Try something different!

[syzygy]

Normally our stuff is all clip based with clips triggered on the beats and many clips overlayed. We tried something completely different for our gig last Friday and it worked out really well.

The gig was for a night called "Magic Bus" who have a stylised VW camper wagon on their flyers. The music policy is "Soul, Nu Jass , Funk and breaks"

What we decided to do was create an animated journey for the magic bus to go on. We created a background on VCD so that the rolling hills scrolled past right to left. We then created a side view of the bus so that the effect was of it driving along with a camera tracking it.

We used Midivid for the gig. In case any one hasn't played with midivid, you should know that it will let you layer up as many clips as your computer will handle, with the option of treating RGB 0,0,0 pixels as transparent. You can set a priority for each clip so that you can control exactly what order they are drawn to the screen in.

We used this feature of midivid to add all sorts of other objects that the magic bus drives past on its journey. We had everything from levitating yogic flyers to elephants to helicopters to cheerleaders... Objects in the foreground had higher priority and also went past faster, creating a paralax effect.

All these objects were created on black backgrounds so that, during the gig, we could introduce them to the screen in whatever order or tempo that we liked. Sometimes we'd just have the bus driving past some trees in the background while at other times, the screen would be filled with all sorts of strange things.

The other thing that really made the look was the fact we did it all in widescreen.

We were really pleased with the end result - it fitted with the mood of the night really well and we got really good responses from people who were watching.

Has anyone else tried doing visuals in a completly different style or using different techniques to what you normally use?

If not, I would recommend that you do - don't get stuck with one 'look' - break free and see what you can create!

Dan.

[unjulation]

yep 2 gigs spring to mind regarding this

normal style - two/three layers in resolume useing "diferance" mix and a hell of a lot of "mirror virtical" or "mirror quad" with a lot of beat based chages

1) back2basics - decided to not use any efects what-so-ever one night, realy pushed me visualy as to what clips i used how i structherd the image on the screen, etc, etc, realy came out of that gig sweeting but it realy pushed me

2) chill out in cabbage, the musicisian that was playing that night was on a real chill trip, almost no beats going on, lots of live didg' and synth stuf over the top, so i had to run with the feel and flow of the music rarther then then the beat or clips that are beat based, strated experimenting with the content and what it ment to me emotianly, i dont think anyone else knew what the meaning was but thay liked the stuff (had just split up with girlfrind so lots of bitter sweet stuf going on, not grim just very emotinal, to me)

[thomase]

hey syzygy! Have you got any footage frmo that night?
I'd love to see what it looks like...

[asterix]

Yeah I've been planning to do something similar on a train (projecting onto tunnels/trees/grass and on a ferry (projecting onto the inner walls and onto the surrounding ocean.

Just need the balls to pull it off. Can you imagine sailing with a big vortex all around the ship... drool...

[many2]

I try to make something "completely different" each time I design a show. I always begin a work by defining some limits and constraints. By imposing myself these constraints it is much easier to keep my focus and it is also much easier to come up with something "completely different" : I just create a "different" constraint ! Since I am doing more and more collaborative work this also leads to brand new ideas since most of the time I'll design my constraints on the basis of another artist's objectives. I really like it since it keeps pushing me in new directions.

some "completely different" things I've done
- tiling multiple outputs on adjacent screens. VJ Cinetik and myself are exploring all these multiple outputs possibilities under the name of Live Fusion Concept. Our best show : 6 screens, 7 different mixers and 7 projectors for Heiko Laux @ SAT here in Montreal.
- user-controllable video installations with joysticks and driving wheels. For example I made a real-time 3d driven paralax system, kind of a beat-reactive and user-controlled quicktime VR. Another one was a "game of video" (instead of videogame) where the "players" could drive different vehicles in sound-reactive virtual environments. I tried to blur the line between game and video.
- video-input analysis driven video installation where people could interact with the visuals by moving in front of a camera.
- creating whole shows only with still pictures and animate them in creative ways.
- finding creative coloring techniques for b&w footage.
- remixing the work of another VJ live in real-time

Try something different : adopt a new constraint today !

Many-2