I am going to talk about interactivity and collaborative media. I want to focus on how getting involved in media today is easier to attain because of the barriers to entry are so ambiguous now that anyone can create something that is seemingly a work of art. Does anyone recognize that red circle?
What about now? This lovely man is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, many of you may recognize him as an actor from Inception, 500 Days of Summer, The Dark Knight and one of my favorites Angels in the Outfield. But many people do not know about his company that he has created for collaborative media production. You see that red button he is wearing? That is the logo for his company hitrecord.
This is an open collaborative production company. Joe says that, “this website is where we make things together”. He posits himself as s “regular joe” as to invite anyone to be a part of this movement. He believes that incorporating unique and creative ideas of willing individuals with his ideas as well as other big name contributors, will show how collaboration can create something really significant.
Anyone can offer their original artwork, graphics, pictures, video, poetry, stories, and songs to a collaborative project. If hitrecord decides to use your effort in one of their projects, then the profit from the work will be split 50/50 between you and the company.
Joseph also created this CD/DVD/book to showcase the greatest hits of hitrecord so far. In 2010 some of the creations debuted at the Sundance Film Festival which shows the power of the media. The hitrecord team also has done some touring and holds shows to showcase projects.
Obviously I couldn’t show the whole video because it would go over the 20 second time limit, but I wanted to show you a picture that was introduced at the beginning of this video that shows the 2012 tour dates and if you see the bottom left corner, hitrecord came to URI. I did not know this when I picked this topic but I saw it as a sign that I’m doing something right.
Hitrecord did not create collaborative media, there are other groups that use media resources and groups of individuals come together to create one great work. But these companies work primarily with established work communities. They might just work with so called important people.
Where as with hitrecord, big names endorse it. Jimmy Fallon shows his support for hitrecord in an interview. These celebrities are involved with bridging the gap between the well known and the unknown. Neil Patrick Harris is in one of the projects called “Love: A Tragedy”
So why is this movement so important? Collaboration and interaction is now being accessed virtually instead of physically. With the increased online presence of individuals in today’s society, projects can be done wholly without even knowing what a collaborative partner even looks like. (Just as was discussed in the frontline video where companies conduct meetings with individuals through online communities only).
Michael Serazio talks about how interactivity is the new way of advertising. He uses the words “citizen media” to describe amateur participation in an effort. He also talks about having the freedom to discover and be apart of this culture has added to the empowerment of the participants.
This guy. Douglas Rushkoff takes the perspective that this new era of storytelling is the definite end of an old one. He states that the end of the narrative is the collapse of traditional dialogue and storyline. With collaborative works like hitrecord, there is so much stimulation, Rushkoff would argue….
The time spent deciphering all of the different contributions to the final product would take away from the message that the collaborators were trying to original pose. Much like the change from analog to digital clocks that he mentions, where you could once watch the time go by and now it just happens and it can shock you because of how fast it goes.
At a time in our lives where time is of the essence and the society is also evolving we take a look at what is most important is us. We want to, now more than ever, express ourselves. We always rhetorically these questions. What are our dreams? Our Goals? What inspires us? What are our talents?
In the book The Gift by Lewis Hyde, he discusses how gifts, both material and immaterial shape our lives. He states, “the gift that is not used will be lost, while the one that is passed on will be abundant”. What Lewis talks about directly connects to the collaborative media effort. There are various talents that are being utilized and realizing what someone has to offer can make a project that much greater.
When we realize our potential, we can create a multitude of works. At a young age, we are exposed to many things; mathematics, science, music and art. With education, our passions shine through. Scholar Lev Vygotsky believed that everyone “should be given the tools to live up to their highest potential”
NinahBeliavsky talks about how Vygotsky believed that when given the opportunity to learn a wide array of concepts at young age with a collaborative partner who is more knowledgeable in those particular areas, it increases the likelihood of reaching the highest potential
So when you are a part of something bigger than yourself it can make you feel a sense of accomplishment that you may have never felt before. Regular joe’s can do it, so can you. I am going to leave you with a trailer of a final collaborative hitrecord product.
