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042 REPORT


ADDICTIVE TV GRAHAM DANIELS


Where in the ‘entertainment mix’ is the VJ industry right now? How does that differ from the past? Difficult to say really, but in many ways, straight ‘VJing’ in the traditional sense has perhaps had it’s day, back when it was so closely associated and tied up with the club and dance music scenes. It was still relatively new and something not many people were doing, where as now it’s not really what I would call ‘VJing’ as such. Many artists who would have once called themselves VJs are now mapping video onto buildings for outdoor celebrations, doing light shows, art installations, are often part of large productions such as Cirque Du Soleil or on the road touring with bands doing custom graphics or, like ourselves, are now audio / visual artists gigging and creating commercial AV remixes. Plus a lot of what was once the domain of the VJ has crossed over into DJing. I’ve seen so many turntablists now using software like Serato and it’s video plug-in, so pretty much of all these I’m not sure falls into the description of a ‘VJ industry’ anymore.


What drives the industry forward? Technology is one simple answer, faster better computers but it’s also people’s de- sire to make and see entertainment in a more multi-media form - bands like Gorillaz are still forging new territory and then directors like Chris Cunningham and Peter Greenaway have crossed over into performing, taking their visual creations to new audiences with AV shows.


What do you regard as the most important technological development of the last 20 years? There’s only one obvious answer, and that’s the internet combined with the digital revolution. This has radically altered the way we all live, work and create. Sounds silly now, but simply being able to export files, upload them, download them and collaborate over distances quickly and cheaply is a far cry from when people were posting tapes and floppy disks and production work took months to create.


What equipment do you use? For live performances we use Pioneer DVJ-1000 DVD turntables plus laptops, along with a customised Edirol V4 vision mixer modified to take audio - this has served us well for a few years now, plus we also use a standard Pioneer DJM-800 DJ mixer; and, of course, video projectors and screens. For studio work it’s com- puters, naturally, with software from Acid to Ableton, After Effects to Premiere, and


www.mondodr.com


sometimes Final Cut and a Grass Valley Edius system. It’s all standard stuff really, nothing ultra ‘cutting edge kit’, as such.


Is it easier to do your job now than five years ago? Absolutely it’s easier now, for all the reasons above. But it’s not just about technol- ogy, the biggest factor I think now is that people understand what we do so much better than they did five years ago. Now promoters obviously think booking an AV act is less of a risk than before, and if not ‘normal’, then certainly much more com- monplace than a few years ago.


What has given you the most creative satisfaction to date? I think the answer changes over time, it’s not easy to give one specific answer. But bringing any project from idea stage to realisation is satisfying. Getting to work on remixing films, like Iron Man or Slumdog Millionaire, were very creatively satisfying - especially when a Director like Danny Boyle says he likes what we do. A couple of recent highlights for us though were creating the UEFA Europa League football ident for the UK’s Channel Five. Creating an advert purely from the sounds and im- ages of football was a real challenge and when it finally worked it was great to see. As was, made in a similar fashion, the skiing and snowboarding track ‘Ski-two-one’ that we created for our opening set at the Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Those could definitely be called creatively satisfying.


What does the future hold? We’re currently working on a new project called Orchestra of Samples, which


involves recording and then sampling all manner of musicians and their instruments in different countries, from Mexico to Senegal in Africa. Last week in Mexico City we recorded a brilliant guy who played a whole range of ancient instruments, and I’m not talking medieval strings, this was much more Neolithic; tuned rock frag- ments forming a kind of primitive stone ‘xylophone’ that was like something out of the Flintstones - simply amazing! And this December we head to Dakar in Senegal to do more filming. That’s a long term project but it’s shaping up as really interest- ing and different. And having spent the last few years sampling other people’s films and records it’s nice to go back to working with other musicians and artists in a much more direct manner - using all the techniques we’ve been developing over the years, but in a slightly different way. www.addictive.tv


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