Author Archives: cristina221

Old technology remix

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For my remix project, I would like to compile clips of old technology and create a song out of the sounds from those clips (or at least layer repeated video clips with other music to create a new song). While I was searching through the Creative Commons clips last week, I noticed how many videos seemed to be lost and forgotten. Many videos of technology are out of date but are time capsules to how technology was in the past. All of the beeps, switches, and typewriter clicks might make for a good song and an interesting way to revitalize unused video clips. Gathering inspiration from Daft Punk’s Technologic, I want to see how technology can be a new kind of instrument.

For that reason, I will mainly use very short clips (around one second each) together and in rapid repetition. I have some experience editing on Adobe Premiere, but I haven’t used it in a few years. Using the skills I do have in Premiere, I will take longer videos and find “gems” of sound and use the cut feature on Premiere to slice up the longer videos into tiny segments. I might also try to layer the sounds over one another by having more than one audio track on Premiere. The clips that I plan to use are mostly creative commons. The videos do not need to be perfect in how they were shot because they will be used in such short succession. The goal of my project is to create something that looks and sounds nothing like what the original videos present and, in a way, to make the old new again. This video will hopefully be catchy and evoke a reaction of excitement and enjoyment from its viewers.

Joss Whedon’s “Much Ado About Nothing”

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While Joss Whedon’s 2012 film Much Ado About Nothing might be considered an adaptation of Shakespeare’s original play, I argue that it is more of a remix than an adaptation. The word ‘adaptation’ suggests that original content is the truer, more meaningful content than the adapted work. On the other hand, the word ‘remix’ suggests that the “creative reworking” of previously made content provides for a brand new product, which may stand on its own. Whedon’s film remixes the original content of Shakespeare to create an entirely new product with changed meaning. The original content for Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing is the text of Shakespeare’s play; however, it should be noted that Shakespeare’s text was always meant to be a visual experience on stage. In a way, a staging of Shakespeare’s plays may also be considered a remix of Shakespeare’s text. Film is a different visual format than plays because editing, soundtrack, and realistic setting are tools that provide a different kind of viewing experience.

The remixing that Whedon does is through his use of modern day setting on film, rather than the stage. The setting of a vacation home changes the meaning of Shakespeare’s play. The home provides a physical enclosure for the characters that provides a sense of claustrophobia through the whole film. The drama that ensues throughout the entire film is justified by the fact that all of characters are in such close quarters of one another. The modern day time period also transforms what might be considered an “antiquated” text into a story that could be easily placed in today’s world. Whedon’s choice to not change the text into modern day speech shows that the exact plot and themes are mutable to present day times. Whedon’s remixed product uses the exact original content to show that Shakespeare itself is not historical, but that Shakespeare’s themes remain relevant today.

As for Much Ado’s audience, one could say that Whedon makes Shakespeare “more accessible” to modern day audiences or that through his use of original text, Whedon shows that Shakespeare has always been accessible to any audience and was intended to be “remixed” as a changing visual experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzuWf66R2HY