Performance Practice

My performance system came out pretty well, I have a setup which allows for 4 videos to be combined with chromakeys. Two of them have brightness, saturation, contrast controls, and feedback loops. The system also includes a plane switching random generator triggered by the beat of the music. Below is a recording of one of my practice sessions. I am hoping to get everything connected up to a midi controller before Wednesday.

The equipment room was out of MIDI controllers so I borrowed my roommates Axiom keyboard, I had trouble correctly mapping the buttons so much of the performance ended up being controlled by keys. This turned out to be an advantage rehearsing the performance. The whole program is able to be controlled without any mouse clicks or regular keyboard input.

Video Playback System Continued

I continued to work on my video playback system this week spending a lot of time going through the 2TB of content I have and selecting some clips that have interesting textures. I decided to make a live music video for the Tame Impala song Feels like we only go backwards. I chose drone footage where the camera moves backwards away from the subject (or reversed the video in premiere) as well as some underwater footage that I reversed. I have been working on creating animations in processing with (0,255,0) green tiles or words which can be used to key in multiple videos on top of each other or use as transitions. I am currently trying to work on coming up with a system that allows me to trigger multiple video loads and preset key colors with one message click / key shortcuts. so I can create better transitions. I also worked on a simple audio beat bang generator that I found online and linked to a plane remapping subsystem and played around with example code Matt provided us for ghost planes.

Video Playback System

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This week I reviewed the videos from class and replicated the code to create my own video playback system.

Additionally, I created a file selector using keyboard shortcuts which allows me to switch back and forth between videos using keystrokes.

Currently, the video playback system can handle randomizing the saturation, brightness, and contrast, as well as randomly switching between planes.

I also created a reset switch and toggles for each randomizer.

Plans For Performance:

  • Use aerial drone videos of nature & underwater footage as textures to be manipulated in sync to music. Currently, I am still trying to figure out how the content can be related to the music and which content to use.

Capturing Video For Live Image Processing

I went to quite a few events this week to capture video that can potentially be material for my video performance system. All of the video was shot on my iPhone.

Videos can be viewed here

I went to a couple of Shibari performances by Hajime Kinoko. Shibari is a form of traditional rope bondage practice in Japan. The first evening was a traditional style from 400 years ago, the second evening was his contemporary take on the practice. There were many interesting tapestries and lighting effects in both venues which I captured.

I also took a series of videos from the subway with the doors opening and interesting light effects in the tunnels.

Additionally I took some videos at an Egyptian dance party including a drummer, interesting lights, and the bathroom floor tiles.

Last I took some video while visiting Moma.