v-lux formed in early 2000 and set out to create diverse and evocative film and motion graphics for video projection. Very quickly they became the resident video production crew at a number of regular music events in the UK.

 

How did you two come together to form v-lux?

Graham and I (Alan) met while studying ‘Timebased and Digital Art’ (TBD) at Plymouth University. Well to be exact, we were studying Typography at the time we met, but it didn’t take us long to realise that the course was going to be a bit, err, dated lets say. So we both moved courses, to different ones at first and then we both ended up in TBD. How does your experience with installation design translate into the VJ arena and creating performance environments?

Our Art installation experiences have been invaluable I think. A piece of art is inherently under really heavy scrutiny, so an installation has to be spot on. All aspects of a piece are there because they are supposed to be, everything has to be broken down to fundamentals to make sure that there is no miscommunication. We apply a lot of this thinking to a performance rig. There is no point in trying to make screens as big as possible just for the sake of them being huge. We prefer to take stock of a venue and decide what visual aesthetic will best suit the event and audience experience. No one likes sitting in the front row at the cinema do they.

 

How do you take an idea from conception to live performance?

This is something which is never to rigid for us, sometimes an idea about a certain theme will spur us to go and collect lots of short bits of footage around a topic which we then take into the studio and edit up into short loops. These loops will then be mixed up at a gig when and if the right time comes.

Other times a concept will send us down the route of producing a complete project. Working to a piece of audio we will edit together some video, graphic overlays, motion type, effects etc, resulting in a self contained movie.

This will then be cut up into relevant sections to give us the ability to remix the movie on the fly.

 

How do you balance the amount of pre-production versus live production without taking away from the live aspect of VJing?

While we will source relevant content before an event, we perform everything at the gig live. You can be as prepared as you like but there is no way of knowing how a DJ or music act is going to perform. After all, they are very often responding to the environment themselves and that can change drastically from the beginning of a gig to the finish, or even across the breadth of their performance. While we know that ‘generally’, the footage we have prepared will be suitable, having real time capabilities gives us the capacity to adapt and evolve depending on what is happening. Testing in the studio helps a lot also, getting to know what bits of footage look good mixed together in certain ways. Helps to avoid the mix getting a bit messy/busy when you’re working on the fly, enabling you to concentrate more on the environment.

 

How important is the space and style of an event when preparing content?

We feel that it’s quite important to make sure that we have footage ready that will lend itself well to the ‘vibe’ and ‘musical style’ of a gig. It’s no good turning up to something dark and moody with a load of bright colourful graphics, it just doesn’t look right. So we investigate what we can beforehand, better the devil you know, eh. Also if a club is particularly small we like to use content that includes a lot of black space, this seems to lessen the dominance of the screens, making them appear much less oppressive.

 

What does your live setup and your studio setup consist of?

We run two QuicksilverG4′s with dual monitor setup up’s in the studio. We find this very useful for the preparation of content when working in Final Cut and for testing in Union. Almost can’t understand how we used to get by without so much desktop space.

Our usual live setup consists of two G4′s outputting to an MX50 via hardware scan converters. We like to keep the hardware mixer as part of the rig as it enables us to do much more interesting things with multiple screen setups and as a backup in case something goes wrong. As stable as software is these days, you never know what’s going to happen and we don’t like the output being broken at any point, dreaded blue screens….urgh. It also gives us much more flexibility while working as a team; I can be cueing something up, getting it synched up nicely while Graham is noodling with what is on screen and vice versa.

This is then usually output through a minimum of three projectors, set up in a way that enables us to display different images on separate screens. We feel this creates another level to the dynamics of a show, giving movement to the screens added to the motion within the content.

 

Do you have any live tips or techniques that you find particularly useful when performing?

We have done quite a few gigs that have incorporated live acts aswell as DJ’s. At these gigs we work very closely with the Lighting Director. For instance, during the breaks between songs if it is a live band, we use flat colour Matte’s to compliment the lighting. So, for instance if the lighting is red, the screens could be red also, or a complimentary colour and so on, not only does this look better when there is nothing happening on stage, but it’s a great way to become friendly with the LD so that you can work with, rather than against each other.

 

Where do you see the future of video performance taking you?

With any luck to a large villa in Tuscany perhaps, with an infinity swimming pool and a constant supply of wine and olives, He He.

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interviews by Jay