I had the opportunity to see PressPausePlay recently at an AIGA Austin Reel Design screening. Could not be more excited about what I saw and heard on screen. It is a film about the digital revolution and how it has changed(and continues to change) the creativity of the individual. In it, you have several artists, musicians, entrepreneurs and critics talking about where we are now and where the “democratization” of art will take us.

Seth Godin talks about how giving away his book for free illustrated to him that the old model of publishing is dead. Ted Schilowitz, founder of Red Digital Cinema Camera Company, talked about how the entry of his camera into the market has forever changed the film industry because it helped reduce an immense barrier for storytellers: cost. Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster, tells his well-known story of forever changing the music industry.

There are plenty of other stories and artists chiming in. Not all of them look at the digital revolution through rose colored glasses. They raise very good questions about the potential demise of craft, of the confusion that arises when the technology enables everyone to become an artist. Is everyone an artist? If the technology makes self-expression easy, will anyone value it? How does a genuinely talented artist rise above all the noise to become heard and seen?

I firmly believe that what we gain will far outweigh what we lose, but that is a much longer conversation. In the interim, go check out the movie on vimeo here and learn more about its making here.