Rocket Festival - Window On A New World (Call for video artists)

[RocketFestival]

Introduction
The Rocket Festival is a music, arts and culture festival set in the mountains of Andalucia, Spain which celebrates its third edition on the 16th-18th May 2008. The festival has a strong visual arts, circus and performance element with sculpture, video art and cabaret performance throughout the site and the weekend. For 2008 the festival itself has a theme based on the story below and all artists and festival-goers will be encouraged dress up and join in…

The story
A group of artists looked into the future and envisioned a new home on a distant world. The Rocket was built as a vehicle to propel them through space and time to shake off the hum-drum of daily life on earth. The settlers land on the surface of a mysterious planet, discover they are not alone and the first thing they do of course, is throw a huge party!

Space Bar
For 2008 the festival’s theme for sculpture, fancy-dress and décor will be centered around the main bar near the main stage which will be called the “Space Bar”. The Space Bar is the hang-out for the new settlers, aliens, robots, bounty-hunters, jedis and all the flotsam and jetsam of the galaxy that fancy a drink and a knees-up. The Space Bar has a giant window onto the planets surface (video screen) and will host a variety of acts – cabaret, bands, djs and more.

Call for video artists
Window onto a new world
Video artists (producers, VJs) are invited to submit a silent video piece of 1 to 10 minutes to be presented on a 3m x 2m screen as the view from the Space Bar window looking out onto the planets surface. The brief is open to all interpretations but entries should work well on a large screen viewed at close quarters. The venue itself is an 18m x 30m white marquee which will be decorated as a spaceport bar.

Please see the attached PDF for more details - any questions can be sent to wonw@rocketfestival.com

Thanks

The Rocket Crew

[Kyle]

Are you guys accepting proposals for DJs or VJs?

[RocketFestival]

At this point we are seeking submissions for the window on a new world installation. If you are especially keen on VJing at the festival then please get in touch via our website (http://www.rocketfestival.com/contact.php).

Thanks

[MoRpH]

Hope it goes well, I had a blast VJing there in '06

[USE]

already have my flights booked for this, cant wait to get some proper sun.

and working on my spacebar submission as we speak.

anyone else going down? me and mandy mushroom are making a week of it.

[MrJustin]

Well im very keen to get involved this summer, austin, but a certain sleepy someone still hasnt replied to my PMs. !poke! I guess i'll have a word with rocket through the website.

[USE]

yea - the vj side of things is yet to be affirmed by the man at the controls, so i think patience is what its all about for a bit. ryanair have announced price-cuts so you may even get a cheaper flight than me if you hang on. would be great to see you down there dude. i just couldnt hang about - i desperately need something to look forward to.

[USE]

new website up and running and looking very sweet and comprehensive!

check it:

http://rocketfestival.com/en

i'm going monday to monday cos granada looks wicked. and the baths near the festie site looks like they have to be sampled. i'm so looking forward to it. a holiday a gig and a festival all in one. mmm

[6071842]

anyone else going down? me and mandy mushroom are making a week of it.

yeah man think im going to be coming over for this and yeah a bit of sun as well! :)

[MoRpH]

ARRRGGGHHHH getting jealous now

[SteveG]

I'm still hopeful of hearing from them too. It certainly looks worth doing and what a great setting. I'd probably be tempted to turn this into an extended family holiday. I just hope they can offer more than 2 tickets and a few bob for doing it:)

[fata alex]

ive submitted my window on a new world entry, although unfortunately i wont be able to go as ive got a gig here the same weekend, so as much as id really love to go, i cant justify the extra costs of getting there versus getting paid for a gig here, even if i did get a free ticket.
think im gonna make it a fixture for next year though...

is any of the same people running it as work on bloom? as the lineup is almost identical to last years bloom and they're using the innerfield rig and stuff?

[sleepytom]

A significant number of people involved in rocket were at the first bloom (running the dance tent and the main stage) - less of them were at the second - in the unlikely event that bloom 3 actually happens then i doubt anyone from rocket will be there..


Rocket is organized by Innerfield, Planet Yes and Turbozone. Sorry to hear that you won't be there Alex - I totally understand the need to take paid gigs! I'm sorry that Rocket cannot afford to pay VJs to come and play, maybe one day it will work out and make some money rather than costing a few people thousands of euros to run.

Still in contrast to Bloom rocket has always forfiled any commitments it has made, I'm happy to go and work safe in the knowledge that it will cost me money! Much better than being told your going to get paid only to never receive your cheque.

[Rovastar]

I presume then no music or AV acts get paid then. If so then all ok with a free festival gig.

Actually I was going to question the choice of license attached to this ‘comp’ Personally I would have like to see a non-commercial use clause in there too. Why would they not do it like that?

[sleepytom]

The majority of the music acts are not paid anything like their full rates. A significant proportion of the music acts and djs are not paid at all.

A non-commercial clause would prevent the works from being used at the festival. the festival is not free entry and as such is a commercial event.

nobody is making any money out of the rocket festival (possible exception being food stalls - i dunno what deal they are on) last year it had a net loss counted in tens of thousands of euros.

VJs are offered free tickets and food for their contribution to the festival - they are given this in exchange for a short (1-2 hour) set. all equipment is provided (mixer, preview monitors, projectors + screens) all the VJ needs to bring is a laptop and some suntan lotion.

as i explained last year the rocket doesn't need to invite any VJs at all - amongst the core organizers and their associates we could provide world class visuals all weekend without having any guests. As it goes we think it's a really fun event and invite people we don't know to come and be part of it on better terms than we get for ourselves. If it doesn't match up to your requirements of pay or accommodation or whatever then you don't need to come. We'll have a very good time with or without you. It's what we love after all..

Although the official call out for Vjs is still to be made anyone who is interested in coming to the rocket and fancies doing a bit of VJing without being paid for it can contact me for a few more details.

[Rovastar]

The majority of the music acts are not paid anything like their full rates. A significant proportion of the music acts and djs are not paid at all.


It is a shame the no payment doesn't apply for all, not just most. Some music artists get some money but all VJs get no money.

Sorry I don't want sound like I am baiting you have been upfront about this festival.


A non-commercial clause would prevent the works from being used at the festival. the festival is not free entry and as such is a commercial event.


Yeah I was thinking that as i posted and one of the problems of a blanket CC license like this. Personally I don't think CC is good enough in this case and have the same spirit but with a cluase that license it for the festival for that year, etc. But without such any clauses the work can be used for anything.

Some will not mind but others will.

[sleepytom]

i guess part of the idea is that the works can be used for anything by anyone ie it's not like rocket festival has an advantage above anyone else who wants to use them.

it's very unlikely that any of these works will get used outside of the rocket festival installation - it is a site specific install which is designed as a themed venue for this one event only. I guess that it would be possible that some works might be incorporated into a promotional film being made about the rocket this year but even then it is more likely this will be in passing context of the venue rather than as direct video inserts.

Yes i'd also prefer it if we were able to book the number of high quality acts that are playing this year without having to pay them! Unfortunately that simply isn't possible as bigger name audio acts have agents who don't allow them to do free gigs. It is always a battle book artists for low / no budget events because of this situation. Fortunately with the assistance of the artists themselves we can negotiate some very good deals which enable the rocket to have a diverse range of high quality acts.

when your starting a festival it is very hard work to build a reputation with punters - the rocket tickets themselves are priced deliberately low compared to other festivals with the intention of making it possible to attend the rocket including travel costs for less than the price of a glastonbury ticket. This combined with the relatively low capacity and lack of big corporate sponsorship means that their simply isn't as big a budget as the majority of festivals have. We hope that by keeping things small and friendly a special atmosphere is achieved which is unlike any other festival. Hopefully over time the festival will grow to the point where it is generating enough income to pay all it's crew including VJs. Until then we continue to invite people to come for a cheap holiday in the sun with the chance of having a VJ set if the so choose:)

[Rovastar]

Didn't mean to start a derailment of the thread.

I moved the rest of more general comments about Vjs doing free gigs at festivals.

http://vjforums.com/showthread.php?t=23680

We can carry on there and leave this thread to the festival and people that want to do i and talk about it. So please comment there instead with your views.

[USE]

yeah, i'm just treating it as a holiday to spain with a free festie at the end which i get to play at.

the comparison to bloom raises my hackles cos i was a victim of their non-payment and subsequent non-communication from Olivia and Frank. if teh bloom lot had been upfront from teh start i still may have done it. i will hold my hand up and say i have lost faith in earning money from vjing at club/festie level, I've given up and got a 9-5. but i still love vjing, and hopefully when i can offer a proper professional package i will be looking to get back into it full-time.

i know how disappointing it is when you get into the idea of a gig, only to find out its more of a cheap night out/weekend. ce la vie.

cos tom has always been open, I've always known what to expect, so I'm more than happy to play and help out in general, as i respect the crew involved, and have done for years. well looking forward to it. and seeing Alhambra. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra) looks sweet!

[clichevisuals]

Little question to the organizers. Apart from Muchachito Bombo Infierno, which other Spanish acts will there be?

[sleepytom]

http://rocketfestival.com/en/content/all-artists

more spanish (and english) acts will be apearing on this list as time goes on..

[videoswitchboard]

After all the anticipation, looks like i'm not going to be able to afford going over to the Rocket.

gutted.


have fun you lucky bastards! (and don't work too hard)

;)
dav