<aside> đź’ˇ In this video, Alex David walks students through the Fair Use reasoning process, using examples from popular culture and history. This video is intended for use in secondary school or college media literacy units as a complement to instruction about copyright and fair use. It can also be helpful for digital authors of any experience as they navigate the Fair Use Doctrine.
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<aside> đź’ˇ Enjoy this ignite presentation which takes you behind the scenes of the creative process.
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I hope that this project serves as a great example of “Create to Learn” as I truly learned so much while creating this project. There were many trials and tribulations throughout the process, but I eventually committed myself to the idea that would become my final project. My final project is a video that walks the audience through the Fair Use reasoning process. While the main focus of the project is the Fair Use Doctrine, so much more of our learning throughout the semester is engrained in the creative process and final product itself.
Throughout the class, the interplay of transformativeness, fair use,creativity, and identity really stood out to me, and I knew that I wanted to make these ideas a focus of my project. As an educator and filmmaker, copyright law has always been a factor in what I do. However, I’ve always been guilty of all of the categories of copyright confusion- see no evil, close the door and hypercomply have all been ways I’ve dodged copyright law considerations without having to really understand it. The materials we used and ideas we learned in this class helped me to understand the thought process behind the law itself and the thought process that we must go through as creators and educators. This helped me to understand how transformation is at the heart of creativity and the basis of the Fair Use Doctrine. Furthermore, it helped me to understand the connection between our inspirations and our own identity.
The majority of the process was spent coming up with ideas and throwing them out the window, but I kept on searching. I knew what I wanted to express, but I didn’t quite know how to express it. I went from wanting to make a short fictional narrative, to a documentary, to a unit plan. Despite my indecision in terms of what the project would look like, I just kept on researching and looking for inspiration. I leaned on the Create to Learn text for my foundation in the ideas of transformation and identity as a digital author. I found great application of these ideas and the creative process throughout Kirby Ferguson’s Everything is a Remix video series. I spent hours listening to podcasts and Ted talks about creativity and Fair Use. The Copyright Clarity book provided insight into the nuances of the laws and Fair Use Doctrine. By the time, I talked to Renee all I knew was that I didn’t like any of my ideas so far.
Just when I was losing hope, May the 4th was with me! I was laying on the couch when a Family Guy parody of Star Wars came on, and my brain cells started working all of a sudden. I watched a couple episodes of Family Guy, Episodes 4 and 5 of Star Wars, and I was ready to roll! This turned out to be the turning point, as I picked some clips to present and evoke the fair use reasoning process to decide whether or not the parody would be considered Fair Use of the original Star Wars story. From there, I recalled some examples from a recent trip to the Hirshorn Museum of Art in Washington DC. Then I wanted to address meme culture as a present day example of Fair Use reasoning. With the meat of my idea ready to go, I just needed to package this all in a script rooted in the research I’d been doing.
For me getting to and through the script was the most stressful part, but the production and post-production was the most intense. May 7th and 8th consisted of about 20 hours of recording footage, compiling pictures, video, and music, and editing it all together. I harnessed my inner youtube creator and shot all of my footage first. I have some lights and a lavalier mic that I used. Then, I utilized the built in camera on my computer. I broke the script up into a sentence or two at a time, so that I could say the lines while making eye contact with the camera, creating a more intimate point of view. I tried to let my personality shine and insert a little bit of comic relief to drive home some of the learning. My editing process consisted of editing out the dead space between takes to see what I have in one round. Then a second round of choosing out the best footage to use. Then subsequent rounds of adding video clips, photos, music, sound effects, video effects, and clips- focusing on one segment at a time. Then another five or six views to find errors and knit pick details until I achieve the right amount of satisfaction.
Completing such an endeavor is exhausting and satisfying. The Ignite presentation gave me a great opportunity to reflect on the process. Not only that, but it gave me great pride in reflecting over the whole experience starting with the Summer Institute in Digital Literacy Tier One. I have a long way to go and lots to learn in the fields of digital and media literacy, but this project has been a great representation of what I have learned so far. I’ve learned so much about the field, and I am learning more about myself as a creator and educator. Now, if I pass this class, I'll have earned my Certificate in Digital Literacy, my proudest and most meaningful achievement as an educator so far! I hope you enjoy this project, and I can’t wait to see what is next.