Do-It-Yourself Videos: Uncharted Political Waters?

February 1, 2008

By Virginia Kuhn

Common wisdom has it that the best candidates have the best messages... and the best control of the delivery of those messages.

Election 2004 may have been the last, best example: Many pundits believe that George W. Bush invoked the attacks of September 11, 2001 — and the resulting public fear — all the way to another four years in the White House.

Election 2008 may break the mold, as new technology and such sites as YouTube now create a public medium able to ridicule even the most “on message” campaign.

Take, for instance, Brennan Houlihan’s do-it-yourself “mash-up” video, “Keeping America Scared,” which skewers the fear-mongering of the 2004 Republican National Convention in a devastating 2 minutes, 36 seconds.

In the video, screen after screen shows George Bush, John McCain and a host of other speakers at the convention repeating messages of fear, danger, terrorism and, of course, the favored Rudy Giuliani chant, “9/11.”

There is something striking about seeing the same politicians in various poses repeating themselves over and over again. The ability to capture such ephemeral rhetoric and “cite” these words in close proximity to each other throws a new light on current campaign rhetoric, one which today's youth will no doubt heed.

What does it all mean? That’s the question we are studying at the USC School of Cinematic Arts’ Institute for Multimedia Literacy. Joined by colleagues around the globe, we look at how the DIY phenomenon is changing the world of multimedia, and its impact on how we communicate, learn and mythologize.

More Political Videos

We will feature several political “mash-up” videos February 8 through 10 at various locations across USC’s University Park Campus. The showings are part of our 24/7 DIY Video Summit, which will bring together leading practitioners and scholars to discuss trends in multimedia communication.

Sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation and presented by the Institute for Multimedia Literacy, the summit examines the “fundamental transformation in how we create, share and view dynamic visual media” by bringing students together with activists, creators, scholars and policymakers for three days of screenings, debates and academic panels.

Conference attendees will include leading managers at Yahoo!, YouTube, blip.tv and Revver, among others.

The full schedule is available at www.video24-7.org.
 
Virginia Kuhn is associate director of the Institute for Multimedia Literacy at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.