Remixing News Video On The Fly

slashdotbs writes "The New York Times writes that 'A handful of Web users are programming their own virtual TV newscasts and eclectic collections of video clips using a free media-sharing tool called Webjay. The site makes it easy to build, share and watch playlists of audio and video links culled from around the Internet.' Although the site was originally intended to be used for audio playlist creation, it turns out that it can also be used effectively for video. In addition, you can create "video mashups", where you blend audio and video together to present a new message. By using simple smil commands in a URL, a CBS news report can become a short clip of George Bush saying "I can't do my job" (the third track on this playlist)."

Comments

I don't believe the news anymore these days

[Real Troll Talk]

How can we TRUST the big bully corporations to tell us the truth?

After F9/11, I just don't trust anyone with $ any more.

Re:I don't believe the news anymore these days

[Anonymous Coward]

After F9/11, I just don't trust anyone with $ any more.

Do you trust Michael Moore?

Re:I don't believe the news anymore these days

[Holi]

No, I agree with the parent. No one in a position of power tells the entire truth. They use the facts that support their position and ignore the rest.

Already Common in Music

[dancingmad]

This has already been done a lot in music. A lot of /.'ers might remember the DJ Dangermouse "Grey Album", which mashed Jay-Z's Black Album with The Beatles White Album.

I remember getting the impression that after the press the Grey Album got mashups would become more popular in the music biz or either they are harder to make than it seems (Dangermouse is a talented guy - check out his Ghetto Pop Life CD for proof) or people are scared of getting sued.

What's the legality of A/V mashups? Could people get in the same hot water Dangermouse did?

Playlist

[stevemm81]

I don't know how indicative that playlist is of the kinds of things produced in general, but I can't say it left me feeling overly impressed. A 5 second clip of Bush saying "I Can't Do My Job" doesn't seem very revolutionary...

Re:Playlist

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

A 5 second clip of Bush saying "I Can't Do My Job" doesn't seem very revolutionary... It was actually 1.5 seconds worth of bush.

What's funny is the /. editors essentially ASK for posts like this by posting a story that says "By using simple smil commands in a URL, a CBS news report can become a short clip of George Bush saying "I can't do my job" (the third track on this playlist)".

Then they mod everyone who points out the (obvious) funny "flamebait". More or less a trap that allows The Mods to feel superior.

Better watch out

[nfras]

The article says that Gonze thinks his site is legal because it transmits urls rather than files. A news feed is copyright, audio and visual and altering a copyrighted work is grounds for legal action (and TV companies tend to be litigious). IANAL but this seems like very shaky ground.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

cnn/realone won't me happy

[tisme]

I think I can smell a new DRM version from Real coming out. The last time people started ripping "protected" content (the cnn footage is supposed to be subscription only) Real started suing and came out with new software. With Microsoft's Digital Rights Management quickly becoming popular amongst content publishers, I have a feeling Real corporate will want some heads to roll if this gets out of control.

RTFA

[SuperBanana]

This has already been done a lot in music. A lot of /.'ers might remember the DJ Dangermouse "Grey Album", which mashed Jay-Z's Black Album with The Beatles White Album.

RTFA. The site doesn't have the clips, it has metainfo files which contain references to audio and video segments.

If Dangermouse had simply provided a script for an audio mixing program, he wouldn't have gotten in the least bit of trouble. Furthermore, Dangermouse's Grey album became the online equivalent of a best-seller, skyrocketing in popularity when people found out the music companies were dead against it and trying to remove it.

Rating of the message clip...

[Maljin Jolt]

George Bush saying "I can't do my job"

+-0 Redundant

Been done before

[LeahofRivendell]

By using simple smil commands in a URL, a CBS news report can become a short clip of George Bush saying "I can't do my job" (the third track on this playlist)
There's a funnier version of this at http://www.ebaumsworld.com/presaddress2.shtml
Unfair editing is a concept as old as speaking.

Call "The Onions" lawyers...

[ranger5]

How long until some small news agency in some small country reports one of these as an actual video clip or news snippet? I guess it could even be just a down on his luck, non-scoop having newspaper writer who doesn't do his research...

Finally, Douglas Engelbart's vision

[michaelmalak]

Douglas Engelbart, who prototyped the web hardware (including mouse) in 1966, started bootstrap.org in 1988 to pursue his vision of deep contextual hyperlinks:

The [Open Hyperdocument System]'s initial design specifications are a result of 50 years of innovation and experimentation by Doug Engelbart and his team of researchers among a variety of user communities, including aerospace and software development. These requirements include fine-grained addressability of all types of documents and support for multiple ways of viewing and manipulating them. Some of these features have found their way into existing tools, such as the World Wide Web, while others are currently being explored. The purpose of the OHS is to serve as a standard framework for these features, so that different applications may interoperate with the DKR and with each other.

As with the mouse, it seems someone else is going to popularize fine-grained hyperlinks.

Can we rate articles?

[Anonymous Coward]

By using simple smil commands in a URL, a CBS news report can become a short clip of George Bush saying "I can't do my job"

I'd like to rate this one -1, Flamebait.

Audio Snip Remixing: Limbaugh being an example.

[Anonymous Coward]

Posted anonymously to avoid karma whoring.

The clip of video over near-single-frame video was pretty underwhelming... there's another form of remixing that has been done, and done well, before.

Some of the folks over at the pop radio station in Atlanta managed to reassamble clips of words and phonetically created phrases of Rush Limbaugh singing "I'm a Nazi". It's pretty damn funny and well done.

I only have a 64k mp3 of the song. Anyone actually have a higher quality copy of the track? Many 128k or 112k versions I've found online don't sound any better at all.

http://66.113.208.149/misc/rushnazi.mp3

The lyrics for those who don't want to download the mp3. (Keep in mind that every word Rush "sings" really is his voice.)

(Lameness filter screwed up the formatting. Sorry.)

Announcer: Ladies and gentleman... Rush Limbaugh!

They say that I'm sleaze, An elitist, if you please
Everybody disagrees with my rap (with his rap)
I'm horrendous, I'm appalling, My ratings now are falling
'Cause I'm so full of bull, so full of crap (full of crap)
With condescending cries, Making money selling lies,
You might say everybody hates my guts (hates his guts)
I'm offensive, I'm a bigot, I'm a fraud - Can you dig it?
I'm a sexist, racist, homophobic, fat, pathetic putz

I'm a nazi (he's a nazi), That's right, I really am,
'Cause I'm a nazi (he's a nazi), That's right, you're being scammed
I'm a nazi (he's a nazi). I don't care about the middle class
'Cause I'm a fat conservative butthead, With the face of a horse's ass
(He's a fat conservative butthead) Hey!, (With the face of a horse's ass)

I have a sub-human figure, a huge rear end, My brain? That's another story (it's quite another story)
I have a face the size of a wash tub, And my ass is as big as Missouri - Yes!
(This bastard is sick, he's a fat, pompous pig, and his ass is as big as Missouri) Yessiree, Bob!

Manipulating statements, exaggerate the truth, I can't believe the hate my show inspires (the hate his show inspires)
It's not just because I'm stupid (oh no), It's not just because I'm scum (uh huh)
It's just because Republicans are liars (those dirty, filthy liars)
I am heartless, I am vain, insensitive, insane, They say that I'm a national disgrace (disgrace)
I am nasty (yes!), insulting (no!), basically revolting (uh huh), I'm a concentrated pile of human waste (he's human waste)

I'm a nazi (he's a nazi), (Sieg heil!) I really am
'Cause I'm a nazi (he's a nazi), That's right, you're being scammed
I'm a nazi (he's a nazi), I don't care about the middle class
'Cause I'm a sick Republican sleaze ball, With the face of a horse's ass
(He's a sick Republican sleaze ball) Ho!, (With the face of a horse's ass)

They say that this is not about my vanity, They doubt my sanity
They think I'm nuts (so nuts), I am a cyst on the ass of humanity (eww!)
New Republican slogan: "Read My Putz", (read his putz)
From the bowels of Adolf Hitler, Comes the voice of Rush Limbaugh, heh heh

In closing, let me say: that each and every day
I'm an evil, rotten, egotistical snob (evil, rotten)
I'm the cop of the cop of Joe McCarthy-like gestapo
The right wing, foam-at-the-mouth, jackbooted slob
The Democratic-trashing, years of liberal bashing
With the equivalent compassion of a grommet (a grommet)
With the I.Q. of a fig; I'm a fat, obnoxious pig
And the truth of the matter is... I'm vomit (he's vomit)

'Cause I'm a nazi (he's a nazi)
(Sieg heil!) I really am
'Cause I'm a nazi (he's a nazi)
(Sieg heil!) You're being scammed
I'm a nazi (he's a nazi)
I don't care about the middle class
'Cause I'm a fear mongering scum bag
With the face of a horse's ass
(He's a fat conservative butthead) Hey!
(Sick Republican sleaze ball) Ha ha!
(Fear mongering scum bag) Ho!
(Egotistical ass wipe) Yes!
(Mean-spirited, hog wallowing, fat, conservative putz)
(With the face... of a horse's ass)

Mega-dildos, Rush!

Old News - Babylon 5 "Illusion of Truth"

[rm3friskerFTN]

By using simple smil commands in a URL, a CBS news report can become a short clip of George Bush saying "I can't do my job"

The concept of "selective editing" (a la Mike Moore ;-) was demonstrated very well in the Babylon 5 episode "Illusion of Truth".

The B5 ISN news reporter Dan Randall edited the footage in an unethically truthful way just like Mike Moore

From "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a second "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

From a third "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (spoiler warning)

And finally a fourth "Illusion of Truth" plot summary (minor spoiler warning)

BTW, this Babylon 5 espisode is available on DVD

a better example of news remixing

[lucas_gonze]

Speaking as the author of webjay here:

On a technical level, what's original is that the remixing all happens on the client side. It's a *client side remix*, which is a new thing.

Check out this playlist for a fancier set of techniques, including clipping, multiple audio and video sources at the same time, and a good playlist in general. When you watch that the thing to realize is that the soundtrack is coming from one place, the picture from another, the video from another, and all of that is getting mashed together on *your* machine.