Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Ake_Andersson Dominating theme of the documentary seems to be "how we all are going to make it again while here are so many of us now?" while viewers are not given a single tangible example of how digitalization has actually changed the actual artistic work-flow and how it would purportedly simplify a creative process given that the objective is still to make something new, fresh and meaningful. Does it really matter then that if the process takes couple of minutes or 6 months then? After 30 minutes watching I couldn't help but ask myself why all those people tell us things that everyone must have heard and read million times already and why the makers of the documentary suppose that I or someone else would automatically accept their authority and expertise in things that they are talking about.Even worse, commentators fail to support their opinions with hard facts or wider academic perspective that would help to explain why so many arguably would like to make art themselves now more than previously. While hipsters don't try to disguise their infatuation for their nice new toys, no one explains convincingly why so many now can afford to buy those things, let alone make their art full-time.While the documentary tells us that "craft is gone" and anyone could make music now, the only thing that epitomizes the assertion is annoying repetitive schmaltz playing in the background.

upperroller I watched this documentary after stumbling upon it on Techcrunch. While it deals with pertinent issues and has a few important points to make, the presentation leaves more to be desired. The documentary keeps skimming through various people without actually giving enough time to a particular artist (with the exception of a particular Icelandic artist). What I was expecting was insight into particular phenomena through somewhat detailed case studies. Instead, what the movie offers is recurring commentary by people in the industry, journalists etc., which doesn't add significantly to what we already know. And there is something about the general flow which makes it come across as somewhat one sided and closed in. There isn't a narrator who is outlining the flow; there isn't an interviewer who would challenge some of the views; there isn't really any data or public opinion. The movie just keeps flitting from one person's view to another. The views themselves vary from being sometimes speciously authoritative to being completely clueless. And there are these montages of live musical performances thrown in, which again don't cover a particular act, but are just collages of scenes with some music playing in the background. The movie falls prey to some of the very pitfalls that it warns about; in an attention deficit world reliant heavily on technology, mediocrity in art is a very real danger.

Germaine Chong As a producer of A Design Film Festival, it has been a privilege to preview the films that we screen for the festival. Today, I sat down to PressPausePlay and for the first time, found the need to put into words what this film has done for me.This is possibly the most relevant and important film made in our time about our time.PressPausePlay has beautifully connected the dots of how subconsciously yet drastically, technology has changed the way we do things.Anybody can play an instrument, anybody can operate a camera and anyone can use a software. It is no longer simply about the craft. It is about the idea, the process and the final experience which we deliver. How do we continue to do what a million other people around the world can do and not get lost in the noise? That is the true challenge of our time.There has been no better and more exciting or worst and terrifying a time to be a maker, do-er or creator.

JustCuriosity PressPausePlay is a provocative documentary that explores what is happening to art, literature, music, and film in an age where everyone can be an artist. (Although not discussed in this film, there is a very similar situation in news media where established media is losing its economic base due to the growth web logs and news aggregation websites.) As a result of new technologies such as digital cameras, video editing software, and the web, we now provide more and more people with the ability to create and distribute various forms of art in a manner that never existed before in history. Millions of people can produce art at relatively low costs compared to what it used to produce a film, a song, or a book. Thus a million flowers are allowed to bloom, but it seems like the standards of quality are being diluted. The gatekeepers have been lost in the new digitized world, because individuals get to decide that they can produce art. PressPausePlay has begun look at this truly profound question of what is art and what is it becoming in the digital age? This excellent documentary explores these questions through interviews with a series of articulate and thoughtful artists and commentators. This is a conversation that we need to be having in the information age. Democratization of art may in fact be produces millions of mediocre YouTube video and songs at cost that the talent of real artists may be overshadowed. This is a trouble situation that needs a lot more discussion.