Sunday, February 4, 2007

A Dog's Opinion

Before You Tube existed, my brothers would love to try out their movie making abilities. Back then, we still had the full video cassette camcorders; its bulky and heavy handling not quite reaching the smoothness of today's digital camcorders. They loved to make spoofs on current or classic movies. The movie the Blair Witch Project became the Tunnel Rat Project. Scary movies like Jason were a given as well as the art of clay animation. Our whole family loved watching them, but I am sure other people's opinions would have been appreciated. Now, websites like You Tube exist where anyone can post videos and have others critique them. This website and others like it have created a nation/worldwide platform for the everyday citizen to contribute their opinions and beliefs.

A person's beliefs don't always have to be portrayed as something serious or religious. It can be also about what one enjoys doing, their passions and cultures to name a few. The video "Scottie Tails: My Date with Barney, the First Dog" from You Tube for example, is a comedic portrayal of Kenzie, a Scottie dog trying to set up a date with the First dog, with most of the clip occurring at his home table. While totally fictional, this video clip reveals the creator’s passion for their dog and perhaps leaning toward a political view since the date is with the First dog, George Bush’s dog in the clip.

Looking deeper into the making of the clip reveals how the message and comedy came across as it did. Being completely fictional, the clip was heavily edited. Scottie barked through the whole story with subtitles providing the translation. In certain parts Scottie was made to look as if he was typing and talking on the phone. But the fact that Scottie can’t do those things made the clip even more entertaining. Even for those who are not dog nor animal lovers this clip would be entertaining because the dog was personified as a human and relatable.

A big part in movies and clips on You Tube in general is making the impossible possible. With the editing that can be done on standard PC’s, making videos has become much easier for many people. That these videos can be posted on the web by anyone makes it a genre completely separate from T.V. or movies. Having videos made by average people provides a level relatable to others while still allowing anonymity. And these clips don’t have to be good or long, which makes it easy to share with others.

In a way, You Tube videos can be thought of as kind of communication. They are free, accessible and universal depending on the video. People are able to share their personal voice to the world or just to the few who choose to view the video. The viewers also contribute to this communication by posting comments and critiques with an intimacy not available with T.V. or movies. Overall, every voice can be heard with a view or a post.

3 comments:

Korin said...

That clip was quite entertaining. It reminded me of people’s personal ads online with the dating sites, the ads that come up on MySpace and whatnot. You’re right, about how because the animal is given human characteristics, it’s more understandable to the viewer. YouTube is an interesting site, because people have posted their own works on it, and then there are people that post illegally, using other works, such as music videos and copyrighted material. The works by the original people are usually a lot more entertaining though, such as what you chose. It was definitely one of the cuter things I have seen.

Martha E. Altman said...

I remember seeing something on CNN about this very video. I agree with Korin, YouTube is an interesting site, and there seems to be a number of videos that are amusing, there is also such a huge amount of plain crap on there.... nothing more than weird people spouting worthless things simply in order to evoke a response from the viewer. When I happened to come across a video like that, my only response was to simply close it, and move on to the next selection. It has never interested me when someone gets online and starts to attempt to "argue" about something that is rather obvious that they didn't know the full facts about the particular subject. It's no different than seeing a television show that you don't like to watch.... change the channel!!!

tsava said...

Wow! so much for a dog. Honestly, it was quiet humorous and cute. People these days try to convert their home videos by always creating or adding something different. In your case: the dog communicating with human characterisitcs. I remember, when i tried to do something like that, except it was a snail crawing on my backyard. The snail wasn't given any phone or a laptop, although that would have been better, but I did something similar to what was done to the dog. A snail talking (me in the background) with human characteristics. And overall I think you did a good job with the video you put up and the reasoning you gave regarding the video. Nice work!