In todays class we talked about VJing and how it worked. A VJ is a visual jockey, they combine moving images with sound and Vjing is the term used for this process.
Vjing is a realtime visual performance to go along with music, it is most popular to use at events like concerts, festivals and night clubs. Vjing originated in the 70's where it became popular on the New York club scene. You can have a number of components working together to create the whole Vjing experience, you have your visuals with moving imagery and lights, the music to go with it and in some cases performers such as dancers. Vjing is now seen as an essential in a clubbing experience and this means that any major clubs would now most likely have someone employed to provide this experience. Many in the industry don't refer to themselves as a VJ, some of the more popular terms they would use are, visual mix artists, pixel jockeys, visual performers, audiovisualisers, pro DJ's, video jammers, viewsicians and visual jockeys. They do not want to be confused with video jockeys, who are t.v presenters that link videos on music channels. The more I researched the more interested in it I became I looked into how they create their piece of work and found out that they have a lot of background work to do before actually making the final piece. They start with their preparation where the collect or shoot video clips and go on to edit them so there is a library of images which you can choose from. Other than this method there is another one that I think would be a lot harder to get right, this method is doing it live it's where you randomly pick images to play in a sequence at gigs etc. I think if I was to ever try it I would rather do the method where you collect your material first and become experienced in it that way and then go on to trying it with the random selection of images.
Software and technical setups
The change in technology over the years has made Vjing a much easier profession to do now, with the introduction of more advanced and intelligent equipment the process is a lot more simpler.
Now with this new software available to them a VJ does not necessarily need years of coding experience behind them to do their job. Which in my opinion makes the option of taking this up as a profession a lot more appealing.
One group well known for Vjing are called The Light Surgeons, they are a group of multimedia artists and designers who were founded in 1995 by artist and director Christopher Thomas Allen, they create films, motion graphics, print, photography, installations, exhibitions and live performance. They have worked with companies like Film4, Warner, onedotzero, Mo Wax, Skint and Ninja Tune. Their work is exhibited at art museums and film festivals internationally.
I have researched their work and it really is brilliant, my favourite work by them would have to be the work they have done for Chase & Status, the pieces of visual art and lighting they have created go really well along with the sound it almost has you in a trance like state watching it. Seeing what they were able to create using Vjing has really made me want to try it out myself.
"The Light Surgeons, Chase and Status Is it worth it"
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