VV summer school is organized by Dan Oki and Dalibor Martinis.

Split, 07.07.2011

We would like to invite you and your students to participate in the Video Vortex summer school Vis, 2011. This is the first year that school is being organized as part of the international Video Vortex network. The aim of the project is to establish a European summer school and future joint study programs in the fields of film, media arts, performance and cultural theory.

As a bit of background, the island of Vis and the town of Komiza have a very particular location within both the Croatian geographical and historical context and within the wider Mediterranean cultural-historical environment. Vis and Komiza have witnessed prehistoric times, the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome, the Renaissance, the 19th century struggles of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy and England for the domination of the Adriatic, the wave of emigration from the island to America at the beginning of the 20th century, a free territory with Tito’s cave of 1944, and they have become an internationally renowned contemporary tourist destination. All the while, Vis and Komiza have been both the periphery and the center of Mediterranean and Croatian culture. Despite having a small number of inhabitants, a small surface area and being geographically isolated, Komiza is an urbanized place featuring a pronounced linguistic, cultural, economic and social identity. Based on these traits of Komiza and Vis, it is possible to develop a new symbolic value. The constant simultaneity of local and global can be found in new media practices as they establish new simultaneities (inside/outside, aesthetic/ethic, body/virtual…), and a paradigm of the net-work and/or the archipelago annuls the dichotomy between center and periphery. Summer school will rely on the already articulated inter-island cultural practices which have been, in this part of the Adriatic, developed by local cultural activists under the name of Moj otoče (My Island). The marine area surrounding Vis is many times greater than the area of the island and thus the sea (as a space which both isolates and at the same time connects, as a mythical place, as an economic resource and as a point of disappearing on one side and a life-sustaining medium on the other) can be seen as a parallel space of media research.

We will have the following teachers from six respected universities at this first Video Vortex summer school which will happen on the island of Vis in the town of Komiza between the 22nd and the 31st of August, 2011.

Sarah Kesenne – Sint Lucas Art Academy of Gent, Belgium

Kobe Vermeere – Sint Lucas Art Academy of Gent, Belgium

Merry Krell – Sussex University of Brighton, School of Media, Film and Music, UK

Adrian Goycoolea – Sussex University of Brighton, School of Media, Film and Music, UK

Peter Purg – University of Nova Gorica, School of Arts, Slovenia

Davor Svaic – University of Zagreb, Academy of Dramatic Arts, Croatia

Dalibor Martinis – University of Rijeka, Academy of Aplied Arts, Croatia

Sandra Sterle – University of Split, Academy of Arts, Croatia

Dan Oki – University of Split, Academy of Arts,  Croatia

Dinko Bozanic – University of Split, Academy of Arts, Croatia

Brian Willems – University of Split, Faculty of Philosophy, Croatia

Besides university teachers we will have also two other teaching participants:

Srećko Horvat – theoretician

Vjeran Šalamon – music composer and sound designer

We expect to have 2-4 students from each university. All together, around 20 students and 10 teachers are expected. The invited teachers should select some of their students to participate in the workshop. Structure of the workshop is that students work in couple of groups. For example, one group will be working in the field as a mobile film-media crew and another group will be assembling and editing materials and/or putting it online. Other groups or individuals can develop their own work methods or they can work exclusively with online moving image. There will also be a small film set and the production of a couple of scenes for a feature film will be taking place. We will have underwater cameras and motion capture control, lighting and sound equipment. For students who want to work on themes related to the island of Vis, here are a couple of possible themes:

- The Island of Vis and its Marine Area – Tradition

- My Island

- Global/Local – History

- Tito’s Cave – Vis 1944

Each day there will be a conceptual round table centered on planning the next day of production. Each evening we will also have one presentation or lecture by one of the teachers.

At the end of the workshop we will have presentations in the local cinema and on about 10 plasma televisions placed around the town of Komiza.

We will cover accommodation, breakfast and dinner for you as a teacher. The accommodation is in a two-star hotel, but on such a remote island it counts for four stars in the summer. The name of the hotel is called Bisevo, in the town of Komiza, the island of Vis. Please check it out on the web.

For students we have discount rates at the hotel. They have to pay 200 kunas per day, which includes accommodation, breakfast and dinner. It is, with taxes, around 30 Euros per day. The idea is to have workshops for 10 days and 9 nights. So for each student it comes to around 270 Euros, or 2,800.00 kunas.

In order to have a balance between students and teachers, the teachers do not get a teaching fee but have their accommodation and food covered, while the students do not pay a workshop fee but they have to pay for a discounted accommodation. Both students and teachers have to ask their respected Universities to pay for their travel expenses.

Besides the actual workshop, we will discuss plans for future joint study programs on the European level. Next year we expect more institutions to join us: the Academy of Fine Arts Budapest – Hungary, the Institute of Network Cultures from Amsterdam – the Netherlands and the Academy of Fine Arts from Bruinschweig – Germany, and other interested parties. A new edition of the Video Vortex conference will take place at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb in may 2012. It will be a next meeting point for further development of the projects.

Sincerely yours,

Professors Dan Oki and Dalibor Martinis

By: Diana Soto de Jesús

Almost 8 hours into the workshop we’ve just finished showing our work. Its an eclectic collection that goes from funny countdowns to sardonic observations on femininity, passing through Dutch villagers in traditional outfits dancing to techno. It was interesting that certain types of images such as groups of animals running wildly, orchestra directors and early 20th century dancing couples were featured in many of the videos even if these dealt with different topics, were made in different styles and (most of the time) using different footage. This highlights the creative potential of remixing where the sources may be similar or even the same in some cases, but the results are quite idiosyncratic and creative.

But what are the sources? Where can you get your free and perfectly legit audio and video material to use and share as you wish? Read the rest of this entry »

By: Diana Soto de Jesús

Maarten Brinkerink, organizer of the "Remixing and Re-Use of Open Video Collections" Workshop. Photo by Anne Helmond.

Just a day before the much awaited sixth edition of Video Vortex, students, media producers, video amateurs and overall new media enthusiasts are gathering in the Netherlands Media Art Institute to indulge their geeky tendencies in some open video remixing and experimenting.

In the context of the Open Images project, participants of this workshop will get creative with material from the Netherlands’ public broadcasting archive, to make their own short videos. We’ve now just started and this is the goal of the day: each and everyone of the participants needs to make a short (1 minute) movie by the end of the day.

But first things first. Who is responsible for all this?

The workshop is organized by Maarten Brinkerink project manager of the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision and it is lead by mixed media artists and Emile Zile and José Miguel Biscaya.

And so, amidst the tangle of ethernet cables providing the much needed internet connection, the workshop begins.

As we present each other it becomes clears that a lot of participants have some experience with video editing but no experience whatsoever with open source video. To which Emile clarifies that there’s quite a difference between video editing experience and experience working with samples and remixing.

José describes what we’ll do today as making a college, something that most likely everyone is familiar with even if only from his/her kindergarden days. He explains that sampling is  about taking something out of its context and doing something else with it, more than experience what you really need is intuition. So its not about building tight narratives but rather interesting mash-ups. Keeping this in mind Emil and José gave a series of tips that I summarize here.

1. Think about audio, it can really change the meaning and add a new layer to your remixed video – As an example Emile mentions the Gendered Advertiser Remixer a tool where one finds two columns, one with video material and one with audio material from commercial ads and can then combine then. Consequently, one comes up with very uncanny ads where Barbie is showing off her silky smooth blond locks to a narrator with a deep bass voice more apt for a G.I.Joe add. This kind of wacky gender bias experimentation works because the duration of both audio and video material is the same, both sample banks are 30 seconds long. Furthermore, they both have quick video editing and quick paced dialogue. So these unexpected collisions between different media end up producing a “third meaning.”
2. Get a broad range of samples to work with – that is, even if you have an idea in mind, say kittens for a new addition to the ever growing LOLcats collection, don’t stick to samples only from that area. When you are doing your search look for material in other topics like say, religion, you never know what you made find.
3. Chance is on your side – Think about chance collisions. This is one area where randomness can be a good thing.
4. Forget the Timeline – “Timelining” or making a structure doesn’t really work for this kind of endeavor. It is more about seeing what collisions and connections work.
5. Get rhythm – You don’t need to make a film that looks like a film with a beginning an end, you can go by rhythm. For example cut a series of left to right motions and mash them together.

I’ll be tuning in again later to let you know all about the specific sources to find material and resources to edit them in order to create your own video stories with found material, as promised by the Video Vortex organizers.

by Carlos García Moreno-Torres

Since its birth in the early 20th century, cinema has probably caused a more visibly active reaction from audiences than any other form of art (fan conventions, discussions, reviews, seminars, remakes, parodies…). This bounty of responses is most likely due to cinema’s proximity to popular culture (its far-reaching stretch across a vast and diverse public), and its socializing character. Like many other media, participation in the creation, or more accurately re-creation, of content has increased drastically in the last few years; growth doubtlessly due to the omnipresent Web 2.0, cloud culture, internet society, or any other aspect of the phenomenon infiltrating the developed world today with smartphones, laptops, tablets and millions of users attached to them 24/7 creating and uploading content, often in collaborative or crowd-sourced ways.

If we look at fan films, a practice consisting of shooting your own version of a movie, TV show, or book etc., (with different productions having varying grades of fidelity in comparison to the original), we realize that they have in fact existed for many years. The first fan film, according to Wikipedia, dates back to 1926, even when recording technologies were far from accessible to the public at large. That being said, it seems natural that in this current moment, when internet trends continuously tell us that we’re somehow back in the era of craftsmanship, when everybody can be a photographer, a writer or a cinematographer, we are taking this trend seriously, and remaking and versioning the most significant pieces of modern culture in very personal ways.

Fan film initiatives illustrate the creative power of the millions of users connected to the internet every minute of every day, with the good news being that crowd-sourcing initiatives are growing up, maturing, and getting ready to leave the nest of the minority of intensive users to reach a larger public. There are more and more examples that prove that collaborative practices are not just an idea born as a logical consequence of this technological and cultural momentum, but a reality that is already making an impact in popular culture.

It’s significant that two really closed environments like TV and the Hollywood industries are now recognizing the value and interest of these initiatives. By the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarding a crowd-sourced and code-directed Star Wars fan film mash up project with an Emmy, and LucasArts (the copyright holders to Star Wars) supportively getting in contact with the “Star Wars Uncut” initiators, shows that these kinds of practices are here to stay. Interestingly, similar to cinema, there are both different genres, styles and breeds of crowd-sourced fan film video projects, as we find projects like the mentioned award winning “Star Wars Uncut” which draws from popular culture, but also others related to a more classical cinema sphere, like Perry Bard’s “Man with a Movie Camera”, a global remake of Vertov’s 1929 film.

Read the original article from the New York Times about the Emmy winning project to learn more about this Star Wars based project that opened industry doors to this new collaborative practices: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/arts/television/28uncut.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=an%20emmy%20for%20rebuilding%20a%20galaxy&st=cse

by Carlos García Moreno-Torres

In a time when access to information, and more specifically video, is constant and immediate, and when the new content that becomes available daily easily tops the time users could spend in a month with their sight focused on a screen, content providers have started a war for that precious treasure: the attention and time of users.

It is in this state of affairs that we see the all-mighty Apple renewing a forgotten product like AppleTV, and rumours revealing that the giant Google (also owner of YouTube, and still trying to make it a lucrative business) will release its contender for the big pie of living room online video with GoogleTV being developed together with Sony. On this battlefield it seems like there are no small players in this war…but is this true?

Other smaller companies who were creative enough to carve out some space for themselves in the market, like Boxee (soon to release Boxee Box) or Netflix, are trying to find their own ways to move their services from Mobile phones and laptops to both the big screens, and other domestic screens, that everybody has been buying and vying for.

Below, an interesting article about this subject, regarding YouTube’s quest for screen superiority:
Written by Maggie Shiels, Technology reporter for BBC News (Original article here)

********

YouTube Bids for screen dominance

Can YouTube make the jump to rule the roost in the living room?
The world’s biggest video site wants to dominate every screen where
content can be viewed and created.

YouTube is already a leader online and in mobile and has firmly set
its sights on the living room.

The company charted its course during the launch of a new product
called Leanback, described by some as web video for couch potatoes.

It also unveiled upgrades for its mobile site which has over 100
million playbacks a day.

“You can start to break down the mental picture of ‘these are the
videos I watch on my computer, on my tv or on my phone,’” Hunter Walk,
director of product management told BBC News.

“Now you just say ‘these are the videos I watch and I watch them
wherever I happen to be, or whoever I happen to be with’. We are going
to have a world where people increasingly expect their content to be
available to them on anything with a screen, whether that be a
computer, a phone or a tv. That is the vision,” said Mr Walk.

‘Opportunity’

With 24 hours of video uploaded to the site every minute, YouTube is
already the world’s biggest video website.

And with Leanback, YouTube is now vying for the attention of the user
in the living room.

People watch 2 billion videos a day on YouTube
“This really is where the opportunity is biggest for YouTube right
now,” said Kuan Yong, senior product manager for Leanback.

“We are looking at five hours of tv that users are watching every day
in the US versus 15 minutes of YouTube video, so there is a huge
opportunity for us to bring YouTube into the living room and at the
same time bring some of the tv experience to YouTube.”

The technology picks out high-definition clips and automatically
serves up a constant stream of one video after another. As it learns
more about the viewers’ likes and dislikes, this diet of video becomes
more personalised.

The aim is to ensure users do not have to think about what they want
to see next or click on the website every few minutes.

“We want to remove the ‘What next?’ question for viewers,” said Mr Yong.

‘Channel of you’

Mr Walk said Leanback marked the emergence of a single channel world.

“This is about the ‘Channel of You’. You become the programmer of the
content you want to see as opposed to someone sitting in the corner of
a room that doesn’t know you. This is about knowing about your
interests to pull content to you.

Leanback is in beta and expected to launch in the autumn
“And the challenge is all about making it effortless for you to get a
stream of constant videos that are going to be interesting and
relevant and targeted at you based on what your interests are and what
your friends are watching,” said Mr Walk.

Leanback is seen as part of the company’s effort to grow from a
website into a “video operating system” that is as ubiquitous and easy
to use as television.

It is also regarded as a product that will dovetail seamlessly with
Google’s tv ambitions, which aim to change the way consumers watch
television. Back in May, the search giant announced its plans for an
internet-focused tv in partnership with Sony, Intel, Dish Network and
Logitech.

The Sony made sets are due to go on sale in the autumn.

“Whenever you think of video, YouTube wants you to think of them,” Ben
Parr, co-editor of news website Mashable.com told the BBC.

“By making video available from the smallest screen to the biggest no
matter where you are, they can succeed in that goal. Whether they can
win in the living room is the billion dollar question. It is just
unclear if people want to watch YouTube video after YouTube video
versus professionally made shows on the networks,” he said.

Mobile changes

YouTube also upgraded its mobile website to make watching video on the
move more convenient and quality driven at a time when more and more
consumers reach the internet over smartphones.

The mobile update comes amid an explosion of smartphone sales
“YouTube consumption on mobile devices has grown considerably,” said
Andrey Doronichev, mobile product manager.

“Playbacks were up 160% in 2009 over the previous year. The world is
heading mobile and we want to move with it.”

The updated site promises faster speeds along with the ability to
create playlists, designate favourite videos and receive search query
suggestions.

And with the upgrade, YouTube appeared to be aiming to steer iPhone
users away from the application that comes preinstalled on the Apple
smartphone.

In a blog post, the company said “As we make improvements to
Youtube.com, you’ll see them quickly follow on our mobile site, unlike
native apps which are not updated as frequently.”

Video documentation for all presentations at the Video Vortex Brussels conference on 5 October 2007, can now be found on the Argos blog. Also, the Masters of Media reported on the conference on their blog. Pictures by Rosa Menkman can be found on the Video Vortex Flickr page.