The VIDEO SLAM 02 teams videos are now online. Click on Videos or go direct to OPEN CHANNEL on EngageMedia.

Thursday evening, 22 May, saw the culmination of the second OPEN CHANNEL VIDEO SLAM for Arts Law Week 2008. Upwards of 80 people took themselves to the Horse Bazaar to view the four short videos our sixteen participants had made and to hear our panel’s assessment of them.

Setting up the venue took the best part of the day, particularly as another Arts Law Week forum on social networking was to be held there that afternoon. By the time they were done we had about two hours to have the stage set up, the tech in place, cameras and the wireless Video Unit running, the VJ rig installed… and our VIDEO SLAM teams had to have their shorts completed no later than 6pm!

Come 6:30 I was copying each of the completed videos onto my laptop and readying them for screening later in the evening. Everyone came in on time, one team finishing at 3 in fact!

The Remix Forum

At 8pm I opened the Remix Forum and we got under way. I explained that VIDEO SLAM is both a rights management and production workshop… and that in particular we’re working with Creative Commons licenses to ask the question, can we make films using legitimate samples and is there enough content out there that’s correctly licensed to help us make this happen?

The Remix Forum would look at both the legitimate and illegitimate use of appropriation in the arts.

The video artist Emile Zile was our first guest up with an entertaining overview of his arts practice. As Emile himself says, his work disregards copyright entirely. To give you an idea of what Emile had shared with us, here’s a selection of his videos.

Shiralee Saul followed with a brief talk on copyright issues associated with curatorial responsibilities. This was supported by a delightful presentation based on materials she had available in the only medium many artists worked with at the time, - the 35mm slide. Luckily, Shiralee had been able to scan a selection of works that day, works from a project that was to provide visuals that would be available within the public domain… a project from the late 70s / early 1980s, well before Creative Commons or any open rights management tools as we know them today.

With the VIDEO SLAM shorts next up, our legal team, Shaun Miller and Elliot Bledsoe took to the stage. The theme and the process was then revealed.

Theme and process

Of our four VIDEO SLAM teams two were to produce 2 minute videos using entirely legitimate content. The remaining two teams could use what ever they liked from where ever they liked. Both teams had to ensure, at the very least, that they didn’t breach and Australian defamation law. Their theme subject matter was the Melbourne Lord Mayor, John So.

Teams #1 and #2 created the free reign videos john so arbitary and So Hard. Teams #3 and #4 came up with My Bro and The John S(h)o(w). They had to ensure their videos were entirely compliant with copyright law and in doing so had to log every sound, every photo and every video they found on the web onto a networked, Google spreadsheet.

Each sample was then individually checked to ensure no copyright breaches were made and that the correct mix of Creative Commons licenses were employed. Thanks to Elliot for his sterling efforts on that spreadsheet! A project like this really can’t work without someone of his expertise on hand.

The verdict

It was curious! Shaun Miller was pretty much convinced that Teams #3 and #4’s were clearly in breach of copyright, but gave Teams #1 and #2 the all clear, stating that they fell neatly into Australia’s new parody exception to the Australian Copyright Act (1 January 2007).

The audience’s verdict for all four videos was clearly heard… All four had received hearty and enthusiastic applause! All four teams deserved it… not only had they achieved the task of producing these videos in under 20 hours, they’d all created entertaining works that are, to the best of our knowledge, and that of our legal panel, entirely compliant with Creative Commons licenses, and Australian Copyright and defamation law.

As an Arts Law Week Project, I believe it was another outstanding success with a fair compliment of lessons learnt and tangible outcomes… watch this space for our VIDEO SLAM 02 videos!

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the staff, management and Board of OPEN CHANNEL and apc.au and a particularly vast, open armed and bellowing shower of graciousness to everyone at Horse Bazaar for their unyielding support. We couldn’t have pulled it off with their venue, their expertise, equipment and facilities.

Thanks also to Jonty Burton for a stunning live re-appropriated remix of the Forum.

Thanks to the Victoria Law Foundation and Arts Victoria for their support of Arts Law Week 2008.

It’s the final day of the SLAM with all teams tearing through their projects to have their videos completed by 6pm. The morning began with a round-up from each team. Issues common to all teams include:

• not enough appropriately licensed CC videos available;
• very little Australian content and no local content on the key theme(s).

Considerations for the next VIDEO SLAM include:

• access to one common platform workstation (with editing, compositing and graphics software) that all teams could use;
• at least one video camera (a DV / handycam would suffice) for all teams to have access to;
• at least one stills camera;
• one audio recording device (preferably HD or equivalent);
• flash memory or common store hard disk accessible via a local network;
• fast wireless (ethernet is great, if cabling can be safely taped down).

As we’re dealing with such tight time-frames technology that speeds up processes such as data transfer, encoding, etc, would be very useful to have on hand. This may include:

• HD or flash memory video;
• HD or flash memory audio;
• flash memory digital stills.

Elliott provided an overview of Australian defamation laws. A Defamation Guide is available on the wiki.

MX magazine sent a photographer for a story they’re publishing in todays edition and Simeon got Horse Bazaar’s wireless Video Unit #1 up and running.

It was an early start at the studio this morning to ensure we had release forms printed, a spare hard drive and one of the apc.au / Toy Satellite cameras on hand. Teams got down to an immediate start with Elliott moving from team to team offering advice up until he and one of our panellists, Emile Zile, were interviewed on 3RRR.

Search issues are still high on the agenda of concerns raised at the end of the first day. That and ensuring the correct mix of licenses and that content that appears to be appropriately licensed can, as on archive.org, appear obscured.

Not a great deal has changed in the year since we started VIDEO SLAM. There’s very little Australian content in the public domain, let alone available under CC licenses and finding content requires skills that isn’t readily at hand, and in many cases, ought not to be. That is, finding video samples that one can legitimately use should be easier than sourcing content you can’t!

Clearly we need a hands-on, online and very simple guide that gives film-makers ready access to public domain and re-usable video… and we need more Australian content there.

This year we have four teams, sixteen participants all up:

We got off to a late start with a few tech and set up issues that I’d thought would eat into everyone’s late evening plans… that wasn’t going to be the case! I’d left around 10:30 and there were still VIDEO SLAMMERS at Horse Bazaar working up their projects. It was a terrific start!

We have four teams, 3 members per team, each producing no less than 2, no more than 2.5 mins pieces that will be screened Thursday evening. Our panellists won’t know the chosen theme for these appropriated shorts, nor will they know what the teams were entrusted to produce.

Last years 5 Smiles was screened and Elliott Bledsoe provided yet another well rehearsed presentation on Creative Commons licenses, including some background to their involvement with VIDEO SLAM and what licenses will and won’t for us.

I did an over view of the entire project, how it works, what we expect from people and how the project will intersect with the Remix Forum. Justin Schmidt (Horse Bazaar) laid down the theme, itself to be revealed at the Remix Forum.

It was great to see our participants form themselves into working groups, each of whom seemed to compliment each other… and John Burton, the VJ, who turned up a bit later, showed that he too is made of the same stuff that will see us through two days of collaborative film making.

Film-makers, audio-visual artists, two lawyers, two curators and one producer will slam out two and one half hours of sound and video that explores appropriation, remix, and the use of public space in the electronic arts.

VIDEO SLAM commences with a two day workshop where participants will learn how to incorporate Creative Commons licensed content into a short film that will be produced on site at Horse Bazaar in under 48 hours. The finished work(s) will be screened at the VIDEO SLAM Remix Forum and re-appropriated live and on site.

Appropriate Original Remix Forum

A panel of new media practitioners will discuss appropriated hybrid artworks and the laws that govern what can and can’t be digitally consumed on and offline with live video remix by John Burton.

Panellists

• Andrew Garton - VIDEO SLAM Producer & Remix Forum Host
• Shiralee Saul - Curator, Educator, Creative Media Research Journalist
• Shaun Miller - Marshalls & Dent
• Elliott Bledsoe - Creative Commons Clinic
• Emile Zile - Artist

• When: Thursday 22 May, from 7.30pm
• Where: Horse Bazaar, 397 Little Lonsdale St, City
• RSVP: artslaw [at] openchannel.org.au
• FREE

VIDEO SLAM is presented by OPEN CHANNEL as part of Arts Law Week 2008 in association with apc.au, Arts Access, Horse Bazaar, Creative Commons Clinic.

VIDEO SLAM is proudly supported by Film Victoria and 3RRR.

The VIDEO SLAM Appropriate Original forum is targeting hybrid media artists, in particular screen culture practitioners, in a lively, entertaining discussion on appropriation in the arts, how it contributes to the work of an artist, culture in general and the legal frameworks that protect both the artists and the works they may consume.

The question at the heart of the forum is:

If appropriation has been at the heart of the growth, maturity and development of so many traditional cultures, without the legal protections that ensure the rights of the artist are protected for example, where does culture live and grow without the legal processes that seemingly hinder its development outside of commercial concerns and gains?

Panellists will provide a brief introduction to their practice which may be verbal or by way of material that may be screened. It should be noted that all materials screened should be available for re-appropriation into a video remix of the forum.

Panellists may comment on the works produced by VIDEO SLAM workshop participants and discuss the legal outcomes of these works, in particular the use of Creative Commons licenses.

We will look at various tools and delivery platforms available to artists that assist in remix, re-appropriation of various forums of cultural content. These may include projects such as sCrAmBlEd?HaCkZ! (previewed at Rights Online, Arts Law Week 2007), ccMixter and sites such as Freesound and EngageMedia.