99 Red Ballons

Well...Not really when thinking of the film and its title it's the first thing that pops into my mind. Though the film "The Red Balloon" and this song are unrelated or are they.  Looking at the songs lyrics it's about 99 Balloons that  are mistaken for UFO's and then shot down by pilots. This show of force then  proves a war that last 99 years.

The songs upbeat mood would suggest a more happy experience if one doesn't look at the lyrics. When one thinks of balloons you get joyful images usually of childhood, but not always. In the film the balloon is childhood personified it's whimsical and playful.  In the song it is the same,but it takes a dark turn and at first they start of as an unknown entity.

Both the song and the film use a fairly mundane object to tell a compelling and interesting story. In the film the balloon  is mostly whimsical and playful presenting childhood. Though the symbol of the balloon could also be taken as sad in that the child is alone and just plays by himself with his balloon. The other sad thing is that the other children take  his fun away and instead of being gentle with the balloon try their best to pop it missing the beauty of it.  In the song the pilots want to shoot down the balloons to put on an entertaining show. This backfires on them and starts a war.

To move away from this song the film "The Red Balloon" also reminds me of the shorts "The Blue Umbrella" and  "PaperMan"

"The Blue Umbrella" is a story of the titular blue umbrella and a red umbrella which are seemingly magical and fall in love while the human characters are blissfully unaware of the magic in the mundane.

 

Adam WarRock-PaperMan

 "Paperman" is another case of mundane objects coming alive in magical wonder. In this case it is paper air planes coming alive and leading two people that meet each other earlier in the day back together. What all of these things share in common is an enchaining and coming alive of the everyday. I think the message of these all is that there is lots of wonder in our everyday even if we don't think about it.  It may not be as wonderfully magic as these films,but it's out there or it might be that's up to you to decided

"The Red Balloon" is an innocence in childhood and about our amazement in that time. It shows though the adversity face then and now all that can be overcome. The time the boy in the film is most happy is when he's interacting with his balloon and just being a child. He;s naturally curious and wandering the streets,eating sweets embracing childhood plus most importantly his life. I noticed in the film there is kind of an "old yeller moment" where the boy stomps on the balloon letting go of it when he notices that it's in poor condition.  It's a lesson in hard choices and learning to let go and how that can often lead to a reward. Though it's all out of a genuine care and not a cynical one.

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My Attempt At Remix

So after talking so much about Remix and appreciation I took a shot at remixing works I appreciated using the basic tools of Audacity and my imagination.



My first attempt was make Adam WarRock's Sinister Six and Superior track one cohesive story since the main focus is on Doctor Octopus so I took the start and end of the first song and spliced in most of Superior after it. Since Superior Spider-Man is Doctor Octopus as Spider-Man. It just seemed like an interesting idea and one that would thematically work together. Needless to say this feels to me like a bad remix by me because it doesn’t feel like I did much but cut things out and paste other things in.

The Superior Spider-Man

It feels like the minimal amount of work it did come from a loving place but that's no excuse for bad work. I guess part of it is what I envisioned in my head was different than what came out which I had to high of hopes for my first attempt. Also there are some blatant errors like Spider is cut off the final line of the track.

My Second attempt at a remix was using Vienna Ditto's Little Fingers and The Undefeated as a
True Detective mashup/soundtrack/I don't know the proper term for this one. I feel this is a better remix I spent more time on it for sure. I don't think that is why though I like this one more that may be partly because I had a clear idea on what I wanted for this one. One I first heard Vienna Ditto a week ago I immediately said to myself this needs to be in “True Detective “Season 1 an impossible thing to do retroactively or is it? Anyway this remix is better but I feel the execution is not as good levels rise and lower and sometimes soundclips are drowned out by music.

My third and final attempt was a mash up or combination of three different Adam WarRock's track “Marvelous” “Nova” and “Andrew Garfield SDCC” this was a more ambitious attempt due to the amount of clips involved. I feel this is on the same quality as the previous remix or a bit better. At this point I had discovered some tricks in the tools I was using that I hadn't spotted before due to having spent a longer amount using them previously. As with the turtle I learned by playing. 

 



Overall this experience gave me more respect for “Girl Talk” an artist I don't actually listen to but know of who mostly does mash up and remixes it is definitely not easy work. An idea I didn't have previously but would certainly not cross my mind now. 

Girl Talk aka Greg Gillis

 



Which remix did you like best?

WarRock as the Informed User and Remix Culture

WarRock is an example of the informed user in that he uses the new media tools for work,play,interaction all wrapped up into one. WarRock on the FAQ portion of his site states that he makes his music by plugging a microphone into an Alesis preamp mixer which feeds the signal to his external USB sound card which then travels to his Macbook. For tracking and editing he uses Garageband and Audacity to do light mastering. While his professional releases are mixed and mastered by others.

Picture of Adam WarRock from The Guardian

What advantages has the internet provided you that other mediums can't offer you?

“For one, it's freed me of the need to build a regional base. Most bands, they have to start in their own hometown, or region, and build a fanbase up that way. That requires getting in good with the local bookers, knowing people that run the venues, know the other bands. I just made music that went straight to the consumer no matter where they lived, and when I started getting more coverage, I was able to go on tour and just do shows in a ton of cities where I had an already established fanbase. Not only that, but I didn't have to deal with the local politics of a live scene, and didn't have to constrain myself to only breaking through in one area. I even have fans in like Turkey, Norway, Sweden and Australia, places I've never even been! But if I ever do go, I at least know I can succeed somewhat “

Besides his own work WarRock also shares and mentions other work he is appreciative of. Going through his site and social media platforms one can find recommendations for other indie artists, comic book series, fan created works etc. WarRock is a producer and consumer of the new media age.

http://www.adamwarrock.com/?p=2180

WarRock's love for his craft and his influences really shine through his work and his writings. Most of the songs he post on a weekly bases come with a couple of words on what it's about and what influenced it. WarRock's samples have a wide range which include common hip hop samples such as 90s “gangsta rap” West Coast Avengers mix tape to a Vampire Weekend EP. As well as things like a Jane Austen influenced song with a Maroon 5 “Moves like Jagger” sample.



WarRock like Doctorow is supportive about fans of his remixing his work as well as sharing it.

How do you feel about remix culture and people taking your songs and making music videos out of them or just remixing your song while still crediting you?

Yeah, I’m totally down with people using my music and doing whatever they want with it, so long as they credit me and throw a link to my website. I think that so much music is out there illegally (I get Google Alerts daily about which torrent or mp3 site has my albums up) that if we get credit, and it’s presented in a quality that is acceptable, I’m all for it. I love the interactive part of music, and I would be kind of a hypocrite if I didn’t, being that that’s what I do with my site as it is.

Adam WarRock An Introduction

Adam WarRock is an indie musician that has been producing music online since 2010. WarRock is a former lawyer turned rap artist. Unlike the rap artist on the radio you'll hear a different kind of tune from WarRock. His songs are pop cultured influenced taking the things he loves and mixing them with a personal touch to create a unique blend of hip hop.



Adam is an example of the informed user and a participant of Remix culture. Taking a look at Adam's site his web presence spans all over the major social networking sites where he can keep in touch with fans and interact with them.

                                          (The name takes inspiration from Marvel Comic's character Adam Warlock)

How do you use social networking in relation to your work?
“I use it to not just promote my releases, but also to stay connected to fans. I think people want to support artists who have full personalities, who reveal a lot of themselves and make themselves accessible. I pretty much get on twitter and blab about politics, rap music, tv, whatever, and talk with strangers. It's a great way to just put a personal touch on my product"

 

WarRock is consistently putting out tracks some weeks there is a new song everyday while others times there may be a short term break before any new material is released. At this point though WarRock's catalog stretches quite far so those new to him have plenty to devour in that downtime. A good portion of WarRock's catalog is available for free (500+ songs) unlike the traditional music model.

  

(WarRock performs an a Hip-Hop sub-genre known as NerdCore)

Pictured above is MC Frontalot known by many as the Godfather of "NerdCore"

Once a year he hosts a donation drive where fans can support him by donating money. Donates as low as $1.00 net fans an exclusive mix tape album along with other goodies. Of course there are also WarRock's album releases which fans can also buy to support him. The past albums of his including last year's “The Middle of Nowhere” have topped Bandcamp.com's top sellers. 

                                                   (A 2013 Donation Drive Song  plus music video)
 



             Bandcamp.com is an indie music distribution site where many prominent indie artist reside.

What is your preferred method to distribute your content over the web and why?

I mainly use Bandcamp.com, which is kind of becoming the staple mainstay of indie artists. Not only is it incredibly easy to use, but it takes a much lower cut than iTunes/Amazon (which take cuts of about 30% from your profit margin). Plus, it allows me to collect emails and build mailing lists, automate free codes, and sell merch in the same location.”