CS4040 VJ Set Show Reel 2019

For this project, students were encouraged to source materials (video clips, music) available under open licenses, to use as components in their own live video performance. Adobe After Effects and Modul8 were the primary tools. The following are excerpts from the full performances.

"Video_Games" by Jordan Langley

The inspiration for this work came from 80’s video games such as Battlezone, and sci-fi movies such as Tron and Bladerunner. These games and movies share a common aesthetic of bright colours and geometric shapes, often accompanied by synth driven electronic music. The music is usually characterized by the use of 80’s synthesizers such as the Yamaha DX-7, with arpeggiated lead lines, big brass-like swells and rich pads. This aesthetic has been popularized once again of late and can be seen and heard in many shows, movies and video games, especially in Virtual Reality. Artists like Kavinksy, Daft Punk and The Weeknd have brought this aesthetic to the top of the charts, and shows/movies like Stranger Things and Tron Legacy have done similarly in the world of film. Music: "Video_Games" by Jordan Langley.

"Nerves" by Lee Davitt

"Nerves" is a live-visual metaphoric interpretation, portraying the nervous system as a work of art. The piece uses minimal video sources along with varying effects to characterise human nerves as an art medium. The intention was to create a live, paroxysmal performance, depicting neural oscillations to match a fast-paced and hard, driving beat. The work uses footage of shaking human hands, various wavelengths, colours and text to provide a new outlook on the human body as a work of art. The piece should be performed live, incorporating the artist into its display. If neural waves did not drive the artist’s movements, the piece would be infeasible, therefore the live element to the piece is crucial. Music: “Escape Velocity (end.user Remix)” by Metalogue.

"Entangle" by Emer O’Reilly

Venturing through space and time, it shows the audience the surrealism of the concept of wormholes and alternate universes. After Effects was used to create the alternate universes, while Modul8 was used to present an artistic and abstract depiction of the wormholes. Music: "Memories" by Audiobinger, "Rewind" and "Angelina" by Makaih Beats.

"Atmo" by Shane Murphy

The concept was natural landscapes and elements that would be manipulated and destroyed
until they were unrecognisable, and simply resembled different unnatural elements. Then
these unnatural elements would pulse and evolve in a natural manner, resembling their
original natural form. Ambient electronic music [...] was perfect for the piece as it evolved slowly,
almost to the point that the listener would not notice the changes unless they had listened to
the start and the end in contrast. Music: “lock down” by Blue Dressed Man.

"Obscuring the View from My Window" by Phillip Naessens

The driving concept behind this performance was the collision of two worlds. On the one hand there is the forever developing macro world inhabited by humans and on the other there is the micro world of technology inhabited by information. Often in mainstream media there is this idea that the virtual is a physical space not too dissimilar to our own reality. Characters in films such as Tron or The Matrix even manage to cross over into this space. This fantasy perhaps stems from humanities ever growing urge to integrate totally with technology; for man and machine to become inseparable. This cannot be the case however, as humanity are mortally bound to their biological forms. So like the singularity hiding behind the veil of the event horizon, this fantasy will, for the moment, remain just out of reach. Music: "Creeping Shadows" by Sobrio.