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Video Scratching Goes Mainstream
Boomzilla writes "Pioneer has released
a digital
audio and video turntable (the DVJ-X1), which allows you to manipulate and
playback synchronized digital audio and video. You can manipulate DVD visuals in
the same way as you would music i.e. real-time digital video scratches, loops
and instant cues. The video and audio streams will stay in sync, even when
they're being reversed and pitched. I guess this is the logical, commercialized
version of that which has been
done before.
It's being
shown at CES, and there are several pictures on the official Pioneer site."
Although I would love it to be cool video remix is just not that cool looking. People have been doing this for a long time with various systems and I have seen quite a few of them. I used to work for MTV back when they had a techno show (AMP) and they tried to mix video but it just didn't work. There was no way to match rythm and even if you could it just didn't look particularly intereting. It seemded like it would be cool and you wantedted it to be but it ended up have only slightly more novelty than Microsoft's clippy. I have also seen a few groups that tried it with more advance equipment in more recent years and it mad for a nice compliment to a music DJ but these guys used a bunch of short weird and distorted clips mixed with CG. It was cool but no one person could have done it. I am also not so sure scratching would go too well either. Mostly because one of the things about scratching is that music scratching is done by going back and forth over a sound thus creating a NEW rythm and tone. However, picturing someone going back and forth over video clips just conjures silly images that I would imagine could even be a little dizzying to watch. So while they might of solved some techinical hurdles I think the artistic side has a long way to come.
Actually I've found that doing porn really tends to not go over so well with most crowds. Instead I use a lot of kung-fu, anime, war shots, and old black and white films. Nuclear weapons test footage also works well. I add to that custom 3D renders and live effects, and get a show that most people like. I tend to do this while I am mixing live and let Geiss's Milkdrop run when I'm taking a break =)
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Actually, the first "video scratch" effect I recall seeing was in the video for Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" and also one for a subsequent tune which I think was named "Hardrock." I saw a lot of Max Headroom (not the TV series that had Matt Frewer as a reporter for a TV network in a dystopian "20 minutes into the" future) but the oddball chat show that (IIRC) ran on Showtime (I still have some of that stuff on VHS) and the time-domain video effects there were pretty much entirely freeze-frame or just plain cut in nature, i.e., freeze then alternate the freeze with the live or just throw in odd cuts.
By the way, I loved this:
Rutger Hauer: "I wonder...about your soul."
Max: "I haven't got any feet; how can I have a sole?"
Guess you had to be there.