The Ethos of the Video Mixtape....Part I

What exactly is a video mixtape?  I talked about the "definition" in my previous post, so I thought why not try and explore the requirements and traditions of these tapes.

Homemade Madness

Video mixtapes are made by people who love the bizarre, strange, obscure bad films, bad TV, bad music videos and the down right weird.  They/we celebrate the oddballs creating in the margins of film and TV and the outsider.

The video mixtape is not created for a legitimate general release.  They are made to circulate between friends, like minded folk, traders of the obscure and collectors of rare unseen footage and trash (and I mean that in the most endearing way).  A subversive alternative to the mainstream.

With regards to what should be in a mixtape (be it film, TV, commercials etc) I believe there should be no rules.  Having said that, they do tend to include clips from -

Foreign TV/Film - (Crazy Russian kids TV, crazy Czech animation, Japanese game shows ) 
Religious TV/Film - (Mormon cartoons, crazy preachers, anti-heavy metal videos)
Children's TV/Film - (Cartoons, moral dilemmas, retro shows)
Public Access TV - (all singing, all dancing, always entertaining)
Movie Trailers - (Exploitation film trailers, retro action, sex, sc-fi)
TV Movies - (Badly made TV movies with bad acting)
Commercials - (Infomercials, home shopping channels, retro ads)
Found Footage/Home Movies - (Birthday parties, metallica drummer, skateboarding) 
Music Videos - (Jan Terri, Harvey Sid Fisher, bad hip-hop)
Training Videos - (Health and safety, workout videos)
Bad Film - (Badly made films with bad acting like Strike Commando or any Bruno Mattei film)
Bad TV - (Star Wars Christmas Special, After School Special)
Educational Videos - (Sex ed, driving safety, public information ads)
News Footage - (Odd stories, strange people)
Documentary's - (Outsiders, strange topics) 
Out Takes - (Bloopers, accidents that occur live on air)

and the more extreme video mixtapes also contain - 

Gore/Death - (Real life accidents, death)
Pornography - (Scat, enemas, extreme porn)

This is in no way a definitive list.  But it is pretty close.

You may have also noticed that I have used the term "Bad" a number of times.  So what exactly do I define as "Bad"?  After all, my perception may be completely different to yours.  And just to fuck you up a little more, "Bad" is good.

My definition of "Bad" is something that was made with the intent of being taken seriously...but is devised and delivered so badly, it completely misses and becomes laughable.  It is something that has no idea of how strange, funny and ridiculous it is.  It is completely oblivious.  The more seriously it takes itself, the more "Bad" it becomes.

I had a hard time writing that...it's a hard thing to define.  I'm also aware that if this post is too long it will get boring!!  Here is a link to a thread I found where people try to define Bad Films.

And here is a scene from Strike Commando....track this film down and you should have a better understanding of what I'm talking about!!