Mike Maguire
Liz Ledoux
Media Production
November 18, 2009

Artist Statement

The two ways in which I approach video and music-making are: making something abstract that breaks away from the norm and creating a deep and understandable experience for the viewer even if they aren't necessarily there. In no way does music of film making need to be an earth-shattering experience but rather something that makes you think a little and break away from something that sounds or "looks right".

In music, taking sounds, musical progressions, or effects from previous styles of music can become an original piece of work if it is done in a unique way. I like to change the structure and speeds while keeping a general feel for alternative rock in creating my music. Using similar guitar effects and song structures of all my musical influences combined produces a unique but open experience. When I open up my mind to a certain piece of music and disregard any assumptions of the genre, I find myself increasingly more interested in trying something new and allowing it to create its own experience.

This is very similar with any kind of image making or video producing because leaving the topic open ended to the viewer allows them to create their own personal feeling towards the piece of art. Forcing the viewer to make connections and produce his or her experience towards an image is much more beneficial than a straightforward piece. It is also true that some of the best images and videos create a feeling of "being there" to the viewer.

In my project on media piracy, I wanted to create a fast-paced documentary with a lot going on in a short period of time with statistics, youtube videos, pictures, voiceovers and interviews. I used music from the bands: "Rise Against" and "Metallica" mainly because they are upbeat and heavy, and I feel media piracy requires a pace and tone of that sort. I feel like the music came in at the right time and moved the pace of the film forward.

One of the biggest issues in creating art for me is individuality. Sometimes you think you are on to something new and you realize how similar it is to something else, usually a direct influence to you. But, by taking in all of your surrounding influences and continuing to strive to an original new product, progress is constantly being made.

Media Piracy

So, after ditching the marajuana idea our group thought it would be a much better idea to go with media piracy. I thought this would be a much more compelling project mainly because I feel it is extremely relevant for most college kids with computers. Also, students would be much more apt to admit to stealing music as opposed to smoking weed. The first work we did on the project was on Saturday before presentation day. We picked up a flipcamera and immediately got to work on film ideas. We decided as a group we wanted to incorporate interviews, industry facts, Bentley student media piracy facts, with a newscast kind of feel to it. We knew that the film was supposed to be around 5 minutes but we figured if we condensed it well we could make an interesting film.

The preliminary work for the project seemed to flow very easily. We got about 75 people to answer our survey which gave us very favorable answers towards our project. We also got some real good industry facts, and interviews that first day of filming. When we met again on Sunday to edit and complete the project, it was evident early we were having a tough time putting it all together. I am a perfectionist with programs such as finalcut pro and snapz and this became very clear as we progressed through our project.

Eventually we thought of 2 solid ideas to mix together with our interviews. These were a newscast-esque kind of update on the industry along with 2 contrasting youtube videos on media piracy. In the end we definitely had some fun with it and produced a good project.