Mjeteconer
Just perfect...
Lidia Draper
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
Kaydan Christian
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Ake_Andersson
Dominating theme of the documentary seems to be "how we all are going to make it again while here are so many of us now?" while viewers are not given a single tangible example of how digitalization has actually changed the actual artistic work-flow and how it would purportedly simplify a creative process given that the objective is still to make something new, fresh and meaningful. Does it really matter then that if the process takes couple of minutes or 6 months then? After 30 minutes watching I couldn't help but ask myself why all those people tell us things that everyone must have heard and read million times already and why the makers of the documentary suppose that I or someone else would automatically accept their authority and expertise in things that they are talking about.Even worse, commentators fail to support their opinions with hard facts or wider academic perspective that would help to explain why so many arguably would like to make art themselves now more than previously. While hipsters don't try to disguise their infatuation for their nice new toys, no one explains convincingly why so many now can afford to buy those things, let alone make their art full-time.While the documentary tells us that "craft is gone" and anyone could make music now, the only thing that epitomizes the assertion is annoying repetitive schmaltz playing in the background.
JvH48
I saw this film as part of the Ghent filmfestival 2011. It is a study on modern techniques to create and distribute a work of art, music, film or literature. "New" means that you don't need an "official" studio, radio channel or other monopolistic intermediary, inevitable in the past to deliver your creative products to the general public. You had to know people who knew other people to get your production across. Chances were small that you got past all those stumbling blocks. And even after that were you hopelessly depended on marketing channels offered by your distributor. They could convince DJ's to "plug" your record, they could arrange interviews by magazines, they could pave ways to get you into the top-xx charts, and many other means to let you become publicly recognized.The scope of this study goes far beyond the process of uploading a home movie to YouTube. But the easiness of the latter immediately shows the pitfalls of this media revolution: mediocrity lurks ahead due to lack of filtering and quality control. The average consumer, on the lookout for something interesting, will be quickly overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of everything produced and published via Internet. Hence you all by yourself, on the director and producer side, has to become your own marketeer, as is best illustrated by numerous recipes "How to become famous on YouTube".This film is a documentary, which I normally hate due to the usually obtrusive voice-over and his inevitable opinion forced upon us. That is not the case here. A broad range of people from the "field" offer their opinion, just to highlight many different aspects of the issues at hand. As a bonus we get an impressive sound track, assembled from all music categories. The music underlines the talking heads some of the time. At other times there is no music at all, just the talking. Not obtrusive, just very supportive.Some statements were very catchy, like the term "global masturbation", emphasizing that average quality tends to go down. This negative tendency cannot be helped. The volume of "amateur" productions is orders of magnitude above what "professionals" can ever deliver via their more bureaucratic channels. Which does not say that amateurs cannot make a high quality product, however.Other observations referred to the phenomena that technology always comes first, and that its usage follows later in forms not always foreseen. Once everyone had a small hand-held camera in a mobile phone, routinely carried along throughout the day, this fact of life turned us all into a would be camera man and director in the same person. And as far as editing is concerned, a similar mechanism is in effect: Affordable hardware and software gives us the ability to edit films and music at will, and does not require expensive equipment anymore. The documentary showed several examples of what becomes possible when everyone can obtain this kind of technology and use it in their own home.All in all, I was pleasantly surprised with this documentary, primarily due to the fact that the author does not take you by the hand, and certainly does not impose his views upon you. It is rather a showcase of views from several well informed people. You are allowed to draw your own conclusions, which can scatter in any direction, all depending on what you deem important and relevant.
upperroller
I watched this documentary after stumbling upon it on Techcrunch. While it deals with pertinent issues and has a few important points to make, the presentation leaves more to be desired. The documentary keeps skimming through various people without actually giving enough time to a particular artist (with the exception of a particular Icelandic artist). What I was expecting was insight into particular phenomena through somewhat detailed case studies. Instead, what the movie offers is recurring commentary by people in the industry, journalists etc., which doesn't add significantly to what we already know. And there is something about the general flow which makes it come across as somewhat one sided and closed in. There isn't a narrator who is outlining the flow; there isn't an interviewer who would challenge some of the views; there isn't really any data or public opinion. The movie just keeps flitting from one person's view to another. The views themselves vary from being sometimes speciously authoritative to being completely clueless. And there are these montages of live musical performances thrown in, which again don't cover a particular act, but are just collages of scenes with some music playing in the background. The movie falls prey to some of the very pitfalls that it warns about; in an attention deficit world reliant heavily on technology, mediocrity in art is a very real danger.
Germaine Chong
As a producer of A Design Film Festival, it has been a privilege to preview the films that we screen for the festival. Today, I sat down to PressPausePlay and for the first time, found the need to put into words what this film has done for me.This is possibly the most relevant and important film made in our time about our time.PressPausePlay has beautifully connected the dots of how subconsciously yet drastically, technology has changed the way we do things.Anybody can play an instrument, anybody can operate a camera and anyone can use a software. It is no longer simply about the craft. It is about the idea, the process and the final experience which we deliver. How do we continue to do what a million other people around the world can do and not get lost in the noise? That is the true challenge of our time.There has been no better and more exciting or worst and terrifying a time to be a maker, do-er or creator.
