Amazing stop motion video mashup – thanks to the BBC

The BBC has just done something revolutionary… they’ve released all the source footage for an as yet unscreened documentary about the way technology is changing our lives, and are inviting the public to compete and edit/mashup the footage into something unique. Above is an inspiring example of what’s possible, by Barry Pilling. Here’s another by Cassetteboy.

The idea of allowing your work to be edited and improved by others was first encouraged by the Creative Commons. If you don’t already, make sure any photos you share on Flickr are released under Creative Commons, so others can do great things with them (without profiting or taking credit).

Another film in this vein that’s well worth a look is RIP: A Remix Manifesto, the story of Girl Talk’s rise to fame as a musician who plays no instrument but uses samples of others’ music. It too is freely editable and mash-up-able. There’s also a growing craze for “fake trailers”, the most famous being Shining. It’s so much easier these days now that people have a publishing house, editing studio and photo lab on their desktops.

Exciting times!