Pre-recorded visuals.

[bleep]

autopilot ... and pre recorded visuals.


who does them?

ie: when a promoters to cheap to pay a vj weekly ... and just get someone to mix spacey looking stuff to be rolled out every weekend on repeat.


personaly think it degrades the vj ... and visuals.


noticed some on the weekend and made me think ... no interested really.


.

was wondering others thoughts.

[deepvisual]

we had a promotor ask for free dvds to use instead of a VJ (http://vjlondon.org/viewtopic.php?t=183) on the london forum.

the worse thing was, people gave them to him.

[SteveG]

"I've been promoting night clubs for over 5 years now with great success"

He should have been able to pay you all then eh :D "Buster Bennett"....any relation to Buster Edwards....lol

[paranoidkarma]

That promoter is a VJ, video jackass

[fata alex]

we've been starting to make use of pre-recorded stuff more and more often. it just takes the strain off playing for 4+ hours straight really. Its partly that if we're not getting paid that much then we don't feel we should have to vj live for that much of the gig. When we play live, its pretty intensive hands on non-stop sort of thing, so its nice to have a break and leave a tape run for 30mins. Im not that happy about it, i think it should be done live, but thats only really possible to do the best show you can if the vjs are booked in hour slots like the music acts, and then you can really give it your all.

[SteveG]

Be careful, I've landed 2 or 3 very residencies over the years because VJ's have been doing exactly that. You dont see DJ's who are not being paid much coming in and puting on a mix CD for 30 mins. I also believe this is one of the things that harm the reputation of VJ's.
Your booked as the promoter believes you're going to perform live. He'll be watching as will the punters, although perhaps they dont all appreciate what's good and bad they can see if your working at it or not. Over time his visits to watch you, your explanations of what has gone into it and what you're doing, his understanding will grow and so will your pay cheque.

[magiclantern]

we have been asked to do some....can of worms it is

we think the venue may be unsuitable for vjs...but they still want our "eye"
any advice?

[fata alex]

steve-
at one recent gig (pretty large festival), the person who'd hired us actually suggested we leave a dvd of loops running as they acknowledged we weren't being paid enough to play live for the whole time we were there.
the other recent occaision that was in my mind when i made the previous post was a gig i offered to do for little more than equipment hire costs because i really like the night and the organisers (not friends, just respected their work) and explained when i made the offer that we would put minimal effort in in respect of the low pay, we did a couple of hours fully live and the rest left pre-recorded tapes running, they were very impressed with how it all looked regardless of live or not and paid us almost double what i'd originally asked for.
so yes, i agree in theory with what you're saying, but my experience is fast teaching me otherwise, promoters and the public have lower standards than you or i and often can't tell whats done live or not. its a shame but true.

[andyvj]

i find that sometimes that when i do a set for over 4 hours it helps to have stuff pre-done for the time you need the loo/ cig and then at the end some of there logs on disc to run when de-rigging for a quick get away to the hotel or car

[vdmoKstaTi]

Pre-recorded visuals?

Not really. Even though as described by some you might end up with lower paying gigs, you might want to slip into dvd playing mode for 30, 45min or an hour or so... I never do that.

After all, you are still in a live environment and DJ is playing some tunes, so its time to practise and experiment as far as I'm concerned. You can take visual source and mix between them, etc.


// from that VJ London forum
Buster Bennett
Well you'll have to trust us on that one.
lol

[makemassair]

Be careful, I've landed 2 or 3 very residencies over the years because VJ's have been doing exactly that. You dont see DJ's who are not being paid much coming in and puting on a mix CD for 30 mins. I also believe this is one of the things that harm the reputation of VJ's.
Your booked as the promoter believes you're going to perform live. He'll be watching as will the punters, although perhaps they dont all appreciate what's good and bad they can see if your working at it or not. Over time his visits to watch you, your explanations of what has gone into it and what you're doing, his understanding will grow and so will your pay cheque.

You'd be surprised Steve. One of the main (and well paid) House resident DJs in my Uni town couldn't actually DJ, but we only found this out when he came back to one of our after parties and we got him on the decks. Then we started watching him closer in the clubs in town. (I was bar manager of one and my mate was bar manager of the busiest one in town) He shortly stopped getting gigs.

[asterix]

I remember back in the 90's, I was mesmerized by 'gate to the minds eye' series that used to play at the local trance club. I swear I thought the fucking thing was all realtime generated in time to the music. Of course it was just a video playing in the background.

I can still appreciate a good visuals dvd (I used to collect them). I wouldn't mind it if I saw one at a club (actually I'd probably enjoy it).

But clubs that run the same dvd over and over and over again are shooting themselves in the foot. There's a reason why good clubs will do a major overhaul of lighting and decor at least once a week - and its the same reason why fresh visuals are just as important.

Personally, I think in CERTAIN club environments nobody would give too much of a shit either way. Clubbers primary goal is to get a root and/or to get shitfaced.

A production or festival is something different entirely. People are there for the music, the atmosphere, the decor... much more-so than in a club sitcho. If you can't provide all those then you're probably not going to get too many people talking about it and coming back.

There was an event I started about five years ago, that I walked away from (turns out the other 'partners' were interested in selling drugs). Because I did most of the work - they thought it was a sinch to put together and tried to keep it going. First mistake they made was reducing the variety of music to one genre (hard style). Amongst other things - they tried to emulate what we developed in the first series without really understanding that the event needed to evolve. I remember they replaced my visuals with one of those cheesy shadow dancer dvds (and windows media player lol). Decors were axed. Lighting was kept 'minimal'. And aside from that, every event had the same dj's playing the same tunes and not much else would change.

After half a dozen more events I think it all collapsed in a heap. The crowds were down less than 60%. All I heard was how boring and seedy it was.

Anyway - my point is that variety and environment is important. If they have a $2 hat, let them wear it - folks will notice sooner or later.

[vdmoKstaTi]

asterix, I can relate to you story...

[asterix]

By the way, I had a shit chicken schnitzel at a restaurant last night. But I'll probably order it again one day. Same goes for dj's, same goes for visuals. I think people will appreciate the good gear when they see it :)