Live Cinema
The term Live Cinema was originally used to describe the accompaniment of live music to silent movies, essentially providing a soundtrack. In 2005 it was expanded to include the collaboration of audio and visual artists in live performance.[1] Now, however, the tools are available whereby audio AND visual can be governed by a single performer.
I first had the idea to work with visuals after seeing the Replay exhibition by visual artist/cultural collagist, Christian Marclay, at the Cite de la Musique in Paris last summer. In Video Quartet (2002) Marclay presents found Hollywood film clips simultaneously on four projection screens.[2] One would expect this to result in a cacophony of noise, however, the juxtapositions made for some very interesting connections that would never have been possible without technologies of reproduction. Marclay's work has played a significant role in the development of my own creative practice and his ideas on overcoming fixity continue to inform and fascinate me, especially the way he 'acts against the fragility of the record in order to free the music from its captivity.'[3]
Christian Marclay - Video Quartet
Our paths crossed at Transmediale08 where we both gave performances in our respective duos, on the main stage at Club Maria, under the theme 'Unpredictable'. Marclay's performance at Club Maria with collaborator Flo Kaufman was entitled Tabla Rasa.[4] It began with Marclay eliciting sounds from one of his three turntables, treating it solely as a sound object without vinyl. These sounds were then cut to vinyl via a lathe operated by Kaufman who then passed the disc to Marclay for further manipulations. As Marclay performed, Kaufman continued to cut new vinyls eventually ending up with seven discs; as soon as the sounds were petrified within the medium Marclay would bring them back to life. I had an opportunity to chat with Marclay (at our hotel) and pass on a DVD of the collaborative work I do in Tron Lennon. When I asked him what he thought of his performance, he astutely replied, 'well, it was very unpredictable'.
Christian Marclay & Flo Kaufman - Tabla Rasa (Transmediale08)
My initial starting point was Ms Pinky[5], a program built within Max/MSP/Jitter software that allows one to control digital files via time-coded vinyl. Since the turntable could be used as an interface to control video I viewed this as an extension of DJ practice, thus something that needed to be explored. This is shown in Live Cinema.
Temporally Ms Pinky was very efficient, working like regular vinyl where audio can be manipulated back and forth, and it was a revelation controlling video this way (in real-time) with my hands. From my initial observations I noticed there were times when the video did not move as I performed specific scratching[6] techniques, it later transpired that very short scratches like scribbles[7] were sometimes executed within, not across, video frames, inevitably preventing movements on-screen. Many countries around the world use the PAL broadcasting standard including the UK, consisting of 25 fps (frames per second). Compared to audio where tens of thousands of samples are taken per second one can understand the problem I was facing. Performing with video also requires lots of processing power and the MacBook Pro I was using automatically reduced the frame rate to help compensate for the strain placed on the processor. At times the output frame rate was around 5 fps which meant there was a greater risk of nothing happening when making very small movements with my hand. Frustrated by this I began thinking about the spacial aspects of video. I composed the piece Don't Think Feel in Final Cut Pro video-editing software, exploring split screen arrangements and the movement/placement of images.
Following this initial inquiry I began researching what, if any, creative tools could make this possible when I was introduced to a computer scientist conducting research into interactive table design. I have since teamed up with him to help develop a tactile controller that can be used to control spacial dynamics within Live Cinema/VJ performance.
End Notes
[1] http://www.clubtransmediale.de/archive/ctm05/live-cinema.html
[2] Christian Marclay - Video Quartet.
[3] Emma Lavigne, 'Walk on the Wild Side: Fragments for a Punk Aesthetics' Replay:Marclay (Zurich, JRP Ringier, 2007), 90.
[4] Christian Marclay & Flo Kaufman - Tabla Rasa.
[5] http://www.mspinky.com/
[6] A technique that involves moving a vinyl record with the hand whilst manipulating the cross fader on a DJ mixer.
[7] This techniques is performed by tensing the forearm muscles of the scratching hand in order to rapidly move the record back and forth.
