Few times ago, I was shown a video from YouTube. It was a music video Metallica Tribute to Rhoma Irama¹. It may sound impossible, but all my expectations turned upside down and inside out watching this video. It’s originally a video of Metallica’s concert in Big Day Out, Australia, 2004, broadcasted by [V] Channel, which was then ripped up by someone by the alias of Looz (www.urbanchaosvideos.com) and uploaded in YouTube in July 9, 2006². Metallica was singing Frantic, their second single and the opening song in the album St. Anger (2003). Someone by the alias of Reknaonsiah uploaded it again, but this time remixing it with one of Rhoma Irama’s hit Stress. The result is an incredible mashup, just as any other Metallica concert video but of different musical ambience and, of course, hilarious, especially to Indonesian viewers.

^{Metallica playing Rhoma Irama’s Stress.}

Video mashup is a way to create a new digital file by mixing one or more text, sound, video or animation taken and combined with other sources thus results in a new derivative file easily, rapidly. Mashup video (also written as mash-up video or remix video) is the end-result derived from various multimedia sources and displayed as a whole new video, usually made by a certain community in the form of humor or parody. Video mashup gains more popularity with the help of web 2.0 technology of the internet industry, where people are provided with facilities and easy access to tons of materials and able to upload their own video (www.adandu.com).

It started with music mashup, where sound strips are remixed, its second-by-second parts ripped from its original sound, slashed and recomposed into a new song altogether. I did a similar thing in mid 2002 when I wanted to insert background music for a loose video. I bought myself a loop bank CD with hundreds of sound samples that I can use to produce a new music. I remixed with Adobe Premiere software, using only one function: audio mixing.

^{Girl Talk remixing his music.}

Developed from mashup software, web 2.0³ is a booster to such activity, by allowing people to mix several sets of data via the internet to create a new entity. Just as it is done to Google Map by making an overlay of, say, “My House” with pictures of its surrounding environs. Or to Facebook—besides being a social networking site, it also serves as MROPG (Multi Role Online Playing Game) system and also as advertisement—where apps are provided and usable according to each function.

YouTube, one of the biggest video libraries, is the ultimate source for mashup maniacs. It provides everything from trailers, music videos, cartoons, game cheats, tutorials, and even private videos. Most mashup videos are parody although there are also some made as art medium. One example is the video I presented at the beginning of this article. YouTube users apply video/audio trimming technique that’s easy to use. Some cellular providers even provide such app. Everything can now be made (literally) single-handedly.

One of the presentations in Videobase research conducted by Forum Lenteng is made with such mashup technique. We combined many videos grabbed from YouTube in one big frame that consisted of 10 to 20 smaller video frames to create an entirely new body of work. You can also see such practice in the following website, asciimeo, where all existing videos in the world are viewable in text.

Copyright?

Fair use is a type of copyrights law that allows new creator to excerpt copyrighted materials without having to gain permission or to pay royalty to its original creator. As the law abides, fair use has to be “transformative”—to insert values for all quoted materials and be used for an entirely different purpose from its original material. So mashup makers—for instance, when they’re mixing The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, and 10 Things I Hate About You and show up with Ten Things I Hate About Commandments—they are not considered stealing. They excerpt with the intention to pose new comments in pop culture, and to create an entire new entity of pop culture.

^{More about fair use, click here.}

Unfortunately, the emergence of mashup practices has jeopardized the culture of participatory media itself, with the industry attempts to minimize piracy. Owners of vast-covering media such as NBC Universal and Viacom, as well as online platforms such as MySpace and Veoh, have established policies to rid of copyrighted materials from online websites. Legal issue such as piracy goes as easily as it comes. And above all, a new generation of media makers can now grow with the transformation and at the same time eliminate their rights as original creators.

Open Source Cinema: Make Your Own Video

Open Source Cinema provides a service for people to make their own online video independently, to remix the media stored in their computer, as well as to remix other people’s media found in public domain such as YouTube and Flickr. Via this website, users can also connect with other user by sending messages, dropping comments about remixes, or participating in projects initiated by other user.

There are plenty of images provided in the website, taken from various different sources. These images can be grabbed, used, combined, or recomposed to create a new body of work online. RiP: A Remix Manifesto is the first open source documentary in the world. Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor made this documentary to explore the concept of copyrights in the Napster, Bit Torrent, and other peer-to-peer file era. Digital technology has given way to an idea of global economy previously unimagined. RiP probes into the world of thieves and revolutionaries in-between these boundaries. Tearing down the wall of separation between user and creator while at the same time questioning fair use, the director shares his raw images in opensourcecinema.org for anyone to remix. The following are hyperlinks to view the videos:

Having access to an online image bank with integrated apps, you can now make your own video. You don’t even have to record it, just select and combine. All you need to do is to sit down, get connected, pick the videos of your liking, personalize it and make it your own. This is a rather novel breakthrough in video and multimedia production. Lastly, you just need to choose your way: left, right, or open.

Other sources:

Kunci Cultural Studies Center

Steps in making video mashups

^{1) Rhoma Irama is Indonesia’s legendary dangdut musician. Dangdut—being the most listened-to music in the grassroot level—may be regarded as a genre authentically Indonesian, owing its beats to influences of Malay and Indian music.}

^{2) Original video was unable to trace. However, livemetallica.com provides free downloadable videos eventhough I did not find the original video I was looking for.}

^{3) Web 2.0 is a term coined by O’Reilly Media in 2003 and popularized in the first web 2.0 conference in 2004. It refers to a generation considered as the second generation of web-based services—such as social networking sites, wiki, online communication devices, and folksonomy—that emphasize in online collaboration and sharing among users. O’Reilly Media, in cooperation with MediaLive International, used the term in several series of conferences and, since 2004, most developers and marketers have also adopted the term.}

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