Imagine talking to a person whom you can’t see but can only hear or feel. Now imagine talking to someone whom you can hear, feel and see. Whom do you relate to better? That’s what visual artists aim to do with the music being played at clubs, pubs and other social dos — give it a face, a personality of its own. Just as how most of us like uploading our photos on Facebook/Twitter for that personal touch.
Visual artists have sprung into action these days giving party animals a palette of colourful visuals. Different from Video Jockeys, who host shows and keep people engaged with the gift of the gab, VJ in clubbing parlance stands for Visual Jockey. This VJ screens a collection of clips and videos to go with the music that’s being played at an event.
A complete experience
“The idea is to give the guests a complete party experience. They can now hear, feel and even watch the music,” says DJ Tuhin Mehta. Internationally, the concept has been in vogue for quite a while, but has caught on in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore only over the last five years. Though it is still in its nascent stage in Chennai, it’s gradually gaining momentum.
“It’s gaining popularity at corporate events and stage shows, but at night clubs here it may take some time to catch on,” says Dinraj, popularly known as VJ a1ive, and is Chennai’s first Visual Jockey. Having performed at a number of parties and events, Dinraj feels very often people don’t quite comprehend that somebody is actually doing the visuals live. “I use more of live-action visuals than computer generated ones. Each portion of the footage has to be edited to make it playable as a loop. Editing live-action footage is more fun than generating loops on a computer,” he says.
Apart from VJs, there are also DVJs. These are DJs, who double as visual artists and perform both the activities together. “They mix DVDs and these comprise tracks that have both audio and video,” he explains.
This process also helps build rapport with a track. Very often the crowd may not respond to a song that’s new or not popular. Chances are that they may even stand around and not dance. Visuals playing in tune with the music help the audience connect with a song. Giving an example, Tuhin says, “Drums and bass are not popular here but if I were to get a visual and play it here, people would be like ‘Oh, wow!’”
Keeping people on their toes isn’t easy. Just as a DJ works on his music, the visual artist too cannot allow his videos to stagnate and has to keep creating videos. “A VJ’s creative arsenal is only as good as the loops he has. There are many ways to procure loops. I tend to generate computer loops mostly on my own. Some are rehashed from earlier projects I’ve worked on. Some of the loops are bought from popular VJ loop repositories. I don’t use them often though. For live videos, I use Artbeats ( www.artbeats.com),” says Dinraj who has a collection of around 4,500 loops. It has cost him a couple of lakh to build it.
Working in sync
The DJ and the visual artist have to work in sync with each other. Ideally, the two need to practise together but Dinraj, who is also a DJ and has performed as a VJ with numerous DJs, says, “I know what kind of music every DJ plays. For somebody like Tuhin, I would use high-energy visuals, but for somebody else the visuals may differ according to the music he plays.” The visual clips can vary from subjects such as droplets of water to even Beavis and Butthead which makes people laugh.
Tuhin, who does quite a bit of visual jockeying himself, wisely adds, “Everybody’s attention span is super minute. You need to capitalise on that. The experiences you can provide people are fascinating. When you add visuals to a night, it’s a sensory explosion. You’ve ‘seen’ the music and it’s captivating!”
Some popular visuals
Crab prancing up and down a cobbled street
Ultra slow motion raindrops on a girl’s face
Water droplet falling into a small pool of water
Close up of an owl that’s stationary but suddenly blinks its eyes
Moving lights
