NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Altering Videos: White House "West Wing Week" Video Blog REMIX
Altering Videos: White House "West Wing Week" Video Blog REMIX
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000702.html
Greetings. When we put information on the Internet, there's a natural
tendency to assume that we essentially maintain control -- to a
significant extent at least -- over the form that the associated data
takes. At a minimum, many of us probably don't usually consider the
extent to which posted items could be subjected to major outside
alterations (whether for good or ill purposes).
Yet the reality is actually rather clear. With virtually anything
that's posted on the Net in publicly available locations, there's no
telling what sorts of transformations might potentially be in the
offing.
This can be particularly true -- in terms of powerful impacts -- with
videos. Just because you've posted a video on YouTube, for example,
doesn't mean that someone else won't find the "raw materials" of your
production irresistible for other purposes.
Experimental case in point -- The White House.
President Barack Obama's administration has just begun posting a
"video blog" called "West Wing Week."
The initial offering ( http://bit.ly/wh-www ) is viewable at the
official White House Web site. It contains some interesting clips and
certainly well serves its purpose of providing basic information about
administration activities over the prior week. However, it is a bit
lengthy at over seven minutes, and -- no disrespect meant -- is rather
on the bland side.
A question -- what can we do with this (as it happens, explicitly
public domain) presentation -- without adding any new footage -- to
morph the original into a video with a very different sort of impact?
With apologies in advance to the White House Staff, let's find out.
First, we can lose the narration (better to let the clips tell the
story whenever possible). We'll whip out the ol' digital razor blade,
layer in a more comprehensive musical score, then slice and dice and
even color correct VP Joe Biden (whose face could never have really
been that red in real life, even on a bad day). And before we're
done, let's chop at least a couple of minutes off of the total
runtime.
The result, "West Wing Week REMIX" ( http://bit.ly/dcGpSn [YouTube] )
is an example of how by using only the Internet and commonly available
digital editing tools (and a bit of imagination, I'll admit) the
entire "feel" of a posted video can be significantly altered.
In this specific case, the end result might be viewed in some quarters
as arguably enhancing some of the original video's fundamental
messages -- but even if this happens to be so, that's not the point.
The same sorts of techniques could be used to undermine or distort
easily accessible and alterable Internet videos in ways that could be
completely antithetical to the works' original orientations and
purposes. And since a properly managed digital workflow typically
creates minimal quality degradations to the underlying video and audio
tracks, the ability of nonspecialist outside observers to readily
detect altered versions may be very limited.
An interesting experiment, indeed.
Just a little something to keep in mind as we (to paraphrase the late
Tom Snyder), fire up the computer, sit back, relax, and watch the
pictures, now, as they fly through the Net.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein