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Motion camera test

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Ben's difference algorithm doesn't use a bluescreen but relies on change in the image to determine how to key. Potentially an alternative approach to the videodrag booth.

Videodrag proof-of-concept

It was live, and giggle-worthy, which may be a good thing... first cut of videodrag is in.

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Notes:

USER EXPERIENCE

Choose a clip from jukebox
Stand in front of a bluescreen and be filmed miming along to clip
Watch preview for action, hard-of hearing subtitles, and guide cues (for Close up, Mid shot, Wide shot)
Move to marker A, B, C respectively depending on the cue
Pay to have clip sent to you

POST PRODUCTION PROCESS

Top and tail clip (longer the better) taking audio into consideration
Decide placement of punter as if they were one character (i.e. there may be more than one placement possibility per clip in which case go through whole process separately and add a number to clip name)
Create matte to separate foreground from background (optional but desireable)
Determine guide cues (based on particular clip context)
Record description of context and list of cues (e.g. C\t00:00:02:23:40 means close-up at 2mins:23)
Prepare cues using video compositor (or custom tool)
Export video as two files (_alpha.mov and .mov). The former is the matte, encoded with Animation codec (32bit Million+ colours) and contains RGB + an Alpha channel / and guides, no sound). This video determines when the blue-screened punter is visible or not. The second video is the background plate and contains the regular video and sound. This can be 24bit to save space.

ISSUES) Video dimensions/performance trade-off.
ISSUES) Choice of codec- PhotoJPEG/MPEG4/DV-PAL
ISSUE) Guide cues hard-coded. Can they be stored/generated separately so that lead-in timings can be altered according to difficulty setting?

ARKAOS NOTES

Create new synth (one per movie)
Create new patch (one per clip)
Map the alpha matte to C4 (latch, set layer priority to Always in front)
Map the background plate to D#4 (latch, set layer priority to Always in background)
Map the live camera to C#4 (adjust mask settings to key out background)
Import and rename videodrag_trigger.mid to clip name
Test clip using close-up, mid shot and wide-angle biped animations to test clip without live key
Test clip using keyed image

ISSUE) Latency of DV camera through Arkaos

MIDI NOTES

Prepare sequence with three keys to trigger alpha video, background video and live camera feed.
Give a few seconds of lead-in before notes

ISSUE) Hard-code live feed trigger or trigger manually

PERFORMANCE NOTES

Three markers - Close up, Mid shot, Wide shot
Treat the guide cues like a rhythm game (i.e. jump to the mark)

ISSUE) Show punter their image on preview?
Pro - punter can line up moves in line with background video, camera can be fixed
Cons - punter may be more comfortable not seeing own image, put faith in camera operator

NEXT STEPS

Sponsorship for Chromatte and Litering
Focus group (i.e. party) to test initial clips

Movieoke - room for improvement

And even Den of Cin's Movieoke has room for improvement...
"I thought they might digitally remove the characters and put you in the scene, just like in karaoke they give you music with no words,"

FOXNews.com - Foxlife - New Game Shows Off Bar Dwellers' Acting Chops

Videodrag existing clips and props

Aliens
"Hey Vasquez, you ever been mistaken for a man?" - red bandana
"Sharp Sticks" - Army helmet

Batman
Joker Reveal - Green + white facepaint and red lipstick; toy gun
Post-op Joker - Bandages and small hand mirror

Conan
Swordplay - Sword
"Lamentation" - Throne and Helmet
Wheel of Pain - table, etc. to push against

ET
Bike flight - exercise bike
Drag Queen - dress, wig and hat
"E.T. Phone Home" - Bob Hoskins... kidding. No props needed

Ghost Busters
Slimed - KY jelly
"That's a big Twinkie" - Mr. Kipling cake

Indy I
Idol + Satipo - Idol, bag of sand (rice/flour), whip

Indy II
Anything goes - no props needed
"You cheat very big" - playing cards
"Shakti Kalima" - toy heart (or red sponge)

Predator
"Goddamn sexual Tyrannosaurus" - pouch of tobacco, chewing gum, spitoon
"One ugly MoFo" - Mask

Priscilla
I Will Survive - no props needed

Repo Man
End - no props needed

Robocop
Burger Meat - toy guns, something to fall safely onto

Trading Places
Blind Cripple - skateboard, sunglasses
"Break something else?" - plastic vase
"Inga from Sweden" - blond pigtails wig, rucksack, rasta wig, black facepaint, priest's cassock, african mumu.
Prison cell - no props needed

Videodrag at Night Train

Notes from meeting with Shaun, owner of The Arches nightclub, re. videodrag component to be produced by MOD Films.

80's club night "Night Train" at The Arches, Southwark St (behind Tate Modern)

Opening night 7th May, then 1st Friday and 3rd Friday of the month
5pm onwards

Target market: thirtysomething officeworkers

Concept: MOD Films supplies "videodrag" rig and operators to club and starts charging the venue once there is a market for live insertion of people into films.

Videodrag format ideas:
"hole in frame" put heads in
Build up a jukebox of 80s movie moments
Recording booth (like photobooth) with bluescreen and preview monitor
Technical options to overlay, substitute or add the punter into the movie loop
Add punter-contributed subtitles to jukebox loops (for earlier in the night when no one is brave enough to go in front of camera)
Aladin does tricks for the people in the queue and uses suggestion to "place" elements of his tricks into footage.

Team:
Michela - VJ, Director
Damon - Post-production, videography
Sarah - Installation design

Legalities:
Fair use of film material under artistic criticism and review - Videodrag has to be carefully marketed as a "reclaim the media"
MOD Films needs to ring-fence its involvement to avoid problems related to copyright holders and venues
Terms and conditions around the resulting footage need to be worked out.

Issues:
Filming has to be next-to-real-time. Video manipulation has to be quick.
Quality of the experience

Next steps:
Collate footage (ML, DOC, KTM)
Design layout (SPN, ML)
Prepare footage (DOC, ML)
Prepare 'bag o tricks' (ML, DOC)
Seed idea into April 25 VJ set (ML)
Host private party to explore idea (ML)

Videodrag candidates

The first movieoke meeting is this week. Registered videodrag.com

What films would we want to MOD?

Film - Scene - Props

80s
The Blues Brothers - James Brown song
The Party - Birdie Num Nums
Top Gun - locker room scene
Ferris Bueller's Day Off - classroom
Heathers - 3 heathers
Airplane (Flying High) - cockpit
Brazil -
Tetsuo - growing spikes
Crocodile Dundee
Highlander
ET
Purple Rain - singing on stage
The Wall