Reflection on the 'RiP! A Remix Manifesto' video

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EnX0vACj4Q

RiP!: A Remix Manifesto is a 2008 open-source documentary directed by Brett Gaylor about the changing concept of copyright.

This documentary was made over six consecutive years and it was essentially created by hundreds of people who opted to contribute to the film's website.

What I personally liked about this documentary was the interactive relationship that the director was able to have with his contributors, this is something that I haven't thought of before (in this documentary context) but it's an interesting way to approach a documentary or a piece of 'art'. I think it has the ability to change passive receptive viewers into active engaged viewers because of the ability to contribute to a project. In addition to this, contributors (encouraged by Brett Gaylor) had the ability to 'chop and remix' the final documentary in a variety of ways which could potentially breath more life into the project.

The manifesto reads as follows:

1. Culture always builds on the past.

2. The past always tries to control the future.

3. Our future is becoming less free. 

4. To build free societies you must limit the control of the past.


This open source documentary deals with copyright issues in contemporary society by give a historical context to the argument. Gaylor distinctly separates the public domain from the corporations. He defines the public domain as 'CopyLEFT' and the corporations as 'CopyRIGHT'. It is evident that Gaylor favours the 'CopyLEFT' because it represents the feee exchange of ideas within the public domain. 

Aside from music and film (which this documentary focused on) this piece made me think about copyright with regards to the photographs that I take. Depending on where I've taken them, who the subject is, or even where I go on post them could affect the copyright of 'my' images. With social networks like facebook, instagram and twitter (places I often post photographs onto) I believe they have the right to use and in some cases even sell the images I upload, so it really made me think about who Really owns things.