Sunday - AWARDS and more...

[fALk]

I am strongly opposed to awards in general especially in the art domain.

There is no way someone or a mass of people can really judge any quality... Only because the punters in Brighton will like a special vj performance does not mean that the punters in some other place on this earth will like the same set. Also I would argue that what the mass likes is most likely not the best art.

Awards are also a good way to split a community with useless arguments will promote some to be "something special" and mostly people who have won awards act like they are the shit. I never entered awards and I am avoiding events where awards are held like the plague. I would even consider canceling my plans to attend at Brighton if it will revolve around an award.

The last thing we need is the "I am better then you" attitude in some other forms of art. We are all good in some way. Some of us start some of us are in busssiness longer some are more talented some have better resources but to get us somewhere we have to work together as one unity rather then having "stars" or pushing some of us forward as the "better". Because then you kill off all effords to push our artform further as the public likely sees the "winners" as the one to look at if you want to see good visuals all other forms will be disregarded as "bad" or not "hip". Its counterproductive to the whole scene.

Or we hand over the award to EVERYONE attending in the mixfest making a statement that noone is better then the other, would be the first award to do so and would be a publicity stunt per excellence.

As for software / hardware awards I was about to say that this is ok but then I realized that there are "some" developers attending and the same things as above would apply... So I do like to give Edirol some credit for the V4 they deserve it... But this could be just a press release or the such or an open letter and does not need to be an award at all.....

[wellREDman]

Having an award, and an award ceremony, (even if it isjust an excuse for us all to go out for a meal @ the end of Avit) should send a more grown up message about our community to those outside it

it wasnt really meant as an inter vj pissing contest, but if say Matrox get a nice trophy in the post for "best graphics card" then our industry might move forward one notch in terms of being taken seriously by gfx card manufacturers

similarly if Massive Attack (who were much feted round these parts recently for the quality of their visuals) were to recieve
the best visuals with a band gong, their manager might not begrudge so much the extra money it cost, and the word of mouth in those circles might lead to more vj's touring with bands

and hardware wise verybody wants to tip their hat to edirol for building us a mixer (though both korg and pioneer could swipe ithe award off em in a late end-run )


so yes i think that letting it turn into a vj pissing contest would be bad taste,
but every industry has its awards, it's benchmark for quality
and having a proper VJ awards will only make us appear more professional to other industries


so what categories should we have ?

how do we want to break down the softs/ hardware

how about

BEST:
node based,
clip player
sound reactive
fx
SOFTWARE (one of each for mac/pc )

Best mixer
best fx unit
best lcd monitor
best projector

best laptop mac/pc
best gfx card

[Lucidhouse]

I see your point wellRED

I agree it is a good way of hightening the profile and awareness of the industry.

As for the showreel part of things, I don't think it will work as a competition but it could still be a great way of showcasing what people have achived using various hardware and software configs, might work in that uncompetitive way.

[Rovastar]

Yeah we need this. Other professions do this. Arty ones too.

It bring recognition to the scene and a level of professionalism.

I wanted on last year to be honest. But my cries where shouted down.

Originally posted by wellREDman

so yes i think that letting it turn into a vj pissing contest would be bad taste

That sounds so wrong in so many ways.

[Lara]

I think it can get really ropey when it becomes a 'best of...' set of awards.... and everyone has mentioned how subjective it can be. Why don't we celebrate the visuals we have seen at AVit, by highlighting interesting this we liked about people's sets. That way it is positive feedback for the vjs involved- so I think we should forget about soft/hardware awards imho.

Don't panic, it is strictly and add-on and not one of the main events- don't you dare not come fAlk! What if we devise a ballot system in which every vj and newbie (but not punters) gets to comment on the work. These are not awards for who is 'the best' but just awards to point out parts of a vjs work which is of a high standard. So we would be voting for (these are sketchy examples):

>original/unusual imagery
>original use of sampling
>impressive technical mixing skills
>most impressive crowd reaction
>effective use of narrative
>effective use of non-narrative
>most impressive av set etc etc etc ...........

and some blank comment categories, so people can say what they liked and why- people's answers will correllate- just like in the big chill thread or whatever.

If we wanted to extend this to industry wide then we could have 5 blank spaces (or nominations decided now) for products which have impacted the industry and for our favourite vj performances outside avit.

Any thoughts?

[Lara]

.... oh and mond- that's a (co)cainer! (but meaning obviously to take loads of something) x

[wellREDman]

Originally posted by Lara
.... oh and mond- that's a (co)cainer! (but meaning obviously to take loads of something) x

once again etymology rears its ugly head

i always wrote/read it as caner , and asumed that it came from caning ie whipping a horse, cos you "cane" things as in get through them like you "cane it " as in go very fast

[Rovastar]

Sorry Lara I do not like any of those examples.

And I think they would be even harder to judge than the 'traditional' ones like Red suggested.

[Lara]

That's why it is a vote- you aren't judging 'the best' but just voting for a set you liked and remebered that was relevant to the category........

You seem to be passionate about the issue, Rova, what are your suggestions?

Red> I don't know where I got that from, it's probably rubbish!

[LEVLHED]

I would like to see a gag award for the first blue/system screen during the multi-rig....something large and annoying, just nice enough that you can't bring yourself to throw away, but ultimately still a piece of junk...