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Video Remix

May 30, 2008 12:00 PM, By Matt Hurwitz

Addictive TV changes the scene with Live Cinema.

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For most VJs, distribution means one thing: spinning images off a Pioneer DVJ DVD turntable at a club and projecting them on screens or monitors. But for London-based Addictive TV, whose award-winning work has been seen around the world, distribution of video remixes comes in the form of Internet virals for major film studios, touring and permanent museum installations and Live Cinema programs, and even Japanese ringtones — as well as the group's continuing work for a rabid base of live-dance venues.

Remixing a studio music recording into a danceable cousin for clubgoers has long been a common practice in the music industry. Since the earliest days of disco, club DJs have spun such discs accompanied by interesting visuals from a VJ collaborator. But the two art forms rarely spoke to each other — until Addictive TV came along.

“We wanted to have a far more integrated audio-visual fusion, where the audio is very much made from the video, so the two things are completely inseparable,” says one of Addictive TV's creative masterminds, Graham Daniels.

As far as their work is concerned, says his collaborator Tolly, “What you see is what you hear; what you hear is what you see.”

Addictive TV has not only been doing live performances of its video remixing (both in clubs and with Live Cinema performances in theaters) to great acclaim around the world, but the group has produced a number of permanent and touring installations featuring fascinating edits of existing and new footage. Hollywood has also taken notice, hiring the company to produce video remixes of such recent movies as Iron Man and Snakes on a Plane to help promote the films. (Go to www.reel-exchange.com to see the Iron Man remix.)

The company, founded in 1992, grew out of the collaboration between producers Daniels, also a VJ, and Nick Clarke, who jointly made arts and music programming for British television. “At some point, we decided we wanted to marry our interests and put the whole VJ visual thing onto broadcast television,” Daniels says.

“The original conception was that it was kind of ambient television,” Clarke says. “There would be no narrative, no presenters — just simply electronic music and visuals.”

The two pitched England's Channel 4 on a new show, Transambient, which debuted in 1998. “At the time, there was a rather dull cable channel called The Landscape Channel, which just sort of had shots of rolling hills and waving grass, set to classical music,” Daniels says. “So we pitched them the idea of something that would be The Landscape Channel on acid. And they completely understood what we meant — trippy, ambient TV.”

While assembling the show, the two were introduced by fellow video artist and VJ Paul Hithersay to Tolly, a DJ composer who put together a piece for the series. “We then began working together more and more, and we eventually developed our live show to what it is now,” Daniels says.

The team members are admittedly not tech-heads, focusing instead on the creative aspects of their work. “We're not fundamentally interested in technology for technology's sake,” Clarke says. “Though we're all a little bit geeky in our particular areas. But it's not where the fundamental interest is.”

Tolly agrees. “I've seen work from artists where I get the impression the artist is actually far more interested in the technology and what it can do,” he says. “They may have some fascinating process, but when you look at the results, it's not particularly interesting. The audience just cares about seeing something compelling that interests them, not the technology used to create it.”

And in today's content marketplace, more than ever before, the audience is the driving force of what content and distribution format is desired.

© 2008 Penton Media, Inc.