DVD Review: RIP! A Remix Manifesto - Page 2

Fortunately, the film is fast-paced and tries to simplify the messy web as much as it can. It does this by focusing on both a test case - the mashup artist known as Girl Talk - and by interviewing a few key people involving in trying to keep the entertainment companies in check. Through the course of the film, we gain some insight into the key issues of the debate from lawyer/professor/Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessing, author/blogger/copyfighter Cory Doctorow, artist/criminal/human Girl Talk, and others who have firsthand insight into the deterioration of our rights to the media our culture fosters.

Rip! presents its case in a few different ways. First there is the Girl Talk angle, where we look at a successful artist's work who, under the current copyright laws, shouldn't even be allowed to create the work he has released. Then we have the legal angle, where Lessig and Doctorow recount some of the history of copyright and its original intents, and how it has slowly been changing over the years as media lobbying groups use their political muscle to alter the law. And finally they look at the "Main Street" angle, at the everyday people who have had their lives bankrupted and criminalized for allegedly stealing and sharing this media.

The interesting thing is that in some ways the film doesn't make the stakes for this fight seem dire enough. The focus here is mainly left to entertainment but it has a much wider impact. The same control sought by the RIAA and MPAA is also the same control sought by everyone else in the world of patents. Food and seed companies are patenting the food we eat (if you don't buy your seeds for the food you grow from them, you are liable), companies with feet in the scientific community are focusing on life in general (where indigenous plant and animal species are being patented), and on it goes. Entertainment is one thing, but it could be the start of something much worse.

Video/Audio

Unfortunately, this is where the DVD really falls apart. The presentation - both in the main feature and the bonus items - is plagued with jittery, low frame rate video. This has to be the result of encoding and mastering, as its hard to imagine the source footage being this poor. The film is still perfectly watchable, but its just a frustrating visual that draws unnecessary attention away from the subject at hand.

The audio fares much better, and is presented with both stereo and 5.1 surround options. The surround mix features little rear channel use, as the bulk of the film draws sound from either interview segments or music derived from stereo sources. However, the sound overall is presented well, which is a plus for a music-heavy feature.

Article Author: David R Perry

Lost somewhere in the rolling hills of Tennessee, David R Perry can occasionally be found doing dark, unspeakable things to words. Printed words, spoken words, electronically mangled words... really any kind but twittered words.

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