Star Wars Clips Up for Mashups
May 27, 2007 by Mike Abundo
Filed under Computers, Movies
Fans have been remixing Star Wars clips for decades. On the franchise’s 30th anniversary, George Lucas decided fans should do it on his site, where he can monetize it all. That’s why he’s offering over 300 clips from the six Star Wars films for fans to mash up using online video editing tools from EyeSpot.
“We see what’s going on at YouTube,” says Jeffrey Ulin, senior director for distribution and business affairs at Lucasfilm, who says the company began to think about allowing mash-ups last summer. “We see what’s going on out there on the Web generally. And we wanted fans to come to Starwars.com as the center of fan activity.” Currently, he estimates, the site attracts about two million unique monthly visitors; he anticipates the new content will boost traffic significantly.
The clips, which run up to 60 seconds long, will assemble memorable moments from the movies, grouped under categories like “Leia Confronts Vader” and “The Lost Limbs” — the latter a collection of various characters’ limbs getting the chop. One category devoted to a much-maligned lizard-like character from the three “Star Wars” prequels urges fans: “Don’t be shy. Here’s your chance to edit Jar Jar.”
Go to Star Wars MashUps and see for yourself. This is how to maximize your online video properties: make it easier, not harder, for fans to fuck with them.
