Anti-meaning

[oddcast]

I'm doing parties, and after some early experimentation with interesting juxtapositions and "meaning", I'm going all out and just showing things for very superficial values. Strippers, brazilian booty bashes (anyone know of where i can find some more of this stuff?) gun toting militants, etc.

A lot of VJs seem to be doing house/trance. In Chicago, I'm doing a lot of hip-hop parties where resonance seems to be the worst thing you could ever do. I know it's vacuous, but at this stage in my career and life I'm just trying to have fun, so my work is reflecting that.

:devil:

Anyone else doing this kind of thing? I'd like to see what you guys think.

i don't really have anything up right now...except a demo i put together for promoters pretty quickly at www.sfrsh.biz/wp-content/SnowballTeaser.mp4

[holly]

IMO abstract computer designs and abstract imagery are closer to not having any meaning..., different from your deliberate ANTI-meaning. People are still going to derive meaning from random imagery (altho what you specifically mention doesn't sound too random to me). That is true Dadaist juxtaposition.

Throw some Bruce Lee in there with the nekid women and you have THE CLASSIC cliche VJ mix. Ohh, and some NASA launches and H-bombs. Har har.:P

[Noiseman433]

THE CLASSIC cliche VJ mix. Ohh, and some NASA launches and H-bombs. Har har.:P
There is such a thing as a "CLASSIC cliche VJ mix?" haha. Funny.

[oddcast]

i could see that certainly being true and it doesnt take a stretch of the imagination for me to understand that im not the first to want to show cool things like breasts and kung fu. one thing i like doing that may not be entirely so unoriginal is resampling the violent and misogynist material so that it has artifacts or pixellation or messing with the color settings or rate....i guess id find it silly being paid to do gigs just to try to make an "artist's statement" unless i have a damn good way of doing it.

time and place. one thing i think everyone can agree on is that it is likely that all of us involved in video will likely make several 180s throughout our careers and we should. and doing so will give us more perspective than not willing to experiment.

so i have been inspired to go out of my comfort zone a little! this weeks mix will not feature quite so many transformer battles and rio carnival dancers. :rolleyes:

JJ

[vjair]

im not the first to want to show cool things like breasts and kung fu.
top quote mate, brought a smile to face when i read it at some stupid time of the morning :D

[holly]

one thing i like doing that may not be entirely so unoriginal is resampling the violent and misogynist material so that it has artifacts or pixellation or messing with the color settings or rate....
Ha ha ha. I'm honestly not trying to flame you, mate, but codec artifacts and pixellations ARE a major componant of the amateur VJ mix as well!!! Maybe this transgressive phase you are in seems original to you (being an artist who always tried to put some level of thought into your work before), but if you'd seen as many fanboy VJ performances as I have you would know it's been done to death -- and sincerely at that! Bad art is still bad art, no matter how ironic you are trying to be. The joke wears very thin, very fast. (e.g: I started renting the tv series TWIN PEAKS a few weeks ago and it is truely awful. The difference between drama and melodrama is just hammered the second time through....)

Have fun, but of course you are not stretching yourself or doing your audience much justice. If you'd seen how often this has been done it may not seem to be so fresh. My guess is a percentage of your audience is thinking the same thing.

[oddcast]

I think you're right. I just recently got into VJing, so at this point im trying to figure out what i want to do. I'm very interested in code, or using one image to create an association to something that is very different. in the context of american pop music which is mostly hip hop these days, it makes sense. So that is an approach in itself, to use very innocuous images in a way that changes their meaning, or editing them in a certain way, just like any other film maker would. montage techniques, and using different clips within the film space in relation to one another.

Is it popular among DJs to try to create these sort of associations that contrast the originally intended content? my guess is yes. just as you said, irony can wear thin. but if done well, i think it does exactly what it should do at a party, which is to create a certain atmosphere.

[holly]

Yes sure. I honestly don't mean to sound so negative, and I have my transgressive moments too.... Thanks for not taking my comments too personally, and truely any exploration is valuable as it informs your entire.... pallette(?).

:yep: You should post one of your hedonist mixes and we'll all critic it very seriously and find profound reflexions of society's worth.

[telekinetix]

im liking that mix! ridiculously funny dancers and the lip-syncing bits although not spot on are still classic

[Lara]

Hey Oddcast

There's loads of stuff to look at around image juxtaposition and the what you see is what you get side of audio-visual - off the top of my head pioneers known and loved by many here on the forums are Coldcut and Hexstatic from Ninja Tune (http://www.ninjatune.net), and You can't beat Emergency Broadcast Network.

For the most up to date high end motion graphic and design joy have a look at onedotzero (http://www.onedotzero.com) and Resfest (http://www.resfest.com).

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