actually serve a good purpose?

(explain the basis of our idea and show our prototype)

Here is the Prezi:

Remix on Prezi

Curtis explains:

As Author Jack Foster explained, every original idea has already been thought up. Now we simply combine or augment elements of ideas. This, of course, makes explaining a simple definition of remix culture almost impossible. The wagon was a reinvention of the wheel, the car a reinvention of the wagon. Cultural in general has fundamentally survived on remix values. So why the hell are we wasting so much time and effort on explaining a remix culture everyone already lives in. Ah, now there is the catch. In essence, remix culture is not defined by what it is, but by its limitations. In other words, remix culture is largely defined as a piece of work that uses other elements to present a fresh take or new perspective on something in a manner that is generally considered breaking copyright. Lawrence Lessig wrote the book on modern remix (I mean, he literally wrote the book called Remix). He explained that cultures are divided in two categories “Read/Only” or “Read/Write.” In other words, cultures that encourage people to simply look at things others have created like a museum, or ones that encourage them to view and then create things themselves. His argument is that the internet has brought our society into a “Read/Write” culture on an amateur level, meaning that copyright laws that once were only practiced on corporations are now being exercised on individuals.

After once again diving into the actual text of Frankenstein, the connections between the two elements have become even clearer. The true difference between Frankenstein the literature and Frankenstein the movie is the actual purpose of the works. In cinematic form, the movie was meant as little more than a horror movie to help guys get girls to cuddle with them. The actual novel is significantly less focused on the horror aspects as focusing on the relationship of the creature with humanity. While originally it was meant to represent an analogue between Mary Shelley’s world and literature (the rights of women, the French Revolution, etc.), such an analogue can still be used today. “Remix Culture” as defined by Lessig is a creation brought into this world where it finds humanity hostile to it. In certain light it appears destructive and illegal. But in essence it has the potential to inspire and create, to push society on an individual level past a “Read/Only” culture.