JUST DO IT YOURSELF!

Since the emergence of video hosting websites, such as YouTube and Vimeo, the production and distribution of video media has been growing rapidly. Motion pictures are no longer produced only by professional media makers. Nowadays everyone can be a video producer. As part of the media industries, video hosting services have contributed to the plural cultural industries (Hesmondhalgh 2002)[1]. People are provided with a wide range of various spectacle products and given the freedom to choose which one they want to consume. On the other hand, they are also given the freedom to upload their own videos and have other people watch the videos. This phenomenon is obviously made possible by the modern development of technologies in the current era of digitalization. This essay will further explore issues about the producer-consumer relationship within the area of video production, and how it creates a new form of various creative contents.

As mentioned before, media industries are considered as a part of the cultural industries. The cultural industries themselves are surrounded with information that people used for identification, representation, belonging and difference[2]. As a circulation of culture, the media industries do not only produce cultural products (spoken/written words, images, sounds), but they also offer platforms for the public to create and share their own content[3]. This online content sharing is the main service provided by the video hosting platforms mentioned before. Video hosting platforms have created opportunities for people, both professional and amateur, to share their own ideas of artistic freedom and expression through technologies[4]. Video consumers do not merely view the products (the videos provided by the platforms), but there are also opportunities for them to create a new form of product through download. Thus, video hosting platforms are ideal places for co-creation, a process where audience (video consumers) involve themselves in new forms of an existing product (Banks 2012)[5].

Specifically speaking, the engagement between producers and consumers can be seen in the viral Do It! video. The video was shot in front of a green-screen background, depicting Shia LaBeouf yelling motivational quotes for two minutes. The title of Do It! referred to his most striking words in it. Despite his peculiar ranting behavior that has caught the public’s eyes, the video has surprisingly become a well-liked target for audience’s co-creation. Under the creative common license, the footage has been modified widely by amateur filmmakers across the world. The video reactions are extensively diverse, mostly adapting and combining with various elements connected to popular cultures. For example, videos and vines (short, six second videos) have been made where  LeBeouf’s “Just do it” fits into the lyrics of popular songs, or speeches of presidents. In other instances he becomes part of a popular movie scene, where he seems to be encouraging characters to hurt or kill someone. Apart from that, Hollywood actor James Franco also did his own adaptation of the footage in comical sense, contributing to the Do It! video gaining more popularity.

Do It! in collaboration with The Avengers

Fake Ted Talk Do It!

The footage was actually a special project by Shia LeBeouf, Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner for Central Saint Martin’s graduation show. Titled #INTRODUCTIONS, it was a set of 36 half-minute long videos performed by LaBeouf in front of a green screen. He asked the students of the Fine Arts bachelor program to fill the green screen with any kinds of backgrounds they want, as long as it bridged to the introduction of their works. The Do It! video in fact is only a small part of the full version.

The full version video

Within days, the reworks of the footage have hastily spread online. It was noticeably a sign of new era of cultural production where novel types of amateur and semi-professional production are rapidly multiplied through digitalization[6]. In line with that, it is also an observable example of what Graeme Turner has called as a demotic turn (2010)[7]. The demotic turn has caused ordinary individuals to integrate into media industries and created an army of “do-it-yourself”. 

Not only has it generated a new generation of media makers, the recognition of the Do It! video also illustrates the process of convergence in media work. The boundary of the place where the video is made in no longer exists. LaBeouf’s video was definitely shot inside a real green screen studio, whereas the co-creation videos could have possibly been made anywhere. This indicates the convergence of place. The videos are also a part of technology convergence. LaBeouf’s video has enabled people to tell new forms of stories using different software and applications, and engaging the audience on different levels. Consequently, the videos contribute to the global convergence of culture because they encourage participation and interactive relationships between professional and amateur media makers, although not in a direct way[8].

The video was indeed intended to provoke co-creation, but for a specific audience (the students of Central Saint Martin). However, the raw footage can be downloaded through Vimeo which is a publicly-known video hosting website. Therefore, the spread of the footage could not be prevented in this era of digitalization. The public did not only consume it by watching it, but also by creating new content which signaled an active behavior of consumers[9]. Moreover, it generated user-innovation communities inside a new media ecosystem where they work in common-based peer production[10]. In this case, the community who made the reworks processed the same source, which is the Do It! video.

In conclusion, the existence of video hosting platforms potentially blurs the difference between media producers and their consumers. In the specific case of the Do It! video, the consumers have unlimited opportunities to contribute in co-creation productions creating new media ecosystem with the help of digitalization.

James Franco's Do It! version

Thesis:
Not only blurring the line between media makers and the consumers, co-creation still largely depends on mass media produced popular culture.

BB, FM, LB, MM, YB

References:

Deuze. (2007) Creative Industries, Convergence Culture and Media Work.

Grossman, Samantha. “Shia LaBeouf’s Weird Motivational Speech Will Leave You Equal Parts Inspired and Terrified”. Time. June 1, 2015. http://time.com/3903849/shia-labeouf-motivational-speech-fake-ted-talk/

Hesmondhalgh, David and Sarah Baker. (2011) Towar a Political Economy of Labor in the Media Industries. Blackwell Publishing. Mayer, Vicki. (2014) Making Media Production Visible. Blackwell Publishing.

Hartley, Potts, Cunningham, Flew, Keane, Banks. (2013) Key Concepts in Creative Industries. London: Sage. 

Jones, Charlie Robin. “Shia LaBeouf is About to Introduce Your Grad Show”. Dazed Digital. June 2015. http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/24842/1/labeouf-ronkko-and-turner-are-introducing-the-csm-grad-show

Siddall, Liv. “The Best Reactions to Shia LaBeouf’s Motivational Speech”. Dazed Digital. June 2015. http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/24936/1/the-best-reactions-to-shia-labeouf-s-motivational-speech

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[1] Deuze. (2007) Creative Industries, Convergence Culture and Media Work. 54.

[2] Deuze. (2007). 46.

[3] Deuze. (2007). 57

[4] Mayer, Vicki. (2014) Making Media Production Visible. Blackwell Publishing. 14

[5] Hartley, Potts, Cunningham, Flew, Keane, Banks. (2013) Key Concepts in Creative Industries. London: Sage.  21

[6] Hesmondhalgh, David and Sarah Baker. (2011) Toward a Political Economy of Labor in the Media Industries. Blackwell Publishing. 390 – 391.

[7] Mayer, Vicki. (2014). 13.

[8] Deuze. (2007). 74.

[9] Deuze. (2007). 72.

[10] Deuze. (2207). 78