VJing - Common Technical Setups

Common Technical Setups

A significant aspect of VJing is the use of technology, be it the re-appropriation of existing technologies meant for other fields, or the creation of new and specific ones for the purpose of live performance. The advent of video is a defining moment for the formation of the VJ (video jockey).

Often using a video mixer, VJs blend and superimpose various video sources into a live motion composition. In recent years, electronic musical instrument makers have begun to make specialty equipment for VJing.

VJing developed initially by performers using video hardware such as videocameras, video decks and monitors to transmit improvised performances with live input from cameras and even broadcast TV mixed with pre-recorded elements. This tradition lives on with many VJs using a wide range of hardware and software available commercially or custom made for and by the VJs.

VJ hardware can be split into categories -

• Source hardware generates a video picture which can be manipulated by the VJ, e.g. video cameras and Video Synthesizers.
• Playback hardware plays back an existing video stream from disk or tape based storage mediums, e.g. VHS tape players and DVD players.
• Mixing hardware allows the combining of multiple streams of video e.g. a Video Mixer or a computer utilizing VJ software.
• Effects hardware allows the adding of special effects to the video stream, e.g. Colour Correction units
• Output hardware is for displaying the video signal, e.g. Video projector, LED display, or Plasma Screen.

There are many types of software a VJ may use in their work, traditional NLE production tools such as Adobe Premiere, After Effects, and Apple's Final Cut Pro are used to create content for VJ shows. Specialist performance software is used by VJs to play back and manipulate video in realtime.

VJ performance software is highly diverse, many applications are developed by VJs themselves specifically to suit their own performance style. Graphical programming environments such as Max/MSP/Jitter, vvvv, Isadora and Pure Data have developed to facilitate rapid development of such custom software without needing years of coding experience.

Small companies producing dedicated VJ software such as Modul8, Resolume, VJamm, FLxER, VDMX, Livid CellDNA, CoGe, Grand VJ/ArKaos and CL Studio Live give VJs a sophisticated interface for realtime processing of multiple layers of video clips combined with live camera inputs, giving VJs a complete off the shelf solution so they can simply load in the content and perform.

An opensource video effects plugin architecture called Freeframe has been developed to allow sharing of realtime video effects plugins between VJ software.