Batman Remixed & Reimagined

Earlier this month anthropologist David Graeber wrote an article originally titled “On Batman and the Problem of Constituent Power” and its a must read for anyone interested in the sociological implications of superhero narratives. Below are a few of my favorite quotes but definitely go read the full piece over at The New Inquiry.

“Almost never do superheroes make, create, or build anything. The villains, in contrast, are endlessly creative. They are full of plans and projects and ideas. Clearly, we are supposed to first, without consciously realizing it, identify with the villains. After all, they’re having all the fun. Then of course we feel guilty for it, re-identify with the hero, and have even more fun watching the superego clubbing the errant Id back into submission.”

On superhero narratives and the connection to fascism…

“[Superheroes] remain defenders of a legal and political system which itself seems to have come out of nowhere, and which, however faulty or degraded, must be defended, because the only alternative is so much worse. They aren’t fascists. They are just ordinary, decent, super-powerful people who inhabit a world in which fascism is the only political possibility.”

On The Dark Knight Rises…

“If there’s supposed to be a take-home message from all of this, it must run something like: “Yes, the system is corrupt, but it’s all we have, and anyway, figures of authority can be trusted if they have first been chastened and endured terrible suffering.” Normal police let children die on bridges, but police who’ve been buried alive for weeks can employ violence legitimately. Charity is much better than addressing structural problems. Any attempt to address structural problems, even through non-violent civil disobedience, really is a form of violence, because that’s all it could possibly be. Imaginative politics are inherently violent, and therefore there’s nothing inappropriate if police respond by smashing protestors’ heads repeatedly against the concrete.”

H&R Block made this infographic comparing the income of Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker. I’ve long held that Bruce Wayne’s wealth and his Corporate Empire are always vastly underestimated by the types of fictional audits used as sources for this graphic - even so the income inequality between the two superheroes is striking. 

Happy to announce that the very first trailer for this remix film project will première as part of the Innovate/Activate conference at Berkley Law school on April 21st 2012. The trailer will offer a glimpse into the the twisted mind of our re-imagined villainous Bruce Wayne. Expect the Kickstarter fundraising campaign to begin that same week! 

Its not always easy to find good quality source media for your remixing projects but the hunt is a critical part of the transformative process. HD footage is especially critical if you need crop or zoom the footage to isolate or focus on a particular character or element within the video frame.

To help explain the footage collecting process (and the associated headaches) I though I’d share my recent quest to find a good remixable version of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1997 film The Rainmaker - I am hoping to re-use one scene in particular for my upcoming Batman Reimagined project.

In this shot I want to focus on and highlight Danny DeVito’s character as he talks about illegal jury tampering. This means I need to to crop Matt Damon out of the frame completely since he is not a part of my transformed story. My final remix project wil be done in 720x400 SD widescreen format so I’ll need to find footage at high enough resolution to isolate DeVito without upscaling the footage which would result in ugly pixelation. 

A few problems arise right away. First the film is older and was released on home media well before even HD existed (Blu-ray Discs were introduced in 2006). Plus the movie did not do very well at the box office which means Paramount Pictures is in no rush to create a new Blu-ray Disc version.

Second the film was shot in 2.35:1 aspect ratio and released on DVD in late 1998 before  anamorphic widescreen DVDs format became the standard. This means the original DVD is not only lower resolution at 720x480 but is also presented in full screen 4:3 format with huge black bars at the top and bottom of the frame to approximate the 2.35:1 ratio.

1998 orignal DVD release in full screen:

Obviously there is no way to do any cropping or zooming with the footage at this low resolution so the original DVD will not work for me.

Sometimes the Bit Torrent file-sharing protocol can be helpful in getting your hands on an older or hard to find film but its of no help in this case because DVD rips are typically downscaled to a 700mb file size by uploaders. This often results in a final resolution of between 500px and 700px wide which is of course smaller then the orignal DVD. 

Occasionally entertainment companies will release a special, limited or collector’s edition media disc. In 2007 Paramount did released a special collectors edition DVD of The Rainmaker - this time in real anamorphic DVD widescreen format. While still in SD there are no black bars and the file resolution is a bit larger at 854x360 pixels. My local movie rental place only carried the original 1998 DVD though so I had to order the special edition on Amazon and wait a week for the disc to arrive. 

2007 special collector’s edition DVD in anamorphic widescreen:

This DVD edition is better but still does not give me a large enough file to crop out Damon’s character (as indicated by the yellow box above). What I really need is an HD or Blu-ray version of the film to make my remix work. 

If you happen to be remixing a popular movie produced in the past several years it’s relatively easy to find good HD versions (both online and offline). But as I mentioned above Paramount has not yet issued a Blu-ray Disc version of this title and is unlikely to do so any time soon.

There is one other final option in my source footage hunt. On rare occasions a studio will create an HD version of the film for online distribution only via iTunes, Amazon, Google Play or other services. Oddly some of these services don’t offer HD versions of films that do actually exist in physical Blu-ray disc format like The Dark Knight. Plus a great many films (especially older ones) are not in the iTunes system - all four 1990s era Batman films for example are missing in any format. Further complicating matters some of the HD films which are offered online are only available for 24 or 48 hour rental and not for purchase. 

Various iTunes movies download examples:

Luckily for me there is an HD version of The Rainmaker available via the iTunes store. As of February 2012 Apple only provided 720p movie downloads to personal computers which means the files are at 1280x720 (720p) instead of full HD at 1920x1080 (1080p).

In order to access Apple’s media service though you must have a computer capable of running their latest iTunes software, a broadband connection capable of download 3GB+ files without going over your monthly cap and of course a credit card. 

iTunes downloadable 720p HD version:

The 1280x540 file size will allow me to effectively crop out Damon (again my 720x400 project frame size is indicated in yellow). The framing is still a little awkward as 2/3rds of the frame is empty space above the table and there is still no room to zoom in on Devito’s words, movements or facial expressions. So while this version is not ideal it will work in a pinch. 

As of March 2012 iTunes is now offering a number of movie downloads in full 1080p HD resolution (via the 10.6 update) including The Rainmaker. I should note however that many movies are still only available in 720p.

New iTunes downloadable 1080p HD version:

This version is finally perfect for remixing! And I only had to buy the movie three separate times. Now I can both crop out Damon and also zoom in on DeVito (without video pixelation) as he talks about judicial interference.

Unfortunately finding a good quality file is not the end of the process for remixers. The problem with iTunes and similar services is that you can’t edit the files after you purchase them because the videos are locked down with DRM (Digital Rights Management).

So the next step is to find software tools to remove the DRM restrictions without significant degradation in the video quality. There are a number of apps for doing this but they come with their own set of headaches and frustrations. You can try either the open source Requiem (free for OSX + Windows) or Tune4mac Platinum (paid for OSX). Once that’s done you will finally have a editable video file to work with in your fair use remix!

Final 720x400 crop for my project:

Choosing appropriate frame size and aspect ratio for your remix video project can be a tricky complicated business. Since most video remixers are making their work to display primarily on the web here are a few things to consider:

1) The dimensions of the original media sources

Many remixers find themselves using footage from a wide variety of available sources including DVD rips, Blu-Ray rips, downloaded iTunes or Amazon files, downloaded AVI or MKV files, downloaded YouTube or Vimeo files and homemade screen captured video. Because all these video formats will likely have various frame sizes and aspect ratios its important to take a look for the lowest common denominator. If you are working with only one media source or if all your footage is HD via downloads or Blu-Ray rips then your remix project can easily match the source footage at 1280x720 (720p) or 1920x1080 (1080p). If you are working with ripped US DVDs in your project its a little more complicated. Your project should probably be closer to 480p and match the DVD frame size - most likely you want 854x480 (anamorphic widescreen) and 720x400* or 640x360 (widescreen) and 640x480 (fullscreen). However (since video does not typically upscale well without significant pixelation) if you are incorporating a bunch of lower resolution YouTube or web video clips into your remix you might pick smaller overall frame size to work in like 640x360 or 320x180 (windscreen) and 480x360 (fullscreen). YouTube also has some very basic suggested frame sizes.

2) Cropping the original footage to isolate a character or event

Remixers may also choose to work in a frame size significantly smaller than the majority of their original source media so as to have the option for footage cropping or zooming. This process works best with 1080p or 720p HD footage which can then be cropped down to 480p or 360p in order to focus on or isolate various elements and characters within the frame (without loosing video quality) in the final remix.

Below is an example from my current Batman Reimagined remix project where I want to focus on Batman’s words and remove the Joker from the scene entirely. 

Original 1080p footage: 

Cropping down to isolate Batman: 

Resulting 720x400 crop:

*Technically the math for 720px DVD 16:9 windscreen works out to a height of 405 which then has to be changed to an even number (either 404 or 406 depending on who you ask) BUT most video codex work best with multiples of 8 or 16 so 720x400 seems to be best for web video even if the aspect ratio is off by a few pixels.

One of the inspirations for this remix project was an excellent article I read back in January 2011 on Tor.com written by comic book editor Steven Padnick entitled Batman Plutocrat. In the post he argues that Bruce Wayne as Batman is essentially an aristocratic class warrior fighting on behalf of the wealthy (or at least on behalf of the system which upholds their power - and by extension his own power).

Here are a few choice excerpts that, as a lifelong Batman fan, rang extra true:

“By their nature as vigilantes, acting outside or above the law, most superheroes have a troubling undercurrent of aristocratic, undemocratic, authoritarian values. Only the hero, not the police, judges, lawmakers, and average citizen, can effectively protect and improve the city they patrol, and god help anyone who gets in their way. No one exemplifies these tendencies more than Batman, the ultimate aristocratic hero.”

Padnick goes on to point out that Bruce Wayne sits at the very top of the socioeconomic food chain:

“Batman isn’t just “the man,” Bruce Wayne is also The Man. He’s a rich, white, handsome man who comes from an old money family and is the main employer in Gotham. He owns half the property in the city. In a very real sense, Gotham belongs to him, and he inherited all of it.”

This next paragraph also got me thinking about what Gotham City would look like if the villain/hero roles were reversed in the narrative which is what I’m attempting to do with my remixed film:

“Just look at who he fights. Superman (for example) fights intergalactic dictators, evil monopolists, angry generals, and dark gods, i.e. symbols of abusive authority. Batman fights psychotics, anarchists, mob bosses, the mentally ill, and environmentalists, i.e. those who would overthrow the status quo. Superman fights those who would impose their version of order on the world. Batman fights those who would unbalance the order Batman himself imposes on Gotham.”

Make sure to read the full article for more detailed insights from Padnick on Batman and class. I was a little dismayed at the comment section of the article which was filled with fans defending the Batman myth by using the fictional situations as justification for the fictional character’s actions.

Here is my response to that line of reasoning in the comments:

“It always amazes me when I see people try use fictional contexts and fictional events inside of fictional worlds in order to try to rationalize or excuse the actions of fictional characters. Batman does not exist, we all know this, he is a construct. He is made up by the same people that make up everything that happens to him. He is written by writers making certain choices and as such they could, if they wanted to, make different choices. The writers create the narratives and in those narratives they make the hero an aristocratic, undemocratic, authoritarian, violent vigilantly. The writers also create the entire world Batman inhabits, create every single situation, as well as create all the “villains” he interacts with - all of it is specifically designed to justify Batman’s actions. Because the stories are meant to justify Batman’s actions those stories, of course, have an internal logic to them. Outside of Batman’s world however (the place all of us actually live) his actions can not be easily justified and are, more often than not, deeply problematic on a number of levels including class - as Steven’s article points out so well.”

Batman is both fictional and impossible. He is a fantasy. As such it is important to ask exactly who’s fantasy? And what ideological frameworks does that fantasy serve? My remix project will attempt to deconstruct that fantasy and create a Batman “anti-fantasy”.

[Above image of Bruce Wayne is from Batman issue #1 of the New 52]