Interview about the general state of VJing today.
VJ jean_pØØle from Melburne/Australia who has been long time in my blog roll and is preparing a re:launch of his highly valuable blog as his old one lost the hosting service was sending me an email asking me for an interview for his new blog, for 3D world mag and for a larger in depth article on ANAT - mostly about my personal perspective of AVIT but also about the general state of the VJs today.I decided to post the larger uncut version on here for you to enjoy.
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What lead you to start VJ-Blogging? ( and what excites u about it? )
The starting idea was totally uncreative. I looked at the stats of my normal blog one day and thought "wow there are a lot of people coming to my blog through the google search term 'vj blog'". A quick look at google revealed that mysteriously my blog had claimed the number one spot with this term. I thought that this is not right as my "vj related" content on there was not enough to satisfy someone coming here through this search term. The idea of a true VJ blog was born - not text but video centered. Right in the beginning I came to the realization that not only was the idea of a "VJ blog" new but also the idea of video blogging in general was in its infancy - maybe 3 month into a hype starter. I also found out that the Video Blogging community had its own video RSS viewer called ANT.
Now you have a very new hot technology - video blogging - with a very hot old but revived media - vjing - together and I think that makes this blog very special.
The idea behind the content was twofold - first I wanted the blog to become a personal loop aggregator - a way to force myself to create new loops. Secondly the urge to find a way to project socially aware loops that reflect my personal interest was one of the great motivators for myself.
From the beginning on it wasn´t meant to be a personal blog, because creating so many loops to make the blog worthwhile to look at would eat too much of my time so I opened it up for other contributors. Michael Parenti (exiled.surfer) was the first who jumped on it and has been very active. At AVIT Birmingham we meet for the first time and we figured that we want around 5 people actively contributing to the blog with other "guest bloggers" coming in randomly. Todd Hille (synesthete) was added to the regular contributors as well. If anyone is interested in the concept and wants to regularly contribute write me a mail we are still actively pursuing people - hopefully from around the world.
At the AVIT gathering of VJs from all over the globe - what -
-differences / similarities or strengths / weaknesses did u notice amongst the VJ work there?
Firstly I want to point out that the overall quality of the work seen really set standards far beyond from what seemed to be possible the last years. I would like to make two categories from what I have seen: the beginners and the pros and I would like to only comment on the pros that have been in the market and that you just see their experience shine through everywhere. The beat synchronity was superb with all vjs I have seen. For the first time I have seen a lot of visuals really going with the flow of the music and really reacting to it. That might have to do with all the new toys and tools available but also I think a lot of us have now some much needed experience to work with the beat. As for weakness I was a little surprised that besides some few the content of the work overall still was more eyecandy or blantend war pictures then actual concepts or even narratives. I would have loved to be inspired by others for my narrative persuing and except for the few vjs in "narrative lab circle" this was mostly absent.
Whose work stood out ( & why) ?
The two persons really standing out for me personally were VJ Oxygen and VJ Solu. It must have been the fine compositions and the overall flow and the colors and the lovely aesthetics - maybe woman are more capable vjs?
What do you think are the most interesting ideas amongst VJ related software and hardware at the moment?
Uh talking technical I am not really the right person to ask right now. I still use 1.5 year old VDMX software. I was noticing that almost all Mac users are now on Grid Pro. I have not even bothered to look at the numerous midi workshops and installations. The only thing that still stands out is probably the VDJ -X1 from Pioneer. My first reaction a year ago when I first heard about it was not very favorable but I think they made a great product - that laying my hands on one was a quite surprisingly powerful feeling. For the price of two of those I rather buy one or two powerbooks they still can do more for me personally.
And what do you think are the biggest challenges / hurdles for VJ software / hardware development today?
Well they all seemed to figure out how to handle beat detection and audio analysis - they all seem to be fairly fast on newer hardware. Most attempt to do full resolution and once we get better harddrives (internally) I might even look into finally switching to full rez as well. For the same reason I don´t think a lot of us will do HD(T)V anytime soon.
The new challenges for software certainly is finding better interface metaphers and let the vj define the style of the output rather then the software - which will happen when there are more effects with more individual control and by the time the software has gotten more modular over all. As said the vj is who makes the visuals and not the software or hardware and if your software has certain limits then do the most you can within these limits and hack out of them as much as you can.
What about yourself personally - in which directions are you most interested in taking your work?
I am totally into narrative vjing. My first test narrative "CTRL-V a hacker story" is now at version 1.5 so it has progressed over each performance with enhanced fx, content and typography. I am at the point now where I think I need a new story - something more complex - more challenging. I think the point that a story can work in a common club setting has been made now and its time to push it forward with a better overall production quality and a better storyline. This is something I will pursue in the future along with the VJBlog which gained a lot of attention lately and doing "vjblog only" performances are definitive on the horizons - once the content in there has filled up.
What do you think distinguishes today's push for an 'expanded cinema', from other pushes in decades just past?
Oh what a lovely question :) I think the VJs finally have the tools that are easy enough to use and offer such a great diversity that for the first time ever in history we can create moving images from our imagination "live". For example imagine Oskar Fischinger with tools like we have today and how much gorgeous content he might have produced with it and how he could have really redifined motion picture media. Now today everyone is in the position to be an Oskar Fischinger but what is still lacking is the content. If the VJs can put meaning into their visuals through whatever means I think we are on a new media platform that might stand next to Cinema and Television as the third option. What the past lacked was not the content - I even think at point they were far more advance in that part - but they lacked the tools to put it all together. What we can thank the past that they have pushed technology so hard that now we have all the toys we need to make this artform something significant - we just have to look back at the core concepts of content from those times and also learn a few things from traditional motion picture media. Another thing we are about to change is the public perception. A lot of VJs try to better the image of the scene around the world - might it be through events like avit or through a online media push or through talk on the streets - the vjs are better and better known each month and recognized as artist.
We should not forgot the VJs past - not forget that we are coming from a socially aware background of geeks and artists trying to push technology to the edge while always making an independent statement of our world view. If we stay true to that we might have a brighter future then our pioneers - a future of recognition - a future with our own media power.
In the end we all have a lot of fun creating beautiful moving pictures - its our passion and love - its what we like to do most - its what makes us and the world around us happy - that is what unites us with our past.