Chapter 7: Creative

Production

By Dylan Orr

Stages of Creative Production

In chapter 7 of Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out Patricia C. Lange and Mizuko Ito describe five different stages of creative production through social media:● Production● Collaboration● Gaining Audience● Feedback● Goals and Aspirations

The Creative Products

To illustrate the stages of production we will focus on these four types of projects created by social media users:● Videos● AMVs● Fansubs● Myspace profiles

Production

● Youth creators are limited in their access to production equipment and software. They are gravitating towards methods of production on social media because of its wide availability.

● The practice of creating online typically leads to a blend of consuming media and producing it by remixing already existing forms of videos, images, literature, and web designs.

● Does this technique constitute as creative production? Or a manipulation of someone else's work?

Production-Videos

● Many videos produced for social media distribution are candids or personal, using the Internet as a digital scrapbook.

● Lola and Ashley are video creators that host a regular talk show focusing on reality television shows.

● Using the tools available, Lola and Ashley are able to host this show with little technological and production knowledge.

● Their show focuses on pre-existing television shows to create a discussion.

Production-AMVs

● AMVs (anime music videos) are a montage of anime footage strung together and put to music to typically create a narrative.

● This process relies heavily on footage that is already created for the producer to create a project to call their own.

● Many AMV creators are self taught by exploring the tools that are available to them instead of having formal video education.

Production-Fansubs

● Fansubbing is the practice of translating Japanese anime films and television shows and then adding subtitles.

● Fansubbers typically work in groups to create fansubs from preexisting anime videos.

Production-Myspace Profiles

● Although a Myspace profile is intended to be a reflection of the user, it relies heavily on images and HTML code borrowed from other websites and users. Dan Perkel has coined this as "copy and paste" literacy. (256)

● Lange and Ito summarize the melding of producing and consuming Myspace profiles describing "profile creation [as] a casual activity in defining a personal webpage and graphic identity, pieced together with found materials on the Internet." (261)

Collaboration-Videos

● In professional settings, video production is usually a collaborative effort consisting of members specializing in videography, sound recording, post-production editing, etc.

● Through social media, video creators can collaborate digitally rather than in the same setting.

● "Collab" videos are when video makers lend footage or actors to each other to create new videos. This practice is a way to allude to other works to gain an already existing audience.

Collaboration-AMVs

● Since AMVs rely on pre-produced video material, the artist can be considered to be collaborating with the producers with the footage and music.

Collaboration-Fansubs

● Because fansubbing is such a specific form of creation, it attracts a niche of creators.

● Fansub groups typically consists of a "raw provider", a translator, a timer, an editor, an encoder, a typesetter, and several quality checkers.

● These groups usually have trial periods and formal tests when admitting new members.

● Can you think of any other exclusive hobby groups, digital or not, that administer tests and trial periods?

Collaboration-Fansubs

● All these hoops assure the group that they will be working with someone who strives for the same level of quality and can easily collaborate with everyone in the group.

● After a fansubber becomes skilled in their department of expertise, they will usually be invited to collaborate with other fansubbing groups.

Gaining Audience-Videos

● A common way to share videos among other users is the website Youtube.

● Youtube allows users to link or embed their work wherever they feel on the Internet. If a creator only wants to share their work with a certain group, settings can be adjusted accordingly.

● View counts are tracked on Youtube but can easily be manipulated and are considered unreliable.

Gaining Audience-Videos

● A more reliable metric used on Youtube is subscriptions, where a user is notified when a creator posts a video. Some creators practice "sub-for-sub" where creators will mutually subscribe to each other to maximize sharing and feedback.

● Other ways videos are promoted are shout outs from other creators and collaborating with others.

Gaining Audience-AMVs

● Gepetto, an AMV editor, was first diving into the world of video mixing when he was asked to teach a video workshop in his high school. Although he was considered an amateur in the AMV community, his skills were recognized highly outside of it.

● Anime conventions serve as a physical space to showcase work instead of digital. These conventions host competitions where winning AMVs are shown in a theater to a large audience.

Gaining Audience-Fansubs

● It is common in the fansubbing community to focus primarily on quality instead of audience size.

● When fansubbers do track numbers, they make it visible for all viewers to see.

Feedback-Videos

● As a main source of video sharing, Youtube provides a rating system along comment posts and messaging.

● Any user is allowed to post comments on public videos whether negative or positive. Creators usually refrain from deleting negative comments to show support for online freedom of speech.

● Users are not always educated or knowledgeable of video production and therefore do not always provide helpful feedback either.

Feedback-AMVs

● While Youtube helps broadcast videos and their makers to a wide audience, AMV creators choose to showcase their work to a more specific audience in hopes of acquiring constructive feedback and knowledgeable and fair ratings.

● Animemusicvideos.org supplies templates for writing reviews, rating systems, top video lists, and discussion boards.

● AMV creators support each other through a system of mutual feedback: the more you give, the more you'll get.

Feedback-Fansubs

● Fansubbers attend anime conventions to discuss and compare their work.

● Because fansubbing requires a lot of specific knowledge, the most informed feedback comes from other fansubbers.

● Fellow fansubbers are also already aware of the creative standards that are shared in the fansubbing community.

● For these reasons, fansubbers typically only look to fellow fansubbers for constructive criticism.

Goals and Aspirations

● In the cases of fansubbers and AMV creators, there are not many who strive to have a career in their field. Fansubbing and AMV work generally do not have a place in the commercial market and the art is usually treated as a hobby which they can always improve upon.

● Some young video creators do have the dream of working in a career with video. Although they have no specific job aspiration, they work hard to one day work in the field that they love.Users like Ashley use their present videos to create a portfolio on social media, hoping to showcase it to prospective colleges and employers.