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Jem Cohen
When searching the Tube I was shocked to come across videos by the famed Jem Cohen. I am a big fan of his work and have seen many of his films in my academic studies.
Upon finding these films, I sent an email to Mr. Cohen's production company to investigate the origin and purpose of these videos. Was it self-promotion? YouTube is a popular medium to appeal to a younger generation and to let work be seen, even if it is already well received.
To clarify his presence on YouTube, here is a note from Jem Cohen:
"I'm glad you liked my films, but you sort of saw my work on the Internet and you sort of didn't: in the case of the Elliott Smith film, you saw a very crude bootleg from a vhs tape. In the case of Glueman, you saw a very crude bootleg that was inexplicably smashed down to the wrong aspect ratio by the uploader, making everything look fat.
I didn't post them and on one hand, it really troubles and saddens me that
a) people are experiencing the films in such lousy, low-res versions
and
b) any hope that genuinely independent filmmakers might have had of making a little return on their work by selling it may now be eradicated by other people posting everything on sites like YouTube.
That said;
this may well be inevitable. it is good for people to be able to see the work. and it is nice to see that sites like yours are at least making some effort to weed out some of the crap."
Though I am ecstatic that Jem Cohen believes in our site and took the time to reply to our inquries, the reason why I am posting this message is to point out that videos posted to YouTube are not always posted by their creators and often lack the quality of the original content.
Don't always believe everything that you see on user-generated sites. But when you find something you like, be sure to take note and explore the creator’s history and the imagery that they offer the artistic community, off of YouTube.
To clarify his presence on YouTube, here is a note from Jem Cohen:
"I'm glad you liked my films, but you sort of saw my work on the Internet and you sort of didn't: in the case of the Elliott Smith film, you saw a very crude bootleg from a vhs tape. In the case of Glueman, you saw a very crude bootleg that was inexplicably smashed down to the wrong aspect ratio by the uploader, making everything look fat.
I didn't post them and on one hand, it really troubles and saddens me that
a) people are experiencing the films in such lousy, low-res versions
and
b) any hope that genuinely independent filmmakers might have had of making a little return on their work by selling it may now be eradicated by other people posting everything on sites like YouTube.
That said;
this may well be inevitable. it is good for people to be able to see the work. and it is nice to see that sites like yours are at least making some effort to weed out some of the crap."
Though I am ecstatic that Jem Cohen believes in our site and took the time to reply to our inquries, the reason why I am posting this message is to point out that videos posted to YouTube are not always posted by their creators and often lack the quality of the original content.
Don't always believe everything that you see on user-generated sites. But when you find something you like, be sure to take note and explore the creator’s history and the imagery that they offer the artistic community, off of YouTube.
