Co-Creators of The L Word September 24, 2009

The advent of the Internet has given people who are fanatic about something, or someone, an unlimited amount of virtual space to voice their praises. In short, the Internet has given fan-based communities power, high-speed power and several such fan-based communities, such as the LGBT community have harnessed their influence and actively co-created Showtime’s, The L Word.

When The L Word (http://www.sho.com/site/lword/home.do) premiered a lot of women at home watched, biting their nails with anticipation to see how the lesbian community would be represented. Men who were tuning into the show were probably biting their nails too, but for an entirely different reason I’m sure. Cable TV brought hot L.A. lesbians to the screen and the viewers just could not stop talking about it. Well, with Shane’s steamy sexy scenes, a bi-racial couple fighting to adopt a child, and Moira/Max the transgender Female to Male (FTM) who accidentally became impregnated while identifying as a man in a homosexual relationship, who wouldn’t be talking about The L Word? Who wouldn’t be blogging about all of this? Who wouldn’t want to be knuckles deep in the discussion of the first-ever lesbian television show representing lesbians not as “dykes” but as attractive, intelligent, successful women who frankly, don’t need men.

The show was bold but fans (and critics) were even bolder. In reaction to this overnight obsession The L Word creator, Ilene Chaiken (IC), made a brave decision to hold strong to the reality of queer culture and actively participated in a dialogue with the lesbian community. So what was the outcome? IC frequently answered questions about characters and plot points on the Showtime forums. IC made sure that The L Word not only had a website, but a web presence. She was dipping her toe into un-marketed, un-researched and often overlooked gay culture. The L Word embraced its narrative challenges and made it possible for real life lesbian viewers to contribute and dictate how their narrative was depicted.

Over the course of several seasons, IC managed to iron out the kinks in communication between herself, her cast and the fans by fully integrating the LGBT community into the show. With the ability to leave feedback on Showtime message board threads, trashtalk on linked personal blogs and comment on “live” fan sites IC had incorporated the lesbian community and allowed them to contribute to the The L Word’s agenda .

In an attempt to showcase the real stories of lesbians and spotlight issues unheard of in mass media, The L Word gave its fans access to be as “out” as they wanted online, via the virtual world of Second Life. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTOxq4ZKVVY)  Not to be forgotten is also the official The L Word Wiki, (http://lwordwiki.sho.com/) which is a “collaboratively written website, created by the fans for the fans.”

The real bread and butter of IC’s devotion to incorporating feedback from her fan base was when she launched Our Chart. In season 4 of The L Word Alice the “writer” presented the idea of Our Chart in an episode. For Alice, Our Chart was essentially a kiss-and-tell chart that connected the hookups of her friends and acquaintances. But quickly, the fictitious Our Chart wasn’t enough and as the saying goes: life imitated art. The L Word and IC launched the social networking site, Our Chart.com (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb2f-nhKCcc)

Our Chart gave fans and the cast direct access to one another. Never before had something from a TV show been turned into a real, thriving Internet invention and probably never before had the creator of a show spent so much time stalking her own creation. Soon IC incorporated plot ideas, character suggestions and the overall welcoming collective effervescence of queer community from Our Chart into the script.

In the season finale of the The L Word IC killed off her deeply loved-to-be-hated character, Jenny. “Who Killed Jenny?” was a massive viral campaign that encouraged viewers from the first episode through the final to figure out which main character killed Jenny Schecter. The finale episode closed with an open ending. True “fans” immediately jumped online to blog and comment and well bitch, but were rewarded with the discovery of the end of the episode, which was posted online only in the form of several mini-interviews with the ladies of The L Word.

As if blogs, websites, fan sites and a personalized social networking site just for lesbians wasn’t enough, IC filmed a spin-off pilot starring Leisha Hailey (Alice) in response to her demanding fans. As the final 6th season aired, forums and message boards were polluted with spin-off ideas demanding more Alice, more Bette and more (of course) Carmen. This did not go unnoticed. IC listened to the followers, the fanatics of The L Word and although the pilot for The Farm wasn’t picked up at least, for the fans, she tried.

Webcomics and the Geek Movement September 24, 2009

For over a century in the United States, comic strips have helped to transform and shift narrative storytelling in both the print medium and in the digital medium. They were started in Europe long before American writers and artists picked up on the trend, but comics’ evolution through print productions (newspapers and, later, books), helped solidify their presence in significant mainstream culture. Now, comics have taken over the web, offering a whole new world of possibilities for the creative minds behind them.

I discovered webcomics in 2004-2005 through another geeky medium of mine. I became friends (as friendly as one can be over Ye Olde Intarnetz without ever actually meeting) with a guy by the name of Mike Renner, who was the creator and artist for a webcomic called In Wily’s Defense (http://iwd.fetchquest.com/). IWD was the Mega-Man Universe flipped right on its head. Here, Dr. Wily was the protagonist and Dr. Light was the antagonist. If you read the “About” section and read the archives, Renner explains how IWD got started and his reasoning behind switching the protagonist and antagonist roles. There’s also a cast page, which is a mix of both established characters in the MM Canon, original character creations (both Renner’s and others’), and characters in 20th and 21st century popular culture (ie: Jay Leno and Axl Rose).

For comics #300 and #400, Renner wanted the strips’ narratives to be solely driven by his fanbase. He put the call for submissions out through the Fireball20xl.com community, on his Livejournal, and on the IWD website. Fans “wrote-in” using emails and the best ideas were chosen for inclusion. While these comics were completed long before the invention of Twitter, and before “social networking sites” really took off, the method for submissions was standard at the time of creation.

IWD is no longer being written, as Renner has moved onto his next project, a comic called Fetch Quest (http://www.fetchquest.com/index.php). He is the primary writer and Alan Solivan (http://trg.fireball20xl.com/) is the comics’ artist. As of this writing, there are no immediate plans for any fan-driven Fetch Quest comics, but Renner isn’t ruling out the possibility in the future.

Since In Wily’s Defense, I have broadened my horizons in the webcomic world to include many more offerings from a wider variety of genres. The comics Looking for Group (http://www.lfgcomic.com/) and Least I Could Do (http://leasticoulddo.com/), written by Ryan Sohmer and drawn by Lar deSouza, is the best example of a webcomic I currently follow that is the most in-tune with today’s digital revolution. Not only do both Sohmer and Lar use Twitter multiple times a day for both comic and non-comic related means, but they have active forums with over 67,000 registered users between them, Lar routinely does live USTREAM feeds of him drawing and interacting with fans, and every year a Valentines Day contest is held where fans can enter to win a date with the character of their choice from the LICD comic strip. The winner would be featured in a storyline written by Sohmer and drawn by Lar. This year, instead of asking for submissions via email, there was a separate form on the website for people to fill out.

Both LICD and LFG have been turned into books and have also produced other collectors’ items such as figurines, clothing apparel and blankets. A Looking for Group animated movie is also currently in production, and various clips from both comics are available for viewing on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/blindferretent).

Remix Revolution September 23, 2009

Over the past decade, the experience of using the Internet has changed from a passive one to an active one. Instead of simply reading or listening to a narrative online, audience members have become contributors to the narrative—they have become users.

This transformation from audience member to user has been made possible by the evolution of technology. We now have the tools, devices, applications, widgets, etc. that allow us to become users. However, having the technology is not enough. Writers, musicians, and authors of narratives need to allow audience members to become users by implementing the tools and technology that are available. In some instances, groups or websites have been formed to help facilitate this transformation. One group that does this is MixMatchMusic. MixMatchMusic’s website (www.mixmatchmusic.com) allows bands to connect and interact with their fans in a music 2.0 world.

MixMatchMusic was founded to serve the needs of millions of independent and semi-professional musicians. Its technology based products and services help musicians convert casual music fans into active, loyal fans. The site has a library of more than 2,500 stems of guitar, bass, drums, keys and other instruments, which are the building blocks of songs. These stems are used by thousands of artists and fans to create new, unique music based on an artist’s original music.

MixMatchMusic is an easy way to get access to and manipulate music in a way that listeners want to hear it. People can download an artist’s stems and remix them using the software of their choice. For people who don’t have remixing software, MixMatchMusic has created a widget called the Remix Wizard. This widget lives on an artist’s site or MySpace page, and it gives fans instant access to parts of an artist’s songs, such as the vocals, drums, and guitar. Fans can click on the widget, cut, copy, and delete the various parts to create new compositions, and publish their new creations on the artist’s site or MySpace page.

One group that provides fans with the Remix widget on their MySpace page is a hip-hop group called The Bayliens. The Bayliens allow fans to make their own remixes of the song “Bubble Gum.” Fans can hear the original version of the song as well other fans’ remixes. To make your own remix, simply click on the Mix Maker button and get started! The widget is easy to use, even for someone who knows nothing about remixing, like me. You can check out my remix (by jbackbay) at the following link: www.myspace.com/thebayliens . It didn’t take long to transform me from a listener to a creator.

This new music 2.0 world is as much about connecting with fans offstage as it is entertaining them onstage. This artist-fan collaboration helps bring fans closer to the musicians and helps musicians enjoy their fans on a new level. It is an easy way to get access to and manipulate music in the way fans want to hear it. In the world of music 2.0, fans are brought into the creative process and are able to share their new creations with the musicians and with other fans.

As sites and tools like these become more prevalent, providing fans with stems will almost certainly become a necessary thing. We are at the beginning of a remix revolution, and groups like the Bayliens are leading the way.

Rewriting (of a kind) September 23, 2009

Writer/director Michel Gondry is known for his visually stylistic music videos, advertising spots and films. He will often shoot stop-motion, but rather than using animation, he will use miniature sets made from different art media such as Legos. He has also written and drawn his own comic books. Through his website, Michel Gondry.com, you can purchase a personalized portrait sketched and autographed by him. Clicking the appropriate links from his site, a user is rerouted to Flickr.com and can view the numerous sketches of he made of his fans.

Gondry shot his film Be Kind, Rewind, in two weeks in the town of Passaic, New Jersey. The notion behind this film was to make a low-budget film using the scenery and the people of this town, as well as make a social commentary on how history is often overlooked but is essential part of a community. By using a narrative plot in which the two protagonists have to remake numerous films after the VHS in a rental store have been accidentally erased. As the demand for these quirky remakes escalates, the two men solicit help from members of their community. As the plot thickens, the community assembles to help save the site of the rental store, which itself is the historic landmark of jazz musician, Fats Waller (information which Wikipedia claims to be untrue).

The films are dubbed as “Sweded,” as in “they are a rare type of video that comes from a faraway, expensive country.” Since the protagonists are filming these remakes themselves, there are a limited number of movies that they can shoot in one day. Even the hardest of the town’s thugs enjoy these movies and end up watching films they wouldn’t have otherwise seen and, naturally, learn life lessons from these narratives. When the Sweded project grows too large, the protagonists encourage the community to Swede their own favorite movies and to make an original biopic of Fats Waller’s life in a meaningful story of their town.

Sweding (the act of making a Sweded film) is a way of inviting a fan into the authoring of a pre-existing narrative. First of all, Gondry is paying homage to the original film narratives by including them in his film. Secondly, the film sets up specific guidelines when a character wants a film Sweded: it has to be low budget, the film has to be made within the last 30 years, and it has to be kept between eight and ten minutes in length. Herein lies the opportunity for fans of Be Kind, Rewind to create their own Sweded film. As a promotional tie-in to the movie, there was a website in which fan-made Sweded movies were hosted. Even though this site is no longer active, this concept of Sweding has produced a YouTube channel dedicated to Sweded television shows, various websites hosting Sweded films, and an annual Sweded Film Festival held in Fresno.  Some of the sites that host Sweded movies are swededcinema.com, swededfilms.com, and swededmovies.org.  Gondry has also made a book, You’ll Like This Movie Because You’re in It: The Be Kind, Rewind Protocol, that discusses ” the appropriative and participatory practice ‘sweding,’ which is to say, ‘putting you into the things you like’” (quote from editoral note on Amazon).

While the actual film, Be Kind, Rewind is a comedy, Gondry is also making a social commentary about the media industry in large and how, in this era of digitalization, it is hard to keep the fan at bay and by doing so, effectively eliminates today’s audience – which is an interactive one. Retelling/co-authoring and re/co-creating narratives is a way in which to keep storytelling interactive and even if it is something as silly as Sweding a film, it creates a space for community, human interaction, and the exchange of ideas.

Candy Girl’s “Friends” in High Places September 23, 2009

When the subject of innovators and people whose creative product and creative success is grounded in a digital medium (esp. a digital medium open to commentary and creative criticism from fans and other followers), my journovelist, art hag brain points straight to Diablo Cody.

Brook Busey-Hunt, aka Diablo Cody — the self-describled “Margaret Mead of sex”, is a former stripper, writer and journalist based in Chicago, then Minneapolis, then Los Angeles, who parlaid her work in the blogosphere into a job as a screenwriter and an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (for “Juno”, her very first film script).

For a lot of female journalists and writers, Cody’s story is something of a legend. After receiving a BA in media studies from the University of Iowa, Cody bounced between secretarial work at a Chicago law firm and proofreading copy for radio advertisements in Minneaoplis. Her first online work was a fictionalized parody of a weblog called <i>Red Secretary</i>, which detailed the adventures of a secretary living in Belarus. Cody detailed caustic, bitter events in her everyday work and home life through the narrative of an acerbic Eastern Bloc woman with a poor grasp of American-English slang and colloquialisms.  (A short excerpt: “Jascha is so pretty that he even cuts a fine figure whilst vomiting into the porcelain hole that serves as a commode in the Chorni Flats.” http://www.geocities.com/redsecy/)

After her move to Minneapolis, Cody took up stripping ostensibly as a laugh, then as a second job, then as a full-time job. She began a blog at the City Pages, inspired by her work in the adult trade, titled “Pussy Ranch.” (http://blogs.citypages.com/dcody/). After a year of writing about stripping for depraved businessmen in the clubs and peep shows of Minneapolis, her blog attracted the attention of manager Mason Novick (according to the Associated Press, he reportedly found her blog while “surfing for porn online”), who pushed her to expand her writing into other mediums.

“Before Mason found me, all I’d written was the blogs for City Pages in Minneapolis,” she told Wired in November 2007. (“Dialo Cody’s Tips for Blogging Your Way to Hollywood Success”)  ”He asked me if I’d thought about writing something else. I started my book after that.”

Her memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper, was published under Novick’s management and became an international bestseller. Cody was 24 years old at the time. Her first screenplay, “Juno”, the story of a pregnant teen who decides to give her baby to an infertile couple, was directed by Jason Reitman. The film grossed more than $125 million at the box office and was nominated for fourAcademy Awards (including Best Original Screenplay, which, as mentioned above, went to Cody).

The fascinating thing  in Cody’s narrative is how her presence in the digital medium and her ability to write in that medium sprouted wings and led to channels (as well as professional and financial success) in other mediums. A fellow blogger, orionwell wrote about Cody for futureperfectpublishing.com:

“Just as publishers are beginning to explore the blogosphere for commercial grade writing talent, look for Hollywood to follow suit.  But what is compelling and interesting about Diablo Cody’s work is not that she went from blog to book or from blog script; but rather that she went from life to both of the above.” (“It’s a Blook, it’s a Blipt . . . it’s a Blovie – The Unlikely Journey of Diablo Cody“):

Could any of us do it? Probably. Would it have the same results? Probably not. Cody’s set of quirky circumstances are unique. But if there’s anything to take from her story, it’s how her presence online and the followers it attracted has led to work in other areas both outside and within digital media (because try launching a television series or a new film without online trailers, marketing, etc.). Through her digital presentation of her creative product — her writing ability — she was able to make some influential and fortuitous connections that furthered her career.

Cody no longer blogs for Pussy Ranch, because she is 1) no longer working for City Pages and 2) no longer stripping. She does however have  a MySpace account with more than 25,000 friends and more than 100,000 followers on Twitter. She still has an electronic presence that is open and available to the public, but how much of that product is shaped by the public’s response to her? Would a continued electronic presence continue to shape and innovate her product, or do they simply serve as placeholders for movie tickets and dvd sales?

New Connections through Digital Storytelling September 23, 2009

Digital storytelling extends a traditional form of expression into an innovative new environment—creating a dynamic opportunity to connect seemingly disconnected people.  Many organizations are creatively leveraging the popularity of social media and the power of digital storytelling to unite different types of people.   One example is the start-up organization Kiva that connects entrepreneurs in third-world countries with people who can lend money.  These new connections are being created through digital storytelling.

Here’s how it works: From Kiva’s website, investors loan money to borrowers in third-world countries, empowering them to lift themselves up out of poverty and better their lives.  Kiva sends the money to a microfinance institution in the borrower’s home country that disburses the funds.  The lender receives progress reports from the borrower and generally receives payment back within six months or a year.

Kiva uses digital storytelling to create a personal connection among lenders and borrowers, even though they live worlds apart.  Like social networking sites, Kiva posts profiles of the borrowers.  Lenders can sift through the profiles—learning about their personal story, viewing their pictures, and reading about their business venture—and choose to donate to the person whom they feel most connected to or excited by.  Lenders have the opportunity to share their story as well, by creating their own profile, including links to the profiles of people they are lending to.  A unique community is created, where people are learning about and supporting the creative ventures of others through storytelling.

Kiva is one of many organizations using the digital space to create new opportunities for storytelling, connection, and community.  By reading others’ stories, and actually contributing to make their stories better, we create new connections and gain new perspectives.  Connections that would not have been possible without the new tools and innovations of our digital age.

Digital Village September 23, 2009

I found this site because one of my hobbies is Needlepoint and Cross-Stitch.  This is their description of the site in their own words:

The Stitchers’ Village (TSV) is a supportive global NeedleArts community which aims to bring together retailers, designers and the general stitching public in a safe, secure place and provide a venue for the stitching community to gather, learn and discover.”

They have a newspaper called The Stitcher’s Voice which is actually a e-newsletter sent to subscribers.  They have created a virtual village where a mouse-over will tell what each building houses such as newspaper, stores selling needlework supplies, patterns, and classes.  There is no charge to join the village but they have set up a way to pay for products and classes.  For needleworkers this is a fantastic site.  But it is also a wonderful example of digital narration.  The newspaper gives news to the village members, the Village Tea Shoppe has the chat room, the school has classes, and the library has helpful links to various how-to instructions and other material. Frankly with all my web browsing, I have yet to see a site like this one.

I wanted to add a youtube video that I fell in love with, but I am not sure that this qualifies as it is not something that can be acted on by the community. This video and its distribution would not be possible without the web.

Heroes of the New Frontier September 23, 2009

In the Internet’s brief popular existence (let’s say starting in 1997 for the sake of argument) , there have been a few heroes that have made the public stay in front of our computer monitors longer than safely recommended: Tila Tequila, Cindy Margolis, that fat kid pretending to be Darth Maul, South Park Studios, that fat “Numa Numa” guy,but it was Shawn Fanning who taught us all a valuable lesson in sharing.

Fanning created Napster in 1998, which allowed people to share music files, which could be ripped from .wav files from a CD to the new .mp3 files that can work on a computer. Mp3 files are compressed and therefore smaller, usually a tenth of the size of the traditional wavefiles. This compression, accompanied by a larger hard drive in the new computers, allow users to easily share recorded music across the new Internet frontier through phone lines via dial-up connections and broadband cable connections. Soon, we were all connected by software piracy and violations of international copyright laws.

However, while we were embracing this new technology, others weren’t too happy about it, such as Roxy, Sony Music, Warner Bros. Music, and Metallica drummer, Lar Ulrich, and Napster was ultimately shut down. Because of this valuable lesson we learned about sharing (that we really should have learned in kindergarten), we found new ways to share not just music, but movies, books, and everything else we can put in electronic form. (And just wait until scientists figure out how to turn DNA into binary. Oh, imagine the things we can download/upload then.)

It is this lesson of community through thievery, much like looting during a riot, that has brought us together and why Shawn Fanning deserves to be recognized as an early hero of the Internet frontier.

The Future Sounds of Music September 22, 2009

I heard about a cool thing musician Moby is doing: on his website, he has a section where independent and non-profit filmmakers can download music to use in their work, free of charge. On one level, he is helping aspiring filmmakers, for whom technology has made their art easy and accessible. Also, he is using alternative media to transmit his music to a wider audience.

This clip by Kutiman was pretty popular on YouTube: in it, the artist has sampled a bunch of YouTube videos to create an original audio/video creation.

layertennis.com – What started on yayhooray.com as users passing images back and forth after Photoshopping them has turned into a competition sponsored by Adobe. Essentially, a person picks an image, and posts it; the competitor then Photoshops it, reposts it, and so on for a certain number of rounds, after which someone is declared a winner. The events are scheduled and they happen live (you can’t see people working in photoshop, but every 15 minutes the site is updated with the latest “volley,” and people can comment live on the site as its happening.

I’ve noticed that a pervasive trend in digital art is the use of preexisting media as the basic components for composition, rather than materials upon a blank canvas. Personally, while I recognize the ingenuity involved, I feel that it is an inferior art form to, say, music recorded traditionally, or painting.

I do, however, think that the music-making tools of today haven’t been used nearly to their full potential. Can you imagine if Beethoven or Stravinsky were composing today? They would be able to record their MIDI piano as any instrument, and immediately play back a 50-piece orchestra.

In general, I think we are overwhelmed with the possibilities for composition, and while previously “necessity was the mother of invention,” nowadays invention dictates artistic channels.

Post Secret September 22, 2009

Frank Warren dropped his collaborative, public art project on the world in 2005. It started as 10 anonymous cards posted weekly on his blog revealing a secret. The images were sometimes beautiful; the content was always shocking. What was a simple little project on the web became an interesting back-and-forth conversation between the boundryless internet and the intense dark spots in strangers’ lives. Voyeurism is too mean a word for the site’s content, but that’s obviously what has made this project so exciting to its audience.

Oddly, the project technically could exist without the web. The postcards are still hand made and mailed to Warren. But using a blog as the vehicle has opened up the project to millions an millions of people. With a vast audience, Post Secret can self-perpetuate. As awareness of the site grew, more and more secrets piled in. Fun fact: Post Secret only just added the ability for visiters to the site to comment on posts. Obviously, the sensitive nature of the material was what was holding this conversation back. And, predictably, commentors are typically vile and judgemental. As a frequent visiter to the site, I find it appalling and would personally remove the “comments” feature. But the conversation is there now, and I feel it may be damaging.

Warren is one of those internet characters who doesn’t come along that often; there is  no self-promotion in his work. Since opening the site, he has 4 books of Post Secret content. The postcards he has collected travel to universities as displays. He chats with his audience online on the Sundays when he posts.  His work has spawned French, German, Spanish and Chinese sister sites. He created a forum for anyone, anywhere to release something about themselves, and in the process, drew a crowd.

(note to Hugh: this post was done on time; not sure if the time stamp will credit me for that; but i did speak about it in class.)