Roof Top Photo Shoot downtown LA

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It's Nov. in LA and it was 90+ degrees on Sat. Fires were burning all over So. Cal. and we were hauling projectors, screens, sandbags, c-stands, high rollers and every piece of production equipment you see in these photos up a ladder.
The plus side of 90 degree temps. is that the evening was warm and pleasant. No jacket, and the models could wear whatever they wanted. Its rarely this warm in July let alone Nov.


David Starfire DJ'd I VJ'd, so I guess it was a posed StarCulture set.
The client (who I won't name until after the campaign releases) gave me full creative control. One of the best clients and production teams I've worked with. Thanks Jessica at Pulse Production.
We had some grand ideas for the projection environment but the rooftop was limited in space so we kept it simple.
I used a triplehead2gocard for the 2 screens and the brick wall projection. The circle screen was running of a single 5k projector.
Big ups to the Parts Dept. (Arcane Solutions) for helping with the install and strike.

Election night Party Castro St. SF CA

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John Wood from Lovefest SF asked me if I wanted to participate in a Election Night party on Castro Street. He said if Obama wins its going to be epic. If Prop. 8 fails and Obama win its going to be out of control mayhem.

We all know the outcome by now. These street parties are my favorite party. 1000's of people filling the streets. Rocking out to David Harness and Liam Shy.
We ran a video cable out the window of one of the residents and streamed local news stations on the big screen.
Once we knew Obama had won and 8 was looking to pass I was free to do more of the visual thing.

Skill's Fright Night Nov. 1st w/ Paul van Dyke, Junkie XL

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The day began at 8:30AM, Sean and I had been breaking down a Halloween show until 4:00.
Now we had another 20 hours ahead of us. It started with a serious down pour. San Francisco doesn't normally see rain like this.

Our setup was in the beautifully restored Craneway building on the shore of the SF Bay.
This old building once brought cargo in off the ships. Now it hosts events and the craziest aspect to all of this is their floor. Highly polished concrete, it's beautiful but they also require us to lay 4x8 sheets of particle board every time we want to roll a case or scissor-lift across it. We had to wrap the wheels of the scissor-lift with a saran wrap. Seriously, if you are going to have an event space, you can't be so protective of your floors.
For this show we broke out the basic geometric shapes for our screens. A 22ft triangle in the center of the stage, two 10' circle screens and long strips of fabric aligned to make a traditional rectangle screen on the outside. Any of the geometric shaped screens could have their own mix.

Halloween in SF

I participated in this year's Halloween SF put on by the City of San Francisco and the Entertainment Commission.
I provided a inflatable screen and projector for running Halloweenish movies.
The inflatable screen is rated up to 25mph winds. That's what we had.
The screen was whipping and bouncing around. I had my finger on the switch ready to kill the blowers at any minute. The screen surface itself is a 4 way stretch material fastened to the frame. It was stretching/billowing 7ft out in front of the frame. Very trippy for watch movies. Talk about true 3D.
It was a cold and windy night by the bay. It was the first time the city has tried to hold a civic halloween party in the ATT Ball Park parking lot.

Red Bull Soapbox Race SF building Projection

Pixel Bombing SF!!!
Red Bull asked me to do a building projection campaign around San Francisco for it's upcoming Soapbox Derby race on Oct. 18th For 4 nights I bombed the city's Castro, Mission, downtown and Hayes Valley with footage of previous Soapbox events.
I used my spanking new Sanyo 6.5k projector and Modul8 to do the job.
I can't tell you how excited I am about this projector. It's easy to throw on top of the van and hit a building. Combined with Modul8, I can be up and running on a building in less than 3 minutes.
Basically, I use Modul8 to scale, rotate and fit the image into the perfect spots on a building. I can even mask out a window so I'm not blowing light into someone's living room.
In one particular spot, all the people coming up to me weren't inquiring about the race, they were asking me about the projector. Every single person!
I've bombed a lot of cities, San Francisco numerous times.. However, this one was the most fun. The weather at night was perfect, people were in a mood and everyone was excited about the Soapbox race.
On Sat. Red Bull held an after party at club 1015. I was given footage of the day's races and remixed it during the after party.
At the same time I had the van parked outside the club and we were projecting the highlight reel on the side of the club.

TED Wish James Nachtwey Projections

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Oct. 12th

Last year, acclaimed war photographer James Nachtwey was honored with the 2007 Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Prize for his work documenting images of war, disease and political unrest across the globe for over 25 years.
James' wish was to share an under-reported worldwide story, prove the power of news photography in the digital age and raise awareness about a global health issue that has the potential to become a worldwide pandemic — Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB).

Through Phantom Galleries I was asked to help spread the word with building projections in downtown Los Angeles during the monthly Art Walk.
I purchased for this occasion a new Sanyo 6.5k projector. Wow, I was blown away by the brightness of this small form factor projector. I was under a street light and the projector cut right through it.
The following night with Phantom Galleries we setup two screens in the window of a store front in Pasadena. It was Pasadena's art walk.
Special thanks to TED Conference, Liza from Phantom Galleries and of course James Nachtwey.
The video I was projecting can be viewed here.

San Francisco LoveFest 08

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Well for the past 4 years I've been at LoveFest but I've never been outside to experience it.
The schedule goes like this.
9:00AM Load in
9AM-8PM install screens, run cable, setup cameras, projectors and video suite.
Do this in 2 to 3 rooms and don't stop until doors open at 8:00PM
8:00PM VJ the show.
4:00AM strike the video suite
5:00 Leave
10:00AM Strike until 2:00PM
3:00PM Drive back to LA.

This year we used a waterfall screen behind the DJ. Two 6.5k projectors mirrored on the 20x40ft water screen. photo by mischief photo.
Above the water screen was a 15x60ft screen offset in 5ftx12ft strips (built by inflatabill) Hitting those strips were 3 DL1 projectors that were run off my laptop and triplehead2go card. Modul8 was controlling the content and the lighting designer was controlling the movements of the DL1s. Panning, the stage and crowd a 4th DL1 panned the crowd.
We also had 2 15x20ft screens flanking the stage. Each set of screens could have interchanging images. (meaning what went on the water screens could be swapped with what was on the flanking stage screens).
The DJ line up included Armin Van Buren, ABT, Deep Voices, and others.
I animated the Lovefest flyer by breaking the fyler's layers into separate files that could be animated in modul8 and after effects.
In the side room Sean Cooper held down the fort with 5 screens, one of which was a circular screen.
Like every year, it was bust yer butt getting everything setup just before the doors open.

Create Fixate

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I was invited to do visuals on Sept 20th for Create Fixates AMP show here in Los Angeles.
One of the few times I actually perform in LA.
The show featured politically themed art with 3 rooms. One of which was a outdoor area with t-shirt printing, DJ's, installations and myself.
It was a difficult set for creating a 3 screen installation. There weren't any good mounting points for the projectors where all 3 projectors could create a seamless image.

I opted to separate them but still do 3 screens.
I used modul8 a triplehead2go card, a DFG converter and ran the V4 mix into Modul8 as a single channel (or layer) in modul8.

Facebook @ Advertising Week NYC (Nokia Theater)

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Facebook hosted the closing party with Ziggy Marley at the Nokia Theater in Time Sq.
We brought in two photoboof designs and rerouted them through the Nokia's video display system.
One design was the standard photoboof where the guest walk in and have their pictures taken. The photos are published online, on print and also broadcast throughout the venue.
The second design by Justin of Photoboof was a, "Step and Repeat" style. Meaning the guest stepped in front of a media wall. (See photos), pushed a button and the video screen gave them a countdown and 3 pictures were taken. This design allowed everyone to see the process of the photos getting taken. It also allowed more people to be in the photos and it branded each photo. The photos are available on facebook for users profiles and blogs.
We used two LCD displays back to back so guest could see the process on both sides.

Hennessy Tour

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Xarene and I were asked to create content and VJ the Hennessey Art of Mixing Tour.
The dates.
September 17 -Los Angeles Ne-Yo L.L. Cool J
September 25 -Chicago ft Ashanti
September 27 -Detroit ft Eve
October 1- Miami ft Ne-Yo
October 4 - New Orleans ft Musiq SoulChild

We plugged into a 18mm LED screen and plasma displays for each city.
Pretty much a walk on gig. We used the Edirol V4, PR-80 as a media server and a laptop running modul8. Since the LED screen was a different size at each venue, I was able to shape and size the content running it through Modul8 with real time control.

It really helps when the brand has clear guidelines for content creation. In Hennessy's case they did. We were able to execute with very little back and forth with the client.

VMA's after party w/ San Disk and Flavorgroup @ House of Hype

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San Disk hosted a VMA pre and after party over the weekend of the VMAs.
Saturday night, the pre-party was rockin. The location was a mansion in the Hollywood Hills over looking Sunset Blvd.

Flavorgroup asked me to create an immersive environment around and on the house.
In addition to the projections we incorporated a photoboof and Octamasher.
Around 1:00AM the police arrived with helicopters and billy-clubs. No one got clubbed but it was a show of force for LA.
I thought for sure Sunday night would be shutdown. I arrived in the afternoon thinking I was just going to go through the motions. Just the opposite, the party rocked all night long. Breakfast was served around 5:30AM
In these photos I used 3 projectors to seamlessly stitch the images together. In Modul8 I used masks to mask out the balcony so that I wasn't projecting on the people. Essentially, my screen became a 4ft by 60ft image.


Here is a day/night of my VJ booth location looking out over the city

Skills Carnival -Regency Ballroon SF CA

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There was something different about San Francisco this Labor Day. There were more locals in town. I'd like to hear what kind of attendance they got at Burning Man this year. A number of die-hard burners told me they weren't going this year. As I drove around San Francisco I noticed it was just as hard to find parking as any other weekend. Normally San Francisco on Labor Day feels like a much more comfortable. Call it,"Staycation". Either way I decided not to go to The Burn this year and opted to make money instead of spend it.

Skills and Spundae's hosted party at the Regency, Sean Cooper and I worked our magic on 10 large screen displays. Mixing two signals separately across the 10 LCD's.

Sat. was a long day but a short trip. I picked up the rental car at 8:00AM, arrived in SF by 2:30. Setup the show by 7:00 and was back for the start of the event by 9:30. The party was over by 4:00, we wrapped until 5:00AM.
The next day I was packing by 1:00PM and on the road back to LA by 2:30. Home by 8:00PM.
Maybe it was the trip, the long haul up and down hwy 5, either way it triggered my brain and the creative tea pot is whistling.

New Lightrhythm Visuals Remix

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I just finished a remix of Joana Lopes nervous discharge single on the Notions 2 DVD. I really like Joana's aesthetic, checkout her site linked above.

Here is a small sample.
In my version of the remix I took stills from the video loaded them into the Edirol CG8 and use it as a live input into Modul8. I recorded the output uncompressed and then edited the footage in FCP and AE.

MMA Scion Battleground

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Aug. 2nd San Francisco CA
Flavorgroup asked me to create a multi-screen environment for a Scion sponsored event at Fort Mason.
The Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason is a very large pier converted to an event space.
Cable runs, are always hundreds and hundreds of feet. Sean and I spent a full day running cable and hanging screens.

Here is Flavorgroup's verbiage.
On Saturday August 2nd, 2008 over 2000 party people descended on the transformed Fort Mason Festival Pavilion for Scion Battleground. An event originally focused on a fight component, was recreated featuring Hip-Hop heavy hitter Talib Kweli and the surprises didn't stop there. Adding to the frenzy was a high flying ariel antics from the San Francisco based Vau De Vire Society, legendary B Boy Machine and the Renegade Dance crew and a pillow fight from the infamous Suicide Girls. The event proved to be a TKO.

Produced by Flavor Group, Ankh Marketing and Manly Media.

Photos courtesy of Mischief Photos

Facebook F8 Developers Conference SF CA

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I was asked by Facebook to implement interactive elements for Facebook's annual F8 Developers Conference held in San Francisco. July 23rd.

The concept was user generated content, much like the site itself.
We brought on board the photoboof guys for streaming photos from the boof! to the large screen in the center of the room. The feed was also sent wirelessly to the VJ station where we mixed the photoboof! stream with a roaming photographer who was also sending me wireless streams of photos from around the venue. Added to that was a Processing app built by Wayne (www.cardboardcubicles.com). The app was capable of taking text messages, twitter-like text updates and displaying them with a sound reactive component that went live to all the screens in the Hackathon area. This project was called, f8 Feed" and it was a great way for guest to announce the projects they were working on, shout outs to friends and general announcements. The app was could be controlled by key commands or the Griffin Powermate.
On the audio side we integrated Moldover's Octamaher
This allowed guest to collectively create their own mashups on 8 customized midi keyboards.
In addition to interactive elements I installed a signature VJ Culture piece and VJ'd live before Thievery Corp performed.
Special thanks to Sean Cooper for install and VJing.

Skills Edt. POP 08 @ The Cow Palace Video

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I'll post more about this event but, for now here is the video

Goldie 3 @ Glow Santa Monica July 19th

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I will be streaming live coverage of the Goldie installation at Glow July 19th from 8:00PM to 6:00AM PST. Tune in here to see the event.
Here is a sample of how Goldie will work. This video will be spread across two screens.

Glow

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July 19th 2008
Santa Monica's Cultural Affairs in a very forward move has organized an all night festival called, "Glow" Based off of Paris's Nuit Blanche city wide events. Torino Italy hosted a few while I was there for the Olympics, Miami, Toronto have also host these all night cultural events. I'd like to call it an all night party sanctioned by the city.
Glow, has commissioned me to create an installation for the festival. The festival is called Glow based off the Grunion fish that mate on the beach and cast an iridescent glow.
Working with the Glow theme I am installing a video installation based on the movements of a gold fish.

(Goldie) Two cameras are placed on the fish tank, The cameras are processed through MAX/Jitter using blob detection and projected on the store front windows of Tengu Sushi Restaurant on Ocean Ave. in Santa Monica. As Goldie swims through various quadrants of the video frame she will trigger visual effects to span across the two screens in the window.



Goldie becomes the VJ and I get to hang out and have fun.
Very, very special thanks to John Taylor for his Jitter programming. John also did the programming on my Futbal de Calle pentagon installation I did a couple year ago for Red Bull's Soccer team.
Come down and join us July 19th 2008 for Glow. It's free and there are numerous installations and performance all night long. Really, all night, from dusk to dawn.
Special thanks to the folks at Tengu, besides great food they have been wonderful to work with and I couldn't have done this without their support.

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