The pervasiveness of the internet has meant that now information is completely and utterly available to anyone and everyone. which is not to say is a bad thing. When I started doing videos when I was sixteen, the internet was ridiculously expensive to have at home and editing on computers was something that cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.
But nowadays it seems everyone has the freedom to express their ideas in a digital format in one way or the other and this has leveled the playing field for a lot of people. No longer are creative people limited by their cash flows, they can use powerful tools that even the big guns in Hollywood and major design studios use. Powerful tools at the grasp of mere mortals.
But like all powerful tools, there are many who use it for evil…
Now I must preface this next section saying I am not in any way having a dig at Andrew Kramer or Videocopilot (which is an awesome place for video tutorials and general video workflow stuff), but I must say that in a lot of ways Andrew Kramer (and lots of other tutorial sites) is giving rise to a lot of video hacks which annoys me no end. I define a hack as someone who comes along and takes someone’s existing project, changes some colours and titles and then shows it to a client and says “that’ll be $500 please”. Now granted that client probably had no idea where the project came from, or would be able to create it, but the reality is, they stole someone else’s hardwork, and sold it!
Not cool…
I implore you, as a designer, motion graphics specialist or video editor, if you’re gonna take someone else’s work, please, PLEASE, make it your own and don’t try and pass it off as you’re own work. You’re better than that. And if you think it’s fine that you are selling someone else’s hardwork, let me warn you now, hacks will be found out.
Sounds harsh. It should be. PEACE!
Tags: adobe, after effects, andrew, hack, kramer, photoshop, video
Well said. The tools are cheaper and more accessible than ever, and what should have been an exhilarating time of creative freedom unparalleled in history…kinda turned into kids in basements pirating CS + FCS and stealing projects.
However, if you can sell the free templates + projects of others, for $500 a pop, congrats because that’s just good business. Far inferior to creation though.