e-flux and Video articles

e-flux: In the article In Defense of the Poor Image, Steyerl brought facts to our attention about our part in this video art generation. Even in this technological society, the internet contains many videos made my ordinary people using very standard software, and we still find it all the more amusing or entertaining. Many famous internet celebrities started on youtube doing blogs or something that many people would find hilarious. "Poor images are thus popular images - images that can be made and seen by the many." If you've surfed the net you can easily agree with this statement. With any famous youtube video there are bound to be a dozen, or even more, videos connected to this one, whether its a video comment, video reaction, or even a remixed video. Youtube is a breeding ground for potential internet celebrities for one reason, because it's easy access. There's no required account or fee, it's open to anyone who visits the site.

"Users become the editors, critics, translators, and (co-)authors of poor images." Because it's so easy to get ahold of editing software, and with almost every computer having a webcam equipped with it, it's almost difficult not to get into the video art frenzy. Although not everyone the time, experience and money to create a full length feature film, they do however, have the time and software to create a three minute video about a dog riding a skateboard. Some may argue and say that it's a waste of time, but with over two million hits and hundreds of comments from random viewers, you must have done something right? There are so many reasons why this video art frenzy has become popular. Thanks to youtube, its almost impossible for you not to stumble upon video art. The time it takes to make the video is up to the user(s), and the cost is very little, unless you downloaded software like so many of us have that it's practically free. Whatever the reason, video art has been entertaining the people of the internet for only a few years but there is still a lot of evolving for it to do.

Video: "In principle, television seemed to combine the photographic reproduction capacities of the camera, the motion capabilities of film, and the instantaneous transmission properties of the telephone." Compared to video art, television bring out the beauty of the camera, film and telephone. Television, when it first came out, was a work of art because there was nothing like it before. After the war was a television phenomenon, which gave people the idea of creating commercial television. In high school I took a class about television and media and what stuck out in this article that reminded me of that class was the topic of advertisements in between television shows from the 30's and 40's. "And these sponsors would reappear regularly at the beginning, middle and end of each program with pretty much the same commercial pitch." Sponsors nowadays pay millions of dollars just so a company can put in a two minute slot for their commercial to play during their show. Even what the commercial is about can tell you who the show is directed towards. On spikeTV, a lot of their commercials contain the topics of body wash, beer, trucks (or some manly car), and advertisements about a sporting event. On the other hand, most commercials on Nickelodeon or the Disney channel usually play commercials pertaining to childrens toys, a pop singers latest album, or DVDs to buy a season to their favorite show. Commercials control a lot of the shows audience, even more than some would like to think.