Brian Burns

Press Pause Play is:

A film about hope, fear and digital culture. — PPP

The digital revolution, the twin sister of the information age, has ushered in a democratic age in which creative, talented individuals can gain recognition for work that they have created and marketed via the use of open/free/cheap/readily available software/web tools.

But does democratized culture mean better art, film, music and literature or is true talent instead flooded and drowned in the vast digital ocean of mass culture? Is it cultural democracy or mediocrity? — PPP

In the film, Seth Godin (along with other influential creators and thinkers of our era) looks at the flattening of barriers that has allowed creativity the freedom it currently enjoys.

The industry (as it was for 500 years) is dead. There has never been a better time to be an artist. — Seth Godin

However, the story also looks at the flip side of democratising the tools that enable self publishing. Author Andrew Keen believes that he has identified a threat to first class creativity as we know it. Does artistic freedom promote a culture of mediocracy?

Not everyone possesses creative talent. That is an unfortunate fact. Keen’s not too distant world is one in which inhabitants become acclimatised to and acceptant of bog-standard art (of all forms). Such a decline in social creativity, innovation and expectation could mark the beginning of a dark age in cultural terms. Perhaps Mike Judge was onto something with Idiocracy.

Creative thinkers are currently in the process of shaping a new publishing industry… It is well worth accessing the risks associated with allowing an open door policy when it comes to actively promoting user engagement in any new model that will come about.

I appreciate that there is a lot of junk out there; it exists in every nook and cranny of the web. As professional designers, experience smiths and curators, we face a huge challenge in ensuring that the best of cultural creativity rises to the top of the ever increasing pile mediocre expression; gaining the recognition it rightly deserves in the process.

Press Pause Play recently premiered in Austin during SXSW. With any luck it will be screened in Belfast sometime soon. I’m really looking forward to seeing it. Stay tuned for more.

EDIT: Check out this sneak peak. Oh and this one too.