Hit RECord is fucking great and no apologies for the expletive on that. Although, definitely late to the party on this one, it doesn’t particularly matter when something is so good. To quickly explain the premise of the show for those not in the know, it’s essentially an extension of a website founded in 2010 by Joseph Gordon Levitt and his late brother, Dan. Hit RECord is a participant production company, where content is user generated and curated to create projects, a selection of which make it to the the silver screen. Each episode has a theme of sorts, “Space”, “Fantasy”, “Money”, for example, which is explored from multiple view points, in a range of media, giving it a loose sense of structure.

The show is forward thinking in execution, and strangely, an advocate for the social media generation. Each episode starting with the mantra, “ We would like to remind you to please turn on all recording devices”. The “selfie” angle that JGL adopts is actually empowering as opposed to narcissistic here, as hundreds of people record him, recording them, creating a sort of loop of positivity. The sense of joy is palpable. It all serves a purpose and that creates a sense of involvement. It’s hard to watch an episode and not feel something and further to that, it demonstrates the power of creative collaboration in a fun, engaging way. I’d go as far as saying that this platform is pretty vital. Below I have included an example of hit RECord's work, a piece made up of 542 contributions. The full version is in the caption.

Beastly Beauty full version here

I will say that it can seem somewhat disjointed at times, but that arguably represents the nature of what Hit RECord is trying to achieve. We are seeing snapshots of hundreds, and at times thousands of image, text, audio and video contributions edited together and when done successfully, that is quite inspiring. Perhaps, those used to a regular format will be frustrated by the transience in the narrative but I’d it makes great viewing for anyone. You might feel compelled to do something and perhaps you will. You might go ahead, look up the website and think about submitted something. Or, you might just continue lying there, scratching yourself, hitting play on the next episode. But. It will feel like productive, inspiring procrastination when you do so. Either way, you are a participant.

Having seen a few cynical comments about the show being vanity masquerading as generousity, I’d have to wholly disagree. Joseph Gordon Levitt, at the helm is unbelievably charismatic and if you’re feeling a tiny bit shit about yourself, his talent might make you hate the guy. Pretty sure that’s called jealousy but, perhaps he doesn’t help himself to these comments with his polymathic tendencies. Two episodes in and we see JGL host in multiple venues, singing, acting, dancing, playing piano and drums and even do a fucking backflip. Regardless, I just like the guy and thus, I’ll continue to watch the show in the light it should be viewed in.

Hit RECord is a quality show, progressive in conception and fulfilling in realisation. If you are yet to see it, I suggest you give up the very digestible twenty to twenty five minutes of your day to it. You can contribute at www.hitrecord.org, stream the first episode below for a taste and the whole first series on Netflix, possibly other services too, but I'm not entirely sure. Thanks for reading.

Watch the entire first episode here

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Hit RECord