Media That Matters & Creative Commons

Arts Engine is a non profit media arts organization and we are dedicated to promoting, producing and distributing social issue media, or media of consequence And the idea is media is a great tool for a conversation starter Arts Engine picked up the Creative Commons licenses as a way to help people distribute their media Arts Engine realized that it was in their interest for people to share the documentaries they were helping promote and so long as they didn't do it commercially, and didn't make modifications, it was a good plan for Arts Engine to start releasing works that way If a video creator uses Creative Commons on their video, they can mark their video as such and there are some technical ways they can do that, there are some systems for it The viewer in Miro can actually see that the video is marked with a Creative Commons license so that automatically sort of lets people know what they can and can't do with this media Creative Commons is a great tool for us for online video We have shown our videos online for many years, but it really ensures that we can share that we can allow people to copy and re-distribute but it also ensures for ourselves and for our partners that we're maintaining the integrity of the work I have really been thrilled with the way that Media That Matters has distributed "Bush 4 Peace." You took it on tour to a lot of festivals around all sorts of places and then really got it online at a time when not many people were putting video online And it's now years later, like five years later and I think it's still being seen all over the place because of the work that Media That Matters did to put it out on the internet It's basically every filmmaker's dream You want to be able to use other sources, you want to use other archival footage that you're not going to get sued for What's happening is as more people are using their computers as a central means of entertainment and watching all their media on their computer having a license like Creative Commons is an amazing way to spread your media We used the music of an artist by the name of DZK in our film "Arctic Son," and had he had a record company or a publishing house in the process we could never have afforded to use his song But because we found his song online through Creative Commons we were able to use a great piece of music for our film and he was able to bring his [music] to an audience that might never have heard it otherwise It gives you as an artist protection and the control over what people can do with your media while at the same time allowing people the freedom to share your work to get your work out into the world and to, if you want them to, use your work to create their own work There's a lot of different ways you can control what is done with your films but without limiting people and their access to it I think Creative Commons has given our film the chance to really travel around the planet and people have been passing it from person to person and sharing it with lots and lots of people I think "Bush 4 Peace" has probably gone out to several hundred thousand people and that's because of the internet, it's because of internet video, and it's because of things like Creative Commons Now it's just up to the media makers, to sort of learn about this stuff, to sort of learn about the advantages of open distribution, and take advantage of them I think it's a great means of opening up your media, particularly as a young filmmaker and allowing many people to watch your film and your product There are a lot of creators who are just starting off as well as really big names who have used Creative Commons as a way to encourage people to share and really push on the promise of technology to help participatory culture I see Creative Commons and the free exchange of creative ideas and the sharing of artistic works as only enhancing and benefitting everyone The whole idea of creating media and creating these films is to reach out to people to show them to people, to open their minds, or introduce new ideas How can we do that, if you're just stopping this flow of knowledge, this flow of ideas? I think new filmmakers have to embrace kind of the new media that's happening and to think about ways to make that work with what you're doing aesthetically, and what you're doing with your content There's a lot of great tools out there and I think filmmakers a lot of people are making films and they're kind of holding on to their old world dreams of what success is and how films can get out there So it'd be really great to see filmmakers embrace new media in a way that makes it really powerful for the filmmaker I think Arts Engine is really excited about working together with Creative Commons I think we've worked together for a number of years and because we have these different programs we're seeing the possibilities open up in terms of how we can really work together And I think it's only the beginning and I'm excited about seeing what can happen For more information and to submit your short film for our next collection, please visit www.mediathatmattersfest.org