I’m in the middle of editing a video that combines an artist interview with event footage. The supplied raw material is 10 minutes of interview footage and 45 minutes of the event, shot from a single camera. From that footage I was able to extract 5 minutes of usable interview, but just 40 seconds of the gig. It’s not that the gig video was badly shot, it was just homogenous. Medium-long shot of people dancing. Medium shot of the DJ. Over the shoulder shot of the DJ. Medium shot of girls dancing. Repeat.

This is sad, because a single camera and half an hour is plenty of time to capture a dynamic performance. The secret sauce? Close ups.

Segue - Reset (Live at Big Day Out) from Jaymis on Vimeo.

Robert Heel is a visual musician who’s been creating some lovely instructional films on topics dear to the heart of a visualist.

Of special interest, A Kick A Snare A Hat. Documenting a little AV performance in Resolume Avenue.

A Kick A Snare A Hat from Robert Heel on Vimeo.

This is getting close to the absolute minimum possible for a cheap, fast music video.

2 guys, a camera, a strobe light, and a bottle of Jägermeister.

This contains all of the elements that make the quick, single shot video effective: It’s a unique concept, it’s fast and cheap to make, it will grab your attention and evoke a strong reaction, and it’s very personal. The video is for local Brisbane band DZ, who are grabbing some mindshare and attention despite being yet to release an album.

I spend a large portion of every day watching music videos, and this is the first one to have really captured my imagination since the beautifully animated, high budget “Wood” by McBess. To me, these wildly disparate works of art are both equally valid, and equally effective as music videos. However, the fact that The Mess Up took, conservatively, less than 0.5% of the time to create, means that the artists are free to create more work, and influence more potential fans (also check out their live video, including a fantastic cover of Justice - Phantom Pt. II).

There is still plenty of scope in our industry for detailed, careful, high-budget work, but if it doesn’t have that spark of originality, then you might as well drink a bottle of Jager and throw up on the floor.

As inspired by mememamo’s Visual Space Music, I bought some Ikea Saxan curtains last year for DIY rear-projection experiments.

Initially these were used for a series of pixel-cloud shaped screens at the Game On opening night.

The Saxan curtains (US$4) were great for this kind of shaped, temporary screen. The white PEVA material is bright and contrasty when rear projected through glass, and we used a black PVC “Joining and Sealing Tape” to create our screen shape, projecting the cloud on the curtain and then applying the tape directly to make the outline.

We’d initially planned to use gaffer tape, but quickly changed out minds as the first test piece stuck unevenly, and tore the curtain when we tried to move it. The PVC tape we found felt like thin, wide insulation tape, and was somewhat repositionable, while still sticking firmly and providing some structure to the thin curtain. After our shape was outlined, it was a quick and simple process to cut out the desired shape with craft knives.

Moderat caught my eye tonight, as I rather like their roadcase/sets design:

Digging a little deeper though, and I realised that they’re a rather sexy collaboration between Modeselektor and Apparat, with a luscious studio DVD and live visuals produced by Pfanderei.

The live show looks lovely, with 3 rear-projected, portrait-oriented screens silhouetting the artists and their LED augmented road cases.

(more live videos)

The second half of their artists statements video focusses on Pfanderei’s DVD production and live visuals.

… objects built in material form, rather than on screen. Studies of physical forms rather than post-production effects.

It’s a wonderful process for building a live visual set. Collaborating closely with the ear-botherers, shooting specific material for each track, building a studio DVD, and then breaking it down for performance. Definitely the way to create beautiful performances.

The video + audio album can be previewed and purchased digitally from zero-inch.com for €17.95 for 1024×512, or €11.89 for 480×240.