Japanese VJs

[recycle]

I was wondering what the Japanese visual scene is like? Do a lot of people from England play over in Asia or is it a closed off market. I always read/ hear about Europe and different parts of N. America but never read anything about Japan. I know a lot software is developed and distributed from Japan but are there any big names or websites that I should check out?

I guess I just want to see what is going on style wise in different parts of the world. Thanks in advance for any input.

[wellREDman]

ive just come back from playing a gig in japan,

the vj scene over there is very strong, but also very insular

from what i saw its also like everything else there , majorly compromised by capitalism, the house vj in the club we played spent most of his time showing adverts etc.

[Anyone]

welcome back, Red!

let's talk soon about your experience,
I'm really up for finding out how your gig was...

Ne1

ps my yahoo messenger account is on my girlfriend's
computer, so sometimes you may think I'm online
but i'm not...:nod:

[littlecatalyst]

i have a fantasy that VJC will be instantly translated to japanes for anyone ther to become a member and they can write in japanese and it will be translated to english for the rest of us..

...will this happen someday?

[vjrei]

Originally posted by wellREDman
ive just come back from playing a gig in japan,

the vj scene over there is very strong, but also very insular

from what i saw its also like everything else there , majorly compromised by capitalism, the house vj in the club we played spent most of his time showing adverts etc.

You see! I was right, the future of VJing is publicity, at list in the clubs.

[unjulation]

You see! I was right, the future of VJing is publicity, at list in the clubs.

i thought the future of vj'ing was av sets?

[recycle]

Okay so one experience was that it was very commercialized. Has anyone else experienced anything different? I was wondering more about style wise, like is it common to see more animations used more so than politcal footage or cityscapes? Do Japanese VJs sample? Is there more emphasis on long dramatic shots or is it a thousand different images projected all at once?

Its so hard to even run a search on this because something is lost in the translation. For instance when I run Japan or Japanese Visuals/ VJs I get 'The Victory over Japan Day' which is not really what I want to read about. Thanks.

[wellREDman]

Originally posted by vjrei
You see! I was right, the future of VJing is publicity, at list in the clubs.

well if thats the future im gonna look for something else to do,

cueing up commercials, even whizzy 3d ones is so not my idea of creative satisfaction

but as i say this was just the house vj, in a club owned by the record company

on the style tip, i did chat with someone from the record company abut what other vj's in japan do, i didnt understand a lot cos his english wasnt great but the impression i got is that most VJ's in japan are employed by the clubs rather than promoters, and that the favourite content was Manga stuff (unsurprisingly)

[Anyone]

Originally posted by littlecatalyst
i have a fantasy that VJC will be instantly translated to japanes for anyone ther to become a member and they can write in japanese and it will be translated to english for the rest of us..


it's already possible!

http://babel.altavista.com/

Ne1

[Anyone]

Originally posted by wellREDman
the impression i got is that most VJ's in japan are employed by the clubs rather than promoters

Yup, that's how it was in Canada as well when I was still there...
I think it makes more sense,
somehow because it ties into the club's architecture,
not just the music...

Ne1

[vjrei]

Well, I haven't put mi mind in to promoters but it sounds logica, Promoters look on creating a quick proffit and VJs are expensive.

I haven't dealing with promoters in that way, im my country things doesn't work in that way just like that. Most of the times the promoters are the DJs and I can feel a lot of envy in the air.

About the advertising, there are ways to keep every body happy about it.

[littlecatalyst]

Originally posted by vjrei
About the advertising

((awww we lost that cute OFF TOPIC smiley)) and anyways, blehhhh
about this whole thread.... two words: AVIT TOKYO?

stuff you can see www.rinc.or.jp/~takaharu/kazeAD/material/index.html i think this is stuff for kazegchi (?) like the SVI plasma screens... (SVI is a japanese ap? right? and free. .. and has funky feedback, tippy...
http://rhizome.m78.com <<=these cats are vj/video production crew, cool (w/clips) want to feel unprofessional (it's ok, me i don't really wanne be like this:) check out www.furifuri.com (I cant find a single clip on their site but you can see their style, apparently they win a lot of japanese vj battles) an other cool ones www.big.or.jp/~3rdeye... also this might count, last night i tag teamed a 4 hour set with mumbleboy (www.mumbleboy.com) out in the beautiful laurentian mountains..... he's kinda a japanes/nyc visualist, i think his design has a total japanese sensibility,... it was such a blast, tweaked those babies..... i'll check out the tapes, see if they came out, and try to post something... but from what i've seen stuff can often have that Japanese aesthetic, strong sense of design and super playful.... but theres A LOT of plasma stuff there that's for sure....

[AddictiveTV]

>Originally posted by wellREDman
the impression i got is that most VJ's in japan are employed by the clubs rather than promoters


From my experience, it's really no different to anywhere else. I know lots of independent VJ crews in Tokyo that aren't tied to one club. Some have residencies, some don't, some do 'underground stuff' others doing corporate launches etc... You'll also find it's quite common that Japanese VJs are also designers working on ads, title sequences etc...

There seems to be very little sampling in terms of 'movie clips' and much more of a leaning towards motion graphics and glossy animation. Being a VJ is much more accepted there and people seem more familiar with the concept of a VJ, it's very common to see a VJ listed on flyers etc... but they have the same moans and groans as the rest of us! pay / prominence against the DJ / where kit is set up / etc etc etc...


Graham

[Rovastar]

Thanks for the insight.

Personally I am surprised at the lack of posts from Japanesse Vj's on teh boards here given taht it is so popular in Japan and that typing just VJ into Google will display VJC & VJf on the first page. :)

I know in general teh Japanesse ppl will rarely poston 'english' boards but I though we would have one post!! We have none. :(

I would eb nice to get different views from different country esp. where the impression is that of acceptance of the VJ culture.

[wellREDman]

Originally posted by AddictiveTV
[B Being a VJ is much more accepted there and people seem more familiar with the concept of a VJ, it's very common to see a VJ listed on flyers etc... [/B]

yeah come to think of it, when i was being searched at Jap customs the customs guy asked me what i did, and was like "oh ok" when i said VJ

[Anyone]

wow, that sez a lot about the way VJing is embeded in japan's everyday culture...

[vjzumo]

You should check out the stuff that Prince Tongha does... It is composed of Hideyuki Tanaka (designer for the Super Lovers / Lovers House brand) and one of the guys from Denki Groove, both out of Tokyo... They are doing amazing stuff with VJPro, playing live... they are really off the hook! Obviously, Tanaka's very japanese pop style and characters is evident in their work.

[robotfunk]

i got a spam call from japan the other day ' You mr van moorst, of robotfunk company yes? you like unique opportunity? very good business excellent return. I explained them I didn't invest and they asked me what I did. When I mentioned something vj related I asked them if they knew what a vj was "Yes, video jockey" very good :)

also I seem to be getting more publicity in Tokyo than in my own country so they can't be THAT insular, I think the main problem is the language.