More Notes

I will use the mini-thesis assignment as an opportunity to explore the possibilities of creating a narrative video work based on issues related to media in the 21st century. Specifically, I would attempt to deconstruct youtube.com from a socio-political aspect and respond with original video work.

One avenue of approach is to explore the possibilities of parody and propaganda using figures that currently have a hand in shaping how media is viewed online and whatever future manifestation it will take (e.g.-Sumner Redstone, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Chad Hurley and Steven Chen of YouTube, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google). My initial inspiration for this was the video "Vote Different" posted by ParkRidge47 on YouTube. Taking the original Apple Macintosh ad and putting a political spin on it got a large reaction from a simple premise ("On January 14th, the Democratic primary will begin. And you'll see why 2008 won't be like '1984'."). For the remainder of the semester I will continue to probe and question the potential of internet media and how it's influence affects the world, and attempt to do the same myself. Another example of this influence was that of the parody video of the Thai King, reported on April 4, 2007 By Nopporn Wong-Anan (REUTERS). The Thai ministry released statement read in part:
"YouTube, which has dominated the user-generated on-line video market since it was founded in February last year, carried a 44-second clip ridiculing King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest reigning monarch, who is revered by all 63 million Thais."
After the clip was uploaded and viewed ~16,000 times, the Thai government banned youtube within Thailand and both the video and user account had been removed. Aside from these instances of politically charged videos, there is also the issue of intellectual property, trademark violation, and lawsuits (most notably Viacom suing Google). The "18 Reasons why Google and YouTube are Guilty of Copyright Infringement" will be used as a reference throughout my creative process.

My proposed process will go something like this:

Research the ideas stated above by looking at YouTube videos that pertain specifically to the issues with Google and Viacom, as well as, the political influence of certain YouTube posts. Extract basic elements that can be reused or remixed into new videos that challenge or provoke these ideas to be posted on to YouTube. Maintain data of view count, comments, and links about these videos.