live cinema unraveled

7/25/2019 Live cinema unraveled

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live cinema unraveled


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live cinema unraveled

PROLOGUE

VJing is a phenomenon that has come toprominence in popular culture over the past

10 years. Commonly misunderstood as be-

ing on-air talking heads for MTV, VJing and

VJ Culture are not properly understood.

VJ: Live Cinema Unraveled investigates this

new medium, both in its own terms as well

as its historical precedents.


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There is not enough of a critical dis-

course around this new kind of live,

improvised performance. In our post-

historical era, art critic Arthur C. Danto

describes the possibilities (below).

This overwhelming sense of every-

thing is possible permeates in todaysart world. Discourse has turned into

sound bites, market hype, colloquial-

isms, and tech specs. There are no cri-

teria to judge work, and any rigorous

discussion around aesthetics, labor,

and visual impact has been reduced to

paraphrase. In short, how do we speak

of what we participate?

Main Elements of VJing

Jockeying is a behavior and role thatfacilitates a radically new kind of post-

cinematic experience. It is an emerg-

ing art form that can be analyzed in

a similar fashion to previous art/cin-

ematic movements. However, it has

fundamental differences. For example,

the relationship between screen and

image is a locus of activity where dis-

parate elements, such as rhythm, la-

bor, structure, outside references, etc.

are concretized.

The relationship between the Image

and Screen, commonly what most au-

diences see in a live VJ performance,

lies at the intersection of the basicprojector/screen setup. Labor, both

on the part of the VJ during live per-

formance as well as the dead labor of

software and hardware designers, and

rhythm, the audiovisual patterns that

emerge and grab the audiences atten-

tion, intersect both Image and Screen.

Together, they provide a motif from

which to map out this field.

everythingi

spossible,n

othing

ishistorically

mandated:on

ething

is,sotosay,

asgoodasa

nother.

Andthatinm

yviewisthe

objective

condition.

-ArthurC.Danto

ENVIRONMENT

SYNTAX

ACTIVATION

IMAGE POTENCY

interpretation /

cultural relevancy

immediacy (time &

space) + realness

(candidness)

affect

labor / endurance


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with an incredible breadth and depth

of knowledge that transcends these

individual domains.

Jockeyingis an appropriate but awk-

ward term (VJ is used all the time, or

video jockey, but rarely just jockey-

ing) to describe what VJing and VJ

Culture is, and what VJs actually do.

Jockeying as behavior: This has to

do with how VJs conduct themselves,how they respond to stimuli, and their

performance techniques.

and

Jockey as role: This has to do with

socio-cultural roles of the VJ, how they

situate themselves within the broader

film, art, and DJ worlds.

Commonly, people confuse VJs with

their MTV on-air counterparts, or DJs,

both of which actually share manyof the same characteristics. For in-

stance, like their MTV counterparts,

VJs are also making social commen-

tary through remixing and montage.

Like DJs, they are concerned with

rhythm, and oftentimes also use simi-

lar laptops, software, and approaches

to mixing.

VJing and Labor

One overarching them here is endur-

ance, and issues associated with labor,

performance, and VJing. The VJ has to

be on for a given time period. Hence,

VJing is time-based, and shares many

codes with that of traditional cinema.

Jockeying is radical in the sense that it

allows for a synthesis of elements that

have been heretofore distinct from one

another.

As a synthesis engine, VJing prepares

the potential obsolescence of a num-

ber of fields. In one fell swoop a VJ can

provide motion graphics, cinema, au-

dio, and performance. Art has a func-

tion as a social catalyst, but oftentimes

disparate elements are kept separate,such as the actual artwork and recep-

tion festivities. VJing is an alternative-

to the traditional art world because it

bundles reception, actual artstic con-

tent, and after party into one package.

In relation to the commercial world,

VJing challenges the static motion

graphics and commercials that domi-

nate the popular landscape. VJing of-

fers the possibility of infinite changes:

the process is linear in the sense thatthere is a very defined flow of con-

trolsource, capture, filter, output,

but the result is completely variable

and non-linear in structure. It is dif-

ficult for companies and corpora-

tions to undesrstand this challenge to

the traditional model, which relies on

consultations with designers and cre-

atives, tests, samples, mockups, final-

ly resulting in a finished product. VJing

turns this production model around on

its head: usually the variables before

the performance are set in some way

although the VJ is in complete control

to tweak, modify, and create unique

content live.

Live control over media is one of

the most important characteristics of

VJing, and manifests itself in mixing

and the creation of generative imag-

ery. Control and organization are key,

as are being able to navigate crowdflows, environments, and body move-

ments of the audience. In addition, VJs

improvise by altering the pace, color,or

theme of the visuals. The VJ riffs with

the audience and notices what flows.

Jockeying embodies a meta-level of

organization in this way.

Close Ties with Film

VJing is a radical departure from pre-

vious cinema(s). It is a total art form

that encompasses music/sound, visu-

als, and installation. It draws from a

lineage founded by the Russian Con-

structivists in not being a pure art

form, but one that has a clear social

function.

Like the art-

i s t -eng ineer

Constructivists,

VJs innovate

and modify ex-

isting tools and

software to suit

their needs.

They oftentimes

build new cus-

tom tools andsoftware, thus

elevating the

craft into other

dimensions.

They are at the cultural forefront, easily

able to straddle the experimental film/

video/music and commercial worlds

quite easily. They navigate between

environments all the way from mobile

media to stadium-sized concerts. They

are walking encyclopedias of media,

Michail Dlugatsch (Russia)

Lithography from 1929


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Hang the VJ

Some of the original MTV Veejays, who are often confused with their contemporary counter-

parts. From L-R, starting at the top:Adam Curry, Jesse Camp, Downtown Julie Brown,

Kennedy, Martha Quinn, Pauly Shore, Tyrese, Riki Rachtman, Matt Pinfieldphotos: Wikipedia

Generative imagery from CHiKAfrom a live peformance in Brooklyn, NY (7/23/05)photos copyright Timothy Jaeger


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Howdoyouencodethisimageonthisnewcanvaswhichisconstructedintim

eanddrawingonlines,andsoonafter,inthe

samedecade-the70s,howtodefinethedigital inwhichthehorizontalandve

rticalterritoryofthescreenisthendividedinto

binarynumbers-thecoincidenceoftimeproducesanimage.Thiswasthemos

tradicalthoughtwhichisnever mentioned.

WoodyVasulka

JOCKEYING

AS BEHAVIORVJing is something you do. It involves action and re-

sponse to visual stimuli. Using new tools such as the Put-

ney, Woody Vasulkaexplored video in the late 60s and early

70s as a camera-less medium. In an interview, he recounts

the dilemma about working with video in the abstract, then

going into making quasi-narrative films. He called thesetotal failures and then realized the crux of his interest:

We tried to do it through tools- the

dialoguing with tools - which was

sort of true- simply trying to find the

least or the most generic images to

describe the medium itself, including

the behaviour.

Unlike many of the first films, whichwere shown in ways intending to

evoke a sensational response in the

audience, these early experiments had

other goals. Many of the first interac-

tions with tools that could manipulate

video were conducted often in solitary,

personal laboratories where the goal

was to commune with the medium, the

technology, and notice how particu-

larly affective works emerged through

multiple test situations.

Woody and Steina Vasulka are two art-

ists who, along with friends, collabo-

rators, and other technologists, were

some of the first to jockey video.

In a Februray 15, 2005 interview on

MonteVideo in the Netherlands, Woody

Vasulka shared many of his insights

about the historical context of VJing.

Because the technology was tan-

gible, artists could work with circuits,

build tools, use gadgets, and get their

hands dirty while exploring these new

media. He reflected that the results of

playing with the medium became his

signature style. These early experi-

ments involved using tools inherited

from the world of sound and audio.

It was common to use waveforms to

manipulate the visuals, for instance.

After some time, Woody began think-

ing that this medium/material actually

had its own unique vocabulary. In fact,he made a work called Vocabularythat

tried to deal specifically with this lan-

guage of video. He tried to articulate

this language of video as lines across

a canvas.

Just as Woody attempted to access

the language of the medium through

experimentation, numerous artists

today are tinkering with code, hard-

ware, software, and digital informa-

tion in a similar way. Programmers likeFlight404and Futurismo Zugakousa-

kaare also testing the medium, with

web sites acting as laboratories and

new VJ tools like Lemur and Quartz

Composerfinding themselves as the

digital equivalents to machines like the

PutneyandVideo Synthesizer.

Visceral response to audio-visual ex-

ploration was the way to tell what work

clicked in the Vasulkas case. Now,

the essence of the medium tends to be

networked, so Internet collaborations,

coding experiments,

ThewholeAmericanmovementwastryingtofigureoutwhatmakesthepic-ture.Howisitscanned?


7/56Vello Virkhaus (VJ V2)in the mixphoto copyright Vello Virkhaus

Early video synthesizers - from top, the EMS Putney(1969) and Spectre(1974)

photos copyright Moogulator www.moogulator.com / sequencer.de


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growing relevance as a type of activ-

ity.

DJ Spooky, aka Paul D. Miller real-

izes that this is part of how rhythm de-

velops. He notes in his book Rhythm

Science about the changing same

and how Jamaican Dub musicians andSilicon Valley engineers work to coun-

ter the cultural entropy of the same

beat day after day, night after night.

There are iterations and versions of ev-

erything. For him, sci-fi is a way to cre-

ate an alternate zone of expression.

VJing works this same way, offering

iterations and versions, processing the

past and present into the future, of-

fering an alternate zone of expression

in a culture of the changing same. It

is none other than the potency of im-ages, sounds, and their combinations

that can create new sociocultural me-

diascapes.

The Vasulkas labored in a studio with

their machines while todays event

spaces and clubs are the laboratories

of contemporary VJs. Bypassing the

changing same with different flour-

ishes and new ways of reworking the

same material, are just some of the

ways they go about investigating how

a mix fits in ways that havent been

discovered yet.

and Steina had a close-knit group of

friends and technologists, such as Bill

Etra and Steven Rutt, that built and

shared tools and resources and were

into experimenting. They were just

playing.

Today, propelled by web-sites likeVJ Central, a new generation of tool

and image-makers is emerging, with

a similar socio-political context fueled

by open-source politics, hacker cul-

ture, rave and electro scenes around

the world. However, because many

of todays experiments are the digital

equivalent to what was happening in

the analog 70s, the impact and power

of the image is different. The work of

inventing these analog tools has shift-

ed to a simulation of effects via theirdigital siblings.

Hence, many of todays emerging

works look no different save for a digi-

tal clarity and anti-aliased feel. Ways

of compensating for this lack of nov-

elty on the part of todays VJs turn out

to be things like cross-media promo-

tion, bigger screens, longer sets, larg-

er-than-life multiple screens, multiple

performers, bigger performance spac-

esandadded interactive elements.

Part of what makes VJing distinct from

other visual art forms is the fact that

no mix is ever the same. Like the MTV-

style VJ who can find different quips or

interesting things to say about a music

video time after time, mixing and re-

mixing are VJs way of commenting

on the visuals. This desire to make dif-

ferent versions of a mix, continuously

update material, and collide old clipswith new software, is crucial to VJings

beta-software and blog comments are

de rigueur in seeing what clicks.

Early Jockeying and Im-

age Potency

These early investigations into the me-dium of video dealt with finding the

potency of an image. Woody Vasulka

used the phrase most generic then,

but that term could be also mean most

interesting, intrinsic, or powerful.

From these experiments, the hope

was to arrive at a deeper, more funda-

mental understanding of this new me-

dium. The early Vasulka experiments

resulted in incredibly powerful, arrest-

ing images. Both Woody and Steina la-

bored over these images continuously,for months and years, days and nights,

There was a candidness and real-time

response to the work (these were tools

that had just been made by some of

their friends). There certainly was an

affect. The images (and oftentimes

sounds) were highly visceral.

Audience response often plays a part

in determing the potency of a VJ per-

formance. Because most of the Va-sulkas works were made in artist-run

studios, it is difficult to determine their

effectiveness in a larger context.

Contemporary Jockeying

and Image Potency

One of the similarities with early video

exploration and todays is the desire

to get your hands dirty while work-

ing with visuals and software. Woody


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VJ as Public Intellectual

One of the first public places where

the VJ and hacker communities came

together in a conference setting was

December 2004 at the 21c3 confer-

ence held in Berlin, in conjunction withAVIT and Chaos Computer Club.

Panels with titles like Hang the VJ, Pix-

els Dont Need No Money, and Pixels

Want to Break Freeall show the role of

the VJ as a public intellectual eager to

frame their own discourse and have a

future apart from that of the DJ. In other

words, rather than relegate the discus-

sion and frameworks of visual meaning

to corporations like MTV, or leave it on

a whim for dancers at a club to decide

what looks good, VJs are discussing

the merits of using certain technolo-

gies, ways of framing performances,

and the role of corporate sponsorship

of festivals. This is similar to the way

that French New Wave directors rallied

around the journal Cahiers Du Cinema

in discussing the ways that the film au-

teur dictated the evolution of film and

film culture in the 1950s.

Like the Cahiers, events like AVITaresigns of novelty and concern over the

image in todays society. While the role

of the contemporary VJ is becoming

closer to that of the intellectual, it is

an intellectual of the club and dance

floor.

Superstar VJsas Pro-

moters?

Another role and persona which has

emerged over the last 5 - 10 years is

that of the superstar VJ. Today, VJslike Benton Bainbridge, Kriel, andV2

have elevated the VJ into a prominent

enough position where they are re-

garded on their own terms. In fact, a

Google search for superstar VJ turns

up Kriel, who has branded himself as

the worlds first superstar VJ while

touring and working as in-house VJ for

the BBC. Corporate sponsorship and

the superstar VJ are inseparable. The

VJ assumes a role that pushes certain

companies technologies to new limitsfor waiting audiences. In 2004 Kriel

announced his deal with Pioneer and

the new DVJ machine that allows for

the seamless integration of audio and

visuals.VJ V2 was featured on the Ap-

ple website - and subsequently reveals

how Apple technology makes it easier

for his studio and live workflow.

VJ as Software Designer

New hardware and software innova-

tions propel the rise of superstar VJs.

Because of the influx of new tools

(both commercial and freeware) out on

the market, there are increased oppor-

tunities for VJs looking to network with

companies. However, VJs also program

and code their own tools, making them

available for others. The VJ becomes a

software developer/toolmaker in addi-

tion to offering up live visuals. Artists

like Netochka Nezvanovawho wrote

Nato.0+55or Miller Puckette, author

ofpd, are becoming influential due to

the popularity of their software and

resulting online discourse that results

from its use and interpretation.

VJ-as-Pidgin Language

Like speakers of pidgin languages,

which are based on simplified usage

of different languages as a means of

communicating with speakers of differ-

ent tongues, VJs currently find them-

selves speaking pidgin. They are not

quite at home in the world of fine art,

graphic design, software / open source

culture, or motion graphics, so there is

subsequently an incredibly simplified

vernacular to VJ culture. Unlike other

new roles and identities that form and

create complex systems of communi-

cation, VJs do not have a particularly

rich background to draw from at this

point in history. Instead, they have

to borrow metaphors and meaning

constantly from other areas, creat-

ing weird syntheses, festival names

that refer to the relationship between

film and sound while still adopting a

Proscenium model for performance-based work.

The confusion between television /

MTV style VJs and performance-

based VJs emerges as the dominant

question of identity in mainstream cul-

ture. Music television has been around

much longer in the mainstream eye

than performance-based VJing, so the

meme of music-television jockey con-

tinuous to dominate. Within the per-

formance-based VJ community there

is no gold standard for a VJ perfor-

mance. Should it last one hour or eight

hours? How much does endurance

play a factor? What type of presence

should the VJ have?

Instead, VJs appropriate and adoptroles and standards found in other

areas, such as theatre, video editing,

DJing, and software design to con-

stitute this new identity and act as a

type of standard. Superstar VJs like

Krielare there to pump up the crowd

through highly gesticular movements

throughout an entire performance,

while performers such as NiceDisc

(USA/NY) simply sit in front of their

computers, pushing buttons and con-

trolling the mix much like a non-linearvideo editor, software designer, or air-

traffic controller.


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Addictive TV (UK) live at the National Theatre, London, as part of the OptronicaFestival. VJs

have recently become as popular as DJs in some venues, as these club flyers show.photos copyright Addictive TV


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SYNTAX

VJing fuses imagery, rhythm, technique andsoftware together to form a new language

VJingisanAmalgamationEarlyoninthehisto

ryoffilm,asearlyasthe1920s,whentheItalianFuturistRicciottoCanudodescribedhowcinemaistheSeventhArt,anamalgamationofarchitecture,mu-sic,painting,sculpture,poetry,anddance,peoplet

riedtoformulateaspecificterminologytodealwiththisnewmedium.

In the mid-20th-century Christian

Metz, began to draw from semiotics,

or the study of signs, and pioneered a

new vocabulary with which to discuss

cinema. Metz devised syntagmatic

categories, or ways of understand-

ing how every element in each frame

relates to the ones surrounding it. Heformulate a theory of cinema by using

the analogy of a sentence to arrive at 8

different ways of describing narratives

of time and space. So, while Metz

used terms borrowed from linguistics,

literature, semiotics, and other fields in

order to describe this new moving art,

we have to draw from other fields in

order to describe Vjing.

This language is not scientific. Instead,

it is quasi-scientificand technical, andcombines and draws from software

terminology, terms left-over from tradi-

tional 20th century cinema (both popu-

lar and avant-garde), DJ culture, mo-

tion-graphics, the Internet and web,

and new mobile viewing devices.

Itsall howyouplay withthevariablesthat createstheart

piece

Paul D. Miller

Elements that give rise to

VJ Syntax

Cinemas predecessors- Mil-

itary and media technologies

from the 19th and 20th cen-

turies that isolated and split

human action into mechani-

cally discrete movements that were

recorded in time.

Software / Equipment - The Lumiere

brothers, as well as others, built many

of the first machines and devises used

in cinema. Today, a decentralized net-

work of hardware / software creators

working for companies like Edirol, Vid-

vox, and Cycling74 give birth to the

tools that allow for VJing to flourish.

Audience / Leisure Time - VJing is

a social phenomenon, and this is a

changing variable: how much timepeople are willing to spend investing

their leisure time, and dollars, into go-

ing to VJ events is similar to the ebbs

and flows of people going out to the

movies, purchasing DVDs, playing vid-

eo games, etc.

Audience Taste- What kinds of images

/ scenes / events people are into

Audience Leisure Money- The budget

that allows for VJ events to happen.

There are 6 syntactical codes that are

unique to VJing, 5 that are shared be-

tween VJing and other media, and 2

codes that exist in the cultural sphere

and are not medium-specific. In order

to begin to speak of VJing as both an

art form and craft, there has to be a

place to begin, a place to start, and

that is in the codes, the syntax, and

the nuts and bolts of this form.

VJingisanAmalgamationAsearlyasthe1920s,when

theItalianFu-

turistRicciottoCanudodescribedhowcin-

emaistheSeventhArt,anamalgamationofarchitecture,music,painting,sculpture,poetry,anddance,peopletriedtoformu-lateaspecificterminologytodealwiththisnewmedium.


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SOFTWARE LEISURE TASTE MONEYPREDECESSORS

CODES:

MEDIUM-SPECIFIC

In 1965, Pier Pasolini, an Italian film theorist and director, wrote

an essay entitled The Cinema of Poetry, where he spoke of cin-

ema actually being able to communicate to us due to a common

set of signs, or relations between a signifier and signified concept.

He calls these image signs. These image signs could be things

such as a burning flag one sees projected onto a screen, which

consists of the signifier (the flag on fire), and the signified (anti-

nationalism). Such a view privileges the image itself and the conceptsit signifies to be of primary importance for understanding cinema.

Other theorists, such as GillesDeleuze, Jacques Aumont, and

Sean Cubitt, who wrote ground-

breaking works, findmovement

to be the primary characteristic of

cinema - that of images moving

across the screen, but also move-

ment within the frame, and the

very level of light hitting the retina.

Breaking down the production

and reception of film into dis-

crete units, they arrive at distinct

conclusions about the movement-

image, one of which is the perfectpoint for beginning to describe

VJings particular codes:

The fragmentation that was

intended to produce attentiveness

also produces the oneiric trance.

The trance is a timeless mode

constructed in time. That con-

tradiction poses one of the most

fundamental problems of cinema:

the problem of starting and stop-

ping. - Sean Cubitt


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Surya Buchwald(Momo the Monster) (USA) uses new interfaces such as the Sony

Glasstron to engage with visuals in performance settingsphoto copyright Sonia Paulino

Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) borrow heavily from older analog synthesizers

and graphic design software in both flow-of-control and visual layout


15/56

This problem of starting and stop-

ping that film grapples with is often

ignored by VJing. It is a form where

the audience can wander in and out,

not necessarily missing chunks of

relevant information. Instead, as we

see in its medium-specific codes, it is

wrapped up in its own unique devices,where narrative isnt necessarily for-

grounded, but protocols of control and

automation, the essence of the loop,

particle generators, being in the mix,

and the graphical user interface (GUI)

are. These eclipse cinemas concern

with starting and stopping. In VJ sets

there are infinite numbers of starts and

stops along the way.

Vjing is not movie-making. It derives

certain functions and characteristicsfrom cinema, though, but there are

things happening in VJ performances

that are entirely. To understand VJing,

and its relevance in contemporary so-

ciety, how it mobilizes the gaze, how it

recognigures the image and the screen,

how labor and endurance function in a

VJ performance, we need a common

terminology.

CODES: MIXING

Mixing is Precision Optics for the 21st Century

The French conceptual artist Marcel Duchampcoined a phrase

in the 1920s to describe the distinctly retinal phenomena of

optical illusions:precision optics. Duchamps illusions, works like

Rotoreliefs, and theGreen Box, all feature this sense of, as Michael

Betancourt puts it, multiple interpretations which cannot be trueat the same time, but we read as being correct, as being asreal.

Whatevermixyoumakeofit,it

canonlybeaguess-youhave

tomakeyourownversion, and

thatskindofthepoint.thinkof

thisasamixlab-anopensys-temwhereanyvoicecanbeyou.

Theonlylimitsarethegameyou

playandhowyouplayit.

PaulD.Miller

This aside forms the basis of how

mixing operates. From a continu-

ous flow of clips, images, samples,

and animations, entirely new tem-

porary worlds are created, and all

of them are viewed as being justas real as the original material. If

cinema is a history of illusions,

then mixing is illusions-squared,

or illusions-cubed. Combining dif-

ferent sources together over time,

and with different techniques of

additive or subtractive synthesis,

allows for an infinite number of im-

age variations by which both VJs

and audience are seduced.


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Anticipating the Mix

Mixing is different from montage, which

is a very particular type of filmic as-

semblage theorized by filmmakers like

Sergei Eisenstein around the 1920s.

Montage supposedly creates a third

meaning, while mixing, however, is liveand open-ended. While montage is

usually thought of as a combination of

two clips into a third, mixing has no

limit on how far it can go. Precision

optics is to mixing as third meaning

is to montage: and anticipation is cru-

cial to the mix, while it is only a sec-

ondary concern to montage.

Mixing relies on thinking in 2d, 3d and

4d - screen, space and time, taking

into account the past, present, and fu-ture of the mix, how the mix is interact-

ing with the environment, and the 2d

GUI interface the VJ is usually working

with. It is a form of visuo-mechanical

acrobatics.

Perhaps it is because lightning fast re-

flexes are required, working in 2d,3d,

and 4d at the same time, that VJ mixes

often have heavily charged syntagmat-

ic relationships. The film directors abil-

ity to think and rethink shots and their

significance is absent in VJ culture. In

live performance environments, there

are too many variables to juggle at the

same time to be wholly concerned with

the quest for focusing on connotation.

Perhaps this is why no real critical com-

munity or journals have formed around

VJ culture - VJ culture is a whole differ-

ent breed of image making, one where

meaning emerges and dissipates fast

and furiously.

Mixing and Destination/

Predestination

According to film theorist Andre Ba-

zin, it is cinema and movement that

are of one essence only if stasis is

not threatening to overthrow it. Unlike

traditional film, where everything is al-

ready scripted, mixing involves being

in the ever-present now.

This might be the crux of what makes

mixing unique to VJing. According toItalian philosopher Mauro Dorato,

the present of one person becomes

the past of another. The present be-

comes spatialized in live visual per-

formance, depending on the beam of

the projector and willful observations

of the audience which shape its dis-

tributed existence. Mixing is the act

of crafting an as-of-yet unforeseen fu-

ture cinema. The sheer endurance of

iterating through the possibilities and

constructing a meaningful mix on thefly is one standard which VJsareheld

Flashforwardsarerareincinemabecaus

ethefuture

eitherhasalreadybeenwritten-thescrip

tpreexiststhe

film-or,bluntly,doesnotexist.

-SeanCubitt

up to.

Mixing is a Narrative

There are tutorials on mixing online.

Different software packages allow for

different types of mixing and compos-

iting of clips, live camera feeds, and

other elements into a coherent final

image - However, the unsaid principleof mixing relies on the history of narra-

tive in cinema. Even with intercutting

and still frames that were prominant in

silent films, the film always continues.

The same thing can be said for the mix.

Other than a The End projected onto

the screen or the blue light of the pro-

jector without signal, the mix always

implies future images. And it is the

labor of both the performer and audi-

ence that gives it life: the eye and body

work at frenzied paces to keep up withthe rhythmic changes of a given per-

formance. But for the performer, there

has to be a method to this rhythm that

dictates when certain images occur in

a performance.

VJs have to keep the mix going and

work with the logic of the mix itself.

There is often no chance to insert

freeze frames and stills into the mix

because doing so means losing thevisual rhythm one has developed over

the course of the performance. The

narrative and dynamics of rhythm in

the mix becomes the narrative of the

performance itself.


17/56

Thankfully, most of the spotlight

and controversy over sampling

is happening in the music indus-

try, while VJing and VJs are more

adept at learning from others

mistakes (and successes). New

DVDs, libraries, and archives of

public material pop up overnight.Theres no shortage of source-ma-

CODES: SAMPLING

Arguments against the creative appropriation of other source

materials, whether its how unoriginal Vanilla Icewas for rip-

ping off Queen / David Bowie, Negativlandscontroversy with

their found sound plundering of U2s songs, or numerous rap

groups ripping rhythms from all sorts of sources, are still on the

rise. New rules and licenses like Creative Commonsactuallyencourage the creative plundering of songs.

MikeBanksofURthought4Herowerewhite.Kevin

SaundersonthoughtURwerewhite.Nobodyescapesthe

waymachinesscrambleidentityatthepushofabutton

Thesamplerisamandatetorecombinate-soitsuseless

lamentingappropriation.Resistingreplicationislikedoing

withoutoxygen.Thesamplerdoesntcarewhoyouare.

-KodwoEshun

terial to draw from. It is possible to

stop producing and just re-use ex-

isting footage, which is what many

VJs do. Content is re-contextual-

ized in new ways - a wacky dance

scene from an 80s movie can be

reinvigorated if played at a club at

just the right time. The sample is a

form of prosthetic memory that groups

like Lance Blisters, Animal Charm,

and TV Sheriff wholeheartedly em-

brace.Lance Blisters, for example,

makes MIDI-triggered breakbeats to

politicized footage of George Bush,

Dick Cheney, and various other scenes

ripped from television.

Lance runs a set where he makes

songs with themed components -

noisecore music puts an-

other spin on American poli-

tics via an adroit triggering

of samples - sampledelic

percussive banks of bombs,

faces, and clip art eagles

are sped up and electrified.

What was once motionless

becomes a rhythmic mo-tionmachine. It is the playing

and performance of our col-

lective media memory that

demonstrates how the past

is always capable of becom-

ing the preset again. Lance

splits apart the connotations

we associate with certain

images into different frag-

ments that are reassembled

in realtime by the VJ.

The way a VJ uses certain

recognizable samples is sim-

ilar to how New Zealand film

theorist Sean Cubitt describes

the cut, or when the audi-

ence separates the rush of

the pixelated screen into objects and

distinguishes objects from their move-

ment. With a new mobile, perpetually

distracted audience, the sample is a

way of framing the audiences reverieinto moments of re-cognition.

One of the most recent examples

of how prominent sampling in VJing

has become is the REV USA project.

The premise involves taking samples

from recent media events, mixing

them with UK hip-hop duo Coldcuts

audio loops, remixing both into a mu-

sic video, and then uploading them

back to the website. They are then

organized for people to download

and see for themselves the

unique ways the samples

where mixed together.

Individual samples can be

used and re-used with the

transfer of digital files be-

tween computers and serv-

ers. Sampling allows oneto think global and act lo-

cal in the sense that Paul

Miller talks about: renewing

the cloth by repurposing the

fabric. It allows one to take

a confluence of images and

make them their own. It is an

interrogation of meaning or a

repurposing of meaning that

becomes dialectical when

the sampled work is com-

pared to the original - where

connotation slips and slides

into new configurations via

the deployment from the li-

brary/arsenal of a VJ.

Shots from a

Lance Blisters

performance


18/56


19/56

A processor is a device which ei-

ther changes the parameter of the in-

coming signal (e.g. gain, polarity, wave

shape) or combines two or more sig-

nals and presents them to the output

(e.g. mixing, switching, wiping). Video

processors include keyers, VCAs, mix-

ers, colorizers, sequencers, SEGs and

frame buffers.

In other words, it modifies the input

signal into a different output signal

that we recognize as having been

changed.

The Paradox of the Filter

Filters are becoming increasingly spe-

cific to the digital realm, especially that

of VJing. Certain software, such asNato.0+55 and Auvi can be thought

of as specially developed filters for the

digital era. In one mouseclick you have

sepia, keying, solarize, tint, and an in-

creasingly growing range of ways to

effect the incoming signal. The para-

dox is that in contemporary culture

one oftentimes views filters (especially

recognizable

ones, such as sepia or solarize) as

an ornamentor an addition to a pre-existing signal. For instance, in live VJ

performance, one can easily recognize

when images are being blurred, or in-

verted. In high art, it has to be the right

artificiality to resonate to discriminat-

ing cultural consumers. The paradox

exists in that one could add filters ad

infinitum, but the end result will still be

a signal. It is our cultural awareness

that thinks of a signal that has been

altered by a filter to be something dif-

ferent than what we normally see. It is

the connotation that still rules, not de-

notation; it is meaning, not signal that

permeates.

Using todays digital filters, not older

processors such as the Hearn Color-

izer, allow us to remove ourselves from

the process of seeing the actual wave-

forms and having a more tuned-in roleto what was happening at the level of

signal - now, everything is abstracted

so we only see it as a macro.

What are the differences between us-

ing culturally accepted and understood

filters versus innovating ones own use

of computer vision techniques? Where

is the line between excessive

ornamentation and technical

prowess blurred? Understanding thenuances of both analog and digital fil-

Assicknessanduncons

ciousness,butalsoasextremelife,filmictechniqu

eboth

describesandrisksactua

lizingwhatitshows:thev

iewersactofviewingisu

nder-

takenintheknowledgeth

attheflickeroftheprojec

tionmightinstigatethee

pilepsyit

recounts.Elidingthedesc

riptionofextremestates

leadsustothebaroques

ecstasy,

itsassimilation,withoutw

ill,intothetranscendence

ofart.

-SeanCubitt

ters can answer some of these ques-

tions, and investigating filtering/CGI

techniques in mainstream movies as

well as new VJ sets can bring about

some awareness of both the technical

and cultural response to filtered imag-

es, filter as ornament, and the paradox

of the filter in an age of digital system

design.

Baroquestyleusedexaggeratedmotionandclear,easilyinterpreteddetailtoproducedrama, tension,exuberance,andgrandeur-SeanCubitt

(USA) MIDI i i l d i hi li f


20/56

Lance Blisters(USA) uses MIDI guitar to trigger samples used in his live performances

photos copyright Timothy Jaeger

RESPAM(Timothy Jaeger & Alex Dragulescu - US / Romania) is a perfor-

mance utilizing custom software that queries a database of spam email

and transforms it into OpenGL text and imagesphotos copyright Sonia Paulino and Mathieu Marguerin


21/56


22/56

CODES: AUTOMATION

Automation, or the use of computers to replace certain human func-

tions, plays a part in VJ culture. Where humans once made decisions

about which parts of a film reel to cut, computers now perfomthe same tasks.

While automation removes ele-

ments from the human process of

decision-making, it adds certain

things as well. The human be-

comes more like a conductor or

curator than creator, ordering the

various mechanized processes in

realtime, examining the patterns,

and deciding which iteration be-

comes the final version. Another

phrase used to describe this new

process isrule-based. This is what

artists like Sol Lewitt, DonaldJudd, and other Minimalist / Con-

ceptualist artists of the 1960s and70s, used as a means of creating

their own art. Rule-based process-

es favored the rules governing the

construction of works of art rather

than the end artifacts.

Aesthetic Criteria

The web archive LuxOnline de-

votes a section to some computer

processes that result in this new

kind of automated art. They are:

incrementation, permutation and ran-

dom numbergeneration. These were

first used by a number of experimental

filmmakers in both the pre and post-

World War II era. Some of the reasons

noted in the desire to use computers

as artmaking tools are:

to explore aspects of art which would

not be possible without computers,

and:

to produce work more easily, which

could nevertheless be made without

the use of a computer.

The explosion of interest in VJing over

the last 5 - 10 years has resulted from

both of these conditions. It is becom-ing increasingly easier to produce live

visuals due to the availability of low-

cost software and hardware, and much

of the content generated could not be

produced without computers.

VJ software often acts as a replace-

ment for other non-realtime, non-linear

editing programs, such as AfterEf-

fects, Final Cut Pro, and Premiere.

Clip-based VJs place an emphasis on

the role of the database, or paradigmin semiotic terms, in the creation of re-

altime imagery. Because many of the

processes in a realtime performance

are automated, the visible labor of per-

formance becomes privileged. Hence,

spectators and other VJs understand

that much of a live set can now be

automated. The standard for creating

something uniquely interesting keeps

moving higher and higher.

So what are the particular elements

that are becoming automated? One

is the control and selection of content

based on the logic of the database.

(Relational) Database

Narrative

Databases exist as data elements thatare organized in a structured, system-

atic way. They are able to be consult-

ed by a user, who issues queries to the

database in order to produce a result

of specific data. Databases, especially

relational ones, are governed by rules

such as set theory, which is a way of

using an abstract container to govern

a set of objects. It is this theory that

informs the working practice of most

VJs, who organize their content intoformed sets based on certain shared

characteristics of the media that can

then be recalled in live performance.

While not offering the kind of complex

queries and returns that modern-day

databases have (with the exception

of live coding tools), clip-based data-

bases allow for the creation of narra-

tive. VJs produce a database cinema

that relies on the intuitive grabbing and

shuffling of clips, sounds, and softwarein realtime. While Hollywood produces

movies that offer rule-based stories

and scenarios such as Groundhog

Day, Usual Suspects, and Memento,

VJs can develop an infinite amount of

rule-based works on any given night

of performance. VJ is the contempo-

rary art form that comes the closest to

revealing rule-based systems of narra-

tive constructions in time.

Lev Manovich argues in his essay


23/56

Robert Hodgin(Flight404) in live performance (top) with Griffin Powermate knobs and

Processing (software). Middle: NatzkeRibbon.Bottom:planetoid.photos copyright Robert Hodgin

Screenshots of work-in-progress by Futurismo Zugakousaku (Japan)photos copyright Futurismo Zugakousaku


24/56

Database As Symbolic Form that the

guiding principal of new media is the

projection of the ontology of the com-

puter onto culture itself. Another view-

point, made by Andrew Orlowski in an

article about Creative Commons, that

supports a backlash of the computer-

ization of culture itself.

VJing inherits elements of both argu-

ments. While the VJ is traversing clips

and code, they are also paying atten-

tion to other non-computer things,

such as rhythm,audience response,

sound, and the environment. There

are numerous human processes that

cant be automated so easily, and it

is the contemporary VJs role to act asan interface between cold database

and warm human, somehow aligning

themselves between the two.

Engineering

recipes,or

sourcecod

e,arentthe

same

asworksof

art.

-AndrewO

rlowski

CODES: SHARED

Technological innovation is oc-

curing at a rapid pace, but many

of the same ideas and attitudes

towards what constitutes a good

movie still exist. This is where

shared codes emerge. VJing is an

outgrowth of cinema and theatre,

and now is beginning to share

many similarities with gaming and

software culture, with an increas-

ing emphasis on superrealism and

algorithms. The shared codes of

montage, screen/image, semiot-

ics,superrealism,remix, and spe-

cial f/x allow VJing to flourish in

our mediated environment.

Intheunrollingofthefilm,thephotogramswhichconcernuspassthrough,

hiddenfromsight:whatthespectatorretainsisonlythemovementwithinwhichthey

insertthemselves-ThierryKuntzel

Filmartbegatvideoartbegatcomputerartbegatinteractivitybegattheweb.This

cycleofbirthanddeathhasnowassumedafamiliarlogic.

-RichardWright


25/56

CODES: MONTAGE

The history of montage in both filmmaking and VJing have much in

common. For one, Eisensteinstheory of the Montage of Attrac-

tions uses various machine metaphors to construct how imagesfunction dialectically:

The term montage, meaning as-

semblage, was adapted for the

theater by analogy with the indus-

trial assemblage of machine parts.

The guiding concept was typically

Futurist-Constructivist: the theater

must be broken down into its ba-

sic and most potent elements, just

as if it were a machine, a machine

for producing attractions math-

ematically calculated to have the

strongest effect.

and

if montage is a collision and

from the collision of two given

factors arises a concept,8 then

montage is a [concept] that arises

from the collision of independent

shots.

The principal characteristics of the

radical montage that Eisenstein,Ver-

tov, Meyerhold, et al produced are

still evident in VJ culture, although the

rhetoric of collisions and dialecticshas been dropped. Montage in VJing

is not radical. It is not necessary to de-

scribe it in the same frenzied way that

the Russian Constructivists had.

Even Eisenstein himself, one of the fa-

thers of this radical new cinema, gives

different accounts of what montage

accomplishes. In Film Sense, he talks

about how montage works in relation

to developing an overall theme:

Representation A and representation

B must be so selected from all the

possible features within the theme that

is being developed, must be so sought

for, that their juxtaposition- the juxta-

position of those very elements and

not of alternative ones - shall evoke

in the perception and feelings of the

spectator the most complete image of

the theme itself.

There are competing visions of the

purpose of montage, and subsequent-

ly, how meaning is constructed. This

debate is ongoing. Numerous VJs still

struggle with these same principles

with their banks of clips and f/x. How,when, where, and why to juxtapose?

What is the intended effect? Does it

relate to an overall theme?

Scoring the Visuals

Eisenstein developed a theory in the

early 1940s of vertical montage. He

uses the metaphor of the different

parts of an orchestral score operating

independently from one another butstill linked through time. Contemporary

VJs are using similar strategies. Oliver

S o r - rentino ,

aka VJ

A n y -

o n e ,

h a s

c o n -

structed a sample visual score in the

same manner for a performance with a

DJ. He runs clips, effects, and the en-

ergy of the music horizontally across

Montage of clips from Eisenstein and Vertov movies


26/56

the page like a musical score.

The energy level of the music is the

barometer that determines which ele-

ments along the visual staff are trig-

gered at certain points of time. The

content follows the energy level of the

music, so when things are just getting

started a movie clip of blue ice ap-

pears, and when things become more

intense, Anyone uses clips of spar-

kling steam, shaking fire, and red light-

ning when the musics energy is at its

peak. This system is similar in nature

to the one that Eisenstein pioneered

60 years ago.

VJ Anyonehas established a system

that solves many of the problems that

Eisenstein was facing in the transition

from silent to audio/visual film. Per-

haps were in a similar transition today

between audio/visual film and the newVJ movement.

Situational-Spatial Mon-

tage

Montage is a technique that produces

meaning through certain juxtaposi-

tions, but what happens when there

are 10 - 30 screens all showing differ-

ent images in a large stadium packed

with fans of a certain DJ? This is dif-

ferent from the single-screen setup

of conventional movie-theatres. With

an increasing number of screens and

dome projections that companies like

Eluminati (America) are producing

which completely engulf the viewer,

does montage factor into a concern

for todays VJs? What happens at as-

semblages of portable computing that

have taken place at such venues as

the Tate Modern, Sonar Festival in

Barcelona, and Transmediale in Ber-

lin?

Timothy Druckrey, a New York-City

based media-critic favors a move away

from the surface in favor of the situa-

tion, the narrative in favor of the event,

a n d

i m -mersion

in favor

of atmo-

sphere. He

argues that

the principles

of montage are

moving off of the screen in this new

culture, and out into the world around

us. As traditional eyes-forward cinema

is becoming supplemented by other

forms of viewing, montage as an ar-tistic technique is becoming supple-

mented by other off-screen ways of

creating meaning. Some of these are

the relationship of image to screen,

bodies to each other in space, and

code to performer.

What the Constructivists thought of as

montage has become subsumed into

this many-to-many situation. Because

of advances in technology, peoplehave access to tools that allow the

..thelawsofcompositionalm

ovement(A-B-C)havebeene

volvedinthe

practiceofthesilentfilm.The

newproblemfacingtheaud

io-visualcinemais

tofindasystemforco-coord

inatingA-A,;A1B1C1;B-B1

;etc..thisleads

ustotheprimaryquestionof

findingthosemeansofestabl

ishingthepropor-

tionsbetweenpicturesands

ound.

-SergeiEisenstein

collision of a wide variety of sources

in a wider variety of environments.

Montage is just another element in the

visual score of VJs during the course

of a performance.

Share

An example of this new type of mon-

tage is SHARE in the East Village,

NYC. The programming team recently

released an OSC (Open Sound Con-

trol) client which allows for networked

data to be shared in a variety of situ-

ations.

Sound and Montage

Paul D. Milleraccurately sums up thesynaesthetic qualities of sound in an

era of montage in his book Rhythm

Science. He notes that:

Rhythm science is a forensic investi-

gation of sound as a vector of coded

languagesound is a product of

many different editing environments,

an end result of an interface architec-

ture that twists and turns in sequenc-

es overlaid with slogans, statistics,

vectors, labels, and grids.

Today, sound is overcoded and inter-

laced with brands, download sites,

formats, and software in a decentral-

ized many-to-many environment. The

writing of software that allows sound

and image to be treated in the same

way and thought of as just bits and

bytes implicates sound in the same

role as the image.


27/56

Stacks of mini-dv tapes of footage fromVello Virkhaus(VJ V2) used in events such as (top-bottom):

Under the Bridge, Purple Stain, Give it Away, and Parallel Universe (Red Hot Chili Peppers)copyright Vello Virkhaus

Melissa Ulto (VJ Mixxy)(USA) produces live visual backdrops for

everything from concerts and theatre to art installation and DJ eventscopyright Melissa Ulto


28/56

CODES: SCREEN /

IMAGE RELATION-

SHIP

There is often an ambiguity in a

VJ performance between what the

audience sees and the VJ is actu-

ally doing. The transparency of la-

bor in both content, software, and

the VJs physical presence is are-

sensitizingexperience. Rhythm is

what unites these elements, and

unifies the performance itself with-the numerous interpretations that

the audience will bring.

Live Screen, Live Im-

age

The French theorist Paul Virilio,

who has written on technology,

war, and speed, thinks that the

Moreoftenthannot,therelationshipbetweentheim-ageandthescreenisnotconsideredincontemporaryVJperformance:theimageandscreen,whetheritbeaprojectorbeamingontoawall,agiganticplasmascreen,orothervariationsofthis,areconsideredone-and-the-same.Screenandimagehavebeen,andcontinuedtob

e,

oneandthesame.-SimonPayne

that allow for a much greater intensity

of experience amongst the audience.

Unlike the deferred time of writing or

static imagery, the live image/screen

relationship is a construct that has

been explored by various artists over

the last number of years, such as Mal-

colm le Grice, David Crosswaite(who

made experiments in works such as

FILM NO.1 (1971 / 10m) where unsplit

film shot in 8mm is split into 4 images

when shown in 16mm),Birgit and Wil-

helm Hein(whose works such as Raw

Filmalso deal with the inconsistencies

and incongruities of random 8mm and

16mm film chosen at random), and

Tony Hill, who has made films that

have been projected onto the floor

and projected via a mirror. This tradi-

tion continues in the work of PointlessCreations 3d VJing and Blinklights

(Berlin) usage of entire buildings as

screens. At events and conferences

such as Generator.x, in Norway, pan-

els such as Sexy Displays Pt. IIallude

to the new types of display technol-

ogy that thwart easy recuperation into

traditional film image/screen setups.

More and more of these emerging de-

vices will continue to problematize the

assumption that image and screen are

one and the same.

live screen is what will threaten writ-

ing and reflexivity, not the image. The

screen is merely an apparatus until it

is imbued with specific cultural refer-

ences. However it is the under-ex-

plored relationship between the screen

and image that holds the key to a new

logic of perception. He notes that

images have been around for centu-ries in books and architecture, but the

image that exists in a non-deferred

time brings about a whole new type

of perception. It is this dromology, or

science of speed, that governs the

interrelations of labor, rhythm, cultural

references, and the physical appa-

rati that contain / enable them. Speed

matched with labor dictates which

mixes become noteworthy. The abil-

ity to produce numerous live events

for extended periods of time where

live, flickering images provide stimuli

for audiences waiting for the latest in

newly assembled retinal data streams

is seen as extremely positive by the VJ

community.

Media theorist Marshall McLuhan

says that we are being drowned in the

furious immensity of our own technol-

ogies, lost in the huge vortices of en-

ergy created by our media. Electronicmedia like television broadcasting

allow for a support system for com-

munity, offering up a common content

for multiple minds, and VJing acts in a

similar way.

VJs produce content for people in a

centralized environment, which allows

for a much greater affect and imme-

diacy in its form as live performance.

The screen is merely the backdrop for

images replete with cultural references


29/56

CODES: SEMIOTICS

Everything around us involves semiotics, or the study of signs. Theorists

have developed rigorous systems that help us to understand films in their

complexity. Christian Metzand Umberto Eco, among others, developed

ways of isolating elements of filmic scenes into categories. Magazines like

Cahiers Du Cinemaand Cinethiquesurfaced in the 70s where the semi-

otic tradition of film criticism resulted in unique reviews of contemporaryfilm.

Many film theorists understand film

in relation to spoken and written

language, and can break it down

into a type of grammar.

In language, a sentence

is comprised of words,

words are comprised of

letters, and when you put

them together in different

ways they create mean-

ing. Accordingly,

In language, phonemes

and morphemes are combined

to create sentences, while film iscomprised of image and sound to

create syntagmas.

New Media such as CD-ROMS,

DVDs, hypertextual art-

works, etc. also share

this same relationship

with semiotics. Lev Ma-

novichtakes us from an

understanding of how

traditional cinema and

language are comprised

of signs into our new da-

tabase reality. It is here

that the creation of New Media

objects can be understood in se-miotic terms from the standpoint

Kriel demonstrating the Pioneer

DVJs at ISEA 2004

of both creator and user.

New Media Paradigm

In Database as Symbolic Form, Manov-

ich writes about the design process of

these New Media objects in terms ofparadigm and syntagm:

New media reverses this relationship.

Database (the paradigm) is given ma-

terial existence, while narrative (the

syntagm) is de-materialized. Paradigm

is privileged, syntagm is downplayed.

Paradigm is real, syntagm is virtual. To

see this, consider the new media de-

sign process. The design of any new

media object begins with assembling

a database of possible elements to beused. (Macromedia Director calls this

database cast, Adobe Premiere calls

it project, ProTools calls it a ses-

sion, but the principle is the same.)

This database is the center of the de-

sign process. It typically consists from

a combination of original and stock

material distributed such as buttons,

images, video and audio sequences;

3-D objects; behaviors and so on.

VJing differs from the explicit para-

digms that users can choose from

and experience in New Media. If New

Media takes interacting literally (in the

form of clicking on buttons for choos-

ing the next step in a hypertexutal jour-

ney), VJing, an essentially syntagmatic

art where viewers see only the succes-

sion of images rather than the total-

ity of choices, differs from these New

Media Objects. It is an overcoded psy-

chological domain where the minds of

both VJ and audience are locked into

an open-ended cat-and-mouse game

of possibilities.

Psychological Narratives

The VJ is locked into the possibilities

of the machine, at the mercy of his/hertechnological prowess to work the

database. Relegated to CPU memo-

ry, Quicktime movie speed and video

card processing power, they have little

recourse to adjust the raw technical

specifications live. They are also al-

ways locked into the time-domain. On

the other hand, as VJs such as Kriel

andAnyonehave noted, there are nu-

merous other ways to structure such a

sequence of events. Kriel, at the new

media festival ISEA 2004, talked aboutthe ways that a VJ could structure

the crescendo of music and visuals

throughout the night, leading to either

a few small or one gigantic climax. This

method of developing rhythms and

content over time can work in tandem

with the expectations of the audience,

and the music, to create moments of

overcoded connotations and denota-

tions. For example, at climax points

in the music the VJ can show footageof pounding speakers or sexy bodies,

or produce strobing abstract content

to mirror the perceived psychological

state of both audience and performer

linked virtually. At these moments of

connection the momentum of content

and structure just seems to fit.


30/56

VJ Responses to Semiot-

ics: Visual Music, Borrow-

ing from Earlier Musical

Traditions

Recently, VJs such as Anyone cameup with the idea of a VJ score, similar

to the score used by musicians making

chance-based composition, such as

works by John Cage and Karlheinz

Stockhausen.London-based VJ Kriel

has expanded upon the notion of cre-

scendo and diminuendo in structuring

a visual performance over the course

of a night. The score is one way of al-

leviating the pressure of endless pos-

sible variations for the VJ. It dictates

the way a piece is to be played bythe performer, and is the written rep-

resentation of the music. Dynamics

offer ways of engaging with rhythm,

and structuring rhythms that can turn

a performance into something more

visually engaging.

In his VJ performances,VJ Anyone (UK) utilizes visual scores, similar to

those used in music


31/56

CODES: REMIX

Remixing is a rearrangement of music, visuals, or other forms of recorded

media into something novel and unique. The 20th century heralded a new

era of recording devices that enabled people to archive and share these

media. It encouraged new subjective relationships around ones collec-

tion, and also new forms of sociality in the form of mix tapes and bootlegDVDs.

Remixing / VJing / So-

cial Commentary

What is it about remixing that

seduces people to take others

source material and comment

about politics and society? Oneonly needs to look back as far as

the Dada art movement of the ear-

ly 20th century to see how collage

and remix became a relevant art

form. By juxtaposing images cutout from newspapers and maga-

zines, Dada artists liked Hugo Ball

and Hannah Hochcreated a very dif-

ferent kind of meaning with interpreta-

tions slipping out of the control of the

original creator.

The VJ is a social critic / commentator.

We live in a media-rich society, and hav-

ing access to clips from on-line, tele-

vision, and movies, allows for a wide

breadth of possibility in commenting

on various media. In VJ culture, proj-

ects and mixes abound that attest to

the value of the remix in contemporary

culture. Social commentary is usually

thought of in different forms such as

public speeches and writing. Acting as

a social critic giving a speech, the VJ

can respond to the mood of the crowd

by triggering, generating, and riffingwith the image in a variety of ways that

new technologies make possible. The

VJ now has an increased

ability to make

large-scale

i m p a c t s

due to the

n u a n c e d

g e s tu re s

that they

can pro-

duce withtheir tools,

and the

available

c o n t e n t t h a t

can be remixedad infinitum.

Remix the Archive

Archiving and Remix culture have a lot

in common. Both play with our percep-

tions of memory, and extend our pros-

thetic memory into other dimensions.

New services are arising that serve the

interest of cataloguing and assimilat-

ing all human interests, and then sub-

dividing them into categories. For the

ephemeral medium of video, storage

has now become an all-encompassing

goal, with new custom-services that

cater to the VJ world. Just as Netflix

have made a name for themselves in

the film/video world and stock pho-

tographs have become de rigueur in

digital design, clip repositories have

blossomed in the VJ community, al-

lowing people to remix others content

for a price.

VJ Image Bank, one such ser-

vice, offers open source content for

VJs. Paul D. Miller describes how:

rhythm science is not so much a new

language as a new way of pronounc-

ing the ancient syntaxes that we in-

herit from history and evolution, a new

way of enunciating the basic primallanguages that slip through the fab-

-SeanCubitt


32/56

ric of rational thought and infect our

psyche at another deeper level.Tak-

ing elements of our own alienated con-

sciousness and recombining them to

create new languages from old. might

be a way of seeking to reconcile the

damage rapid technological advances

have wrought on our collective uncon-

sciousness.

Remixing triggers our collective un-

consciousness into a prism of reflec-

tion and refraction where images once

familiar are defamiliarized, and other

images speak

more clearly

than they did

in their origi-

nal context.

Remixing isabout freeing

content from

its context,

allowing the

desires of the

VJ to intersect

with the un-

tapped mean-

ings of source

images, and

synthesizing

new connota-tions out of an infinite number of com-

binations. Places like VJImageBank

make this easier via their metatagging

and categorizing of the moving image.

VJIMAGEBANK homepage (http://www.vjimagebank.com)

CODES: SPECIAL F/X

VJs sometimes act like magicians, conjuring up patches, software, and

filters. These only develop meaning once they enter the language of ourcultural codes.

Special F/X-as-Fix

There is a predisposition people

have towards special effects and

their ability to contribute to alter-

ing our consciousness, if even for

a short while. It is an intrapsychic

event where the individual psyche

and make-believe world come to-

gether in a type of union. Certain

VJ groups, like OVT Visualswhich

creates digital playgrounds of sal-

vation, take part in the religious

undertones of special F/X as a way

of reaching a divine union. The de-

sire is a freedom from merely be-

ing a fixed body in space. Special

F/x is the means towards achiev-ing that end, and achieves a new

morphology of body and spirit .

In 1916, the actor Paul Wegener

is quoted as wanting an increas-

ingly synthetic cinema in whichtotally artificial scenes would be

created by the abilities of the cam-

era. In between striving for new

narratives in VJing and plunging

further into the synthetic cinema

of pure affect, special f/x are a

constantly negotiated field.


33/56

Coolisnotjustonety

peofcool.Cooliscon

fidenceand

knowing,Iguess,what

youareandbeingfine

withit.Some

peoplecanbewhatpeoplec

allnerdsandtheyrec

oolbe-

causetheyknowtheyrenerds.Theyknoww

hattheyareand

theyresoconfidentin

knowingwhattheyare

thatthatmakes

themcool,andsomeb

odyaspirestobeliket

hem,because

theyrefinewithit.Its

confidence,youknow.

CODES: CULTURAL

There are numerous cultural codes that shape VJing and help determine

its trajectories, content, and styles. These are often deep-seated modes ofcommunication that have become established over a number of years.

Realists vs. Imagists

TheoristAndre Bazingrouped the first

wave of film directors (from around

1920 - 1940) into two groups. These

two groups were then further broken

down into sub-groups based on cer-

tain characteristics.

* Imagists- Base their integrity in the

image (subjective approach, distor-

tions of space/time)

* Realists- Base their integrity in re-

ality (long take, on-location shooting,

objective approach)

The sub-groups for the Imagists are:

*Plastics - Concerned with lighting,decor, composition, acting

* Montagists- Those who use editing

to distort time

The sub-groups for the Realists are:

* Objective Realists - Neo-realism,

documentary-style

* Spatial Realism - Renoir, Welles,

surround-sound, creating space to

the movie

What do these definitions, coined

about 80 years ago, have anything to

do with todays VJ culture? For one,

they are definable cinematic ideals for

a certain era. Cinema was either sup-

posed to present reality accurately, or

bring about new, unforeseen worlds

that only special F/X could realize.

Todays VJs are taking similar stances.

Either the software and actions of the

VJ should be completely transpar-

ent to the audience (Amy Alexander,

TopLap, etc.), or the VJ should oper-

ate with an opaque window into their

world. Else, the VJ should simply be

an accomplice, providing a visual

soundtrack for a musician or DJ.

As VJing becomes a global move-

ment, how do certain cultural trends

figure into the production of visuals?

Certainly the physical environment a

VJ lives in would have an effect on the

visuals (s)he makes.

The City

New York City, Los Angeles, London,Tokyo, Mexico City: these global meg-

alopolises are where many VJs reside,

and often become thematic locations

that translate to audiences worldwide.

Everyone knows the feeling of living

in, or at least visiting, cities like this.

Crowded conditions, streets filled with

people, extravagent architecture, sub-

ways and buses, and an ever-chang-

ing, always charged atmosphere are

inspiration for contemporary VJs. In-

fluenced by their environments, VJs

like Scott Brown, Dino Lava, andVJ

Sergio Brown use clips of cities in

their sets, working the local dynam-

ics of place into larger sets. Trying to

capture as much of the flavor of a par-

ticular place is still a relevant means of

expression that people can instantly

connect with.


34/56

Branding, and the similarity of VJ identities with corporate identities, is a result ofVJs adopting both the business practices and marketing stragies of corporations


35/56

Modern Architecture

Lines and forms of everything from

the Guggenheim Bilbao to a an office

building down the street contain mo-

tionless patterns that, when put into

the hard drive of an adept VJ, become

motion graphics. VJs and software de-signers like Canadian artist Ben Bog-

artand 242 Pilotsall use the natural

patterns of architecture and turn them

into rhythmic, abstract shapes. There

is something fascinating about these

static buildings and their forms that tap

into our subconscious thoughts

and desire to create move-

ment out of the unmoving.

Itisthemostimportantthingforafilmtoberunning...thestoppingofthemovingsequencewouldbetheendofcinemaSpeedisthemotherofcinema...itisnotbychancethatthecarwas

inventedatthesametime,theaeroplane,thetelephone,andtheradio.Everythingthathasdeterminedthiscenturyofaccelerationwasinventedaroundthesametime,thetransitionalperiodbetweentwocenturies.-EdgarReitz

ACTIVATION

Through rhythm VJs activate space and audience. Today, in the 21st cen-

tury, the image becomes more valuable as it is intertwined with rhythmic

elements, and likewise, rhythm is embodied in the form of images andvisuals that guide its trajectory.

What is it about the fixed attention

span of traditional cinema that is

lost in live cinema performance?

Is there a rhythm to vision?

Vision itself is a discipline studied

at length by theorists and histo-

rians in contemporary culture,

and Jonathan Crary is one of the

foremost excavators of attention

in Modernity. He writes:

Oncetheempiricaltruthof

visionwasdeterminedtoliein

thebody,vision(andsimilarly

theothersenses)couldbean-

nexedandcontrolledbyexter-

naltechniquesofmanipulation

andstimulation.

-JonathanCrary


36/56

This makes sense in the division of

labor and leisure within capitalism.

If synaesthesia is the stimulation of

multiple senses, then dissynaesthesia

is the sectioning off of senses into

multiple realms. The DJ provides the

music, VJ the visuals, and rarely the

two shall meet. This has been the way

history has progressed: for retinalstimulation, go to the movies, for aural

stimulation, visit the club.

This division of labor can only hold for

so long. Crary notes that:

EXIT CINEMA(and memory.)

Cinemas most important convention

is its relationship of consent between

audience and producer, capital and

consumer. Aside from certain devel-

opments in experimental cinema, film

has followed a proscenium model,

both in mainstream Hollywood and

various avant-gardes. To pay for the

combined labor of a director and crew

of people working on a film, audi-

ences pay money to sit and watch the

product for a set period of time. It is

a discrete activity that takes place in

specialized locations. There is a disci-

plined set of conventions that dictate

a certain level of attentiveness on the

part of the audience to this form.

From the late 19th century up to now,

capitalism has continued to modern-

ize both the production and reception

of cinema, which has brought about

a crisis.

Now,

the changing configurations of capi-

talism continually push attention and

distraction to new limits and thresh-olds, with an endless sequence of

new products, sources of stimulation,

and streams of information,

as well as the new methods of

managing and regulation perception.

Technology favors the mobile subject,

able to capture and record their own

cinema with a cellphone, burn DVDs,

control down to the frame-per-second

Hollywood movie playback on DVD

players, and even download mov-

forthepast100yearsperce

ptualmodalitieshavebeenan

dcontinuetobeinastateof

perpetualtransformation,or,som

emightclaim,astateofcrisi

s.Ifvisioncanbesaidto

haveanyenduringcharacteristicwithinthetwentiet

hcentury,itisthatithasnoe

nduring

features.Ratheritisembedde

dinapatternofadaptabilitytonewtechnologicalrelati

ons,

socialconfigurations,andec

onomicimperatives.Whatwe

familiarlyreferto,forexampl

e,

asfilm,photography,andtele

visionaretransientelements

withinanacceleratingseque

nce

ofdisplacementsandobsoles

cence,partofthedeliriousop

erationsofmodernization.

-JonathanCrary

ies at their very convenience. Today

the mobile subject can download

podcasts on iTunesand listen to a

random playlist. Capitalism favors the

consumer, and this perpetual mode of

multitasking and schizophrenic recep-

tion spills over into VJ environments.

Exit cinema, enter mobility. Enter re-

integrated synaesthesia. Exit divisionof sound and image. Exit polarities.

Along with this new hyper acceler-

ated, perpetually distracted consumer

of both sound and image emerges the

reconfiguration of memory, especially

in contemporary VJing. Unlike plot-

driven mainstream films, which have

an emphasis on causal relationships,

VJ performances are usually driven

by other factors. If movement is oneof the first special effects in cinema

(circa 1895, when the Lumieresdem-

onstrated their Cinematograph), and

people first experienced movement

abstracted from life in this area, then

VJing reunites this sense: viewing an

ebb and flow of pixels induces trance,

or a timeless mode constructed in

time.

VJing provides this constant re-pix-

elization of the image, aconstant antici-

pation of what

may originate

at any given mo-

ment.

So how does this

constant anticipation

work with a new mobile

audience? Gustave

Le Bon, a Frenchman who studied

crowds in the late 19th century gives

us a key to understanding how audi-

ence, memory, trance, VJing, and our

new multitasking subject all relate to

one another. In his anthropological

study on crowds and crowd behavior,

he observes that crowds are always in

more of an unconscious state than

individuals. This is one of the secrets

of their strength. It is the always-present unconsciousness of crowds

that shape their reception to what is

around them.

The crowd is in a state of expect-

ant attention and full of imagination.

Whatever strikes it at the right mo-

ment in a clear form has the power of

suggestiveness that images viewed

by one man or woman alone do not

have. Emotional, theatrical imageshave the best effect as people enter a

domain controlled more by sensation,

affect, and their nervous system.

Whoeverbe

theindividualsthatc

omposeit,ho

weverlikeor

unlikebethe

irmodeoflif

e,theiroccupations,th

eircharacter,

ortheirintelli

gence,thefa

ctthattheyh

avebeentransformed

intoacrowd

putsthemin

possessiono

fasortofco

llective

mindwhichm

akesthemfee

l,think,anda

ctinamanne

r

quitedifferent

fromthatinw

hicheachindi

vidualofthem

would

feel,think,an

dactwerehe

inastateofis

olation.

-LeBon


37/56

Audience and performer, screen and image, mobility and attention, all com-

bine into one performance environmentphotos collaged together with Pix Picks (http://www.signwave.co.uk)


38/56

Experimental Narrative

Flow

The new subject of the twenty-

first century can surf through these

crowd environments - just look at

open air festivals like Coachella

in California, Sonar in Barcenlona,or MayDayin Berlin as examples

where crowds have the opportunity

to choose when and how they want

to be affected. Crowds in VJ perfor-

mances and festivals oftentimes have

the ability to move from one scene to

another, one environment to another,

pulled by their spinal cord and feet to

which rhythms move them, to which

experiences they want to be a part

of. After all, it is the experience that

crowds of different generations un-

dergo that is one of the more effective

ways to establish truth in the minds

of the masses, according to Le Bon.

(NON)LINEAR

PROCESS /

(NON) LINEARRESULTThe history of cinema, film, and video is complex and turbulent. The

eventual replacement of analog cutting machines by digital workstations

and continued development of special f/x undergirds the basic fundamen-

tal aspects of how film, digital video, and the motion graphics that we see

in theatres and television are produced.

In a non-linear process, one has

the ability to line up clips in a va-

riety of ways, color correct certain

parts, endlessly tweak the audio,

make layers upon layers of com-

posite images, add endless ef-

fects, and trim or extend the time

that one section dissolves into an-

other one. Time is indeterminate.

Sound and video are at our mercy,

and we have the ability to length-

en, shorten, or embellish, a given

Wehaveseenthat intheprocessofrememberingthereare twoveryessen-tialstages:thefirstis theassembling of theimage, while thesecondconsistsintheresult of thisassemblyandits significancefor thememory.Inthis latterstageit isimportantthatthememory shouldpay aslittle attentionaspos-sibletothefirststage, andreachtheresultafterpassingthroughthe stageofassemblyas swiftlyaspossible. Such is practicein lifeincontrasttopracticeinart. Forwhenweproceed into

the sphereof art,wediscover amarkeddisplacementof emphasis.Actually,toachieveitsresult, aworkof art directsalltherefinement of its methodstotheprocess.-Sergei Eienstein


39/56

section of film for as long as we want.

Although, once all the changes are

made and a final version is rendered,

and delivered to a client or theatre

as an unalterable piece of work. You

press play and watch the film or mo-

tion graphics spot for as long as it runs.

You have the ability to fast forward or

slow down the film, but the work onlyappears different momentarily. The ba-

sic structure of the work remains the

same, and will remain the same every

time it is viewed. As a result, to watch

the film, an audience must remain in-

ert, because a fixed-length film pre-

supposes a relationship between the

audience and screen.

On the other hand, VJing inverts this

paradigm of film and video technolo-gies. Because VJing is a live, non-re-

producible activity that is comprised of

human labor, technological infrastruc-

ture, and an audience, there is a rigid,

time-based structure from which VJs

can perform their material. Unlike con-

ventional non-linear filmmaking, VJs

cannot undo something. There is a

clear flow of control that digital tech-

nologies necessitate when jockeying

live, moving images. Breaking a link

or changing the structure of the flowof control means that the entire thing

stops. What is indeterminate about

this scenario is the length of time that

VJs perform. The final product, or

mix, is flexible in how long it is, unlike

conventional film. Nothing needs time

to render, because it is produced live

for an audience.

GOAL-ORIENTED

PRODUCTION /

GOAL-ORIENTEDVIEWING

Viewing and understanding a film

usually involves watching it from

start to finish. This tendency has

become naturalized. To view a film

from start to finish is to see the film

how it was meant to be seen: in

its entirety. This is what charac-

terizes the older cinematic tradi-

t

live cinema unraveled

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