VIDEO LOOP SYSTEMS & AUDIO LOOP SYSTEMS
visual art by sTeVo iN yR sTuDiO - Electronic Media Artist
music/audio art by Pupaum
I have installed a page on my website dedicated to Video Loops!
featuring:
- stills from various videos (taken with polaroid film)
- a diagram of the 'basic' video loop system I used
- a brief description of the video looping process
SELECT THE SECOND URL ADDRESS TO GO DIRECTLY TO MY VIDEO ART WEB PAGE...
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As I am writing this, I am recording my cd player sticking and flickering between various points of PROGEN by The Shamen. Random loop sequences that are happening by chance; along with me occasionally, just barely hitting the fast forward button as lightly and briefly as I possibly can! Ah, but life is glorious!!!
I began working with 1/2-inch reel-to-reel b+w video in 1973 at age 15. Around 1978 I was staring at the back cover of DISCREET MUSIC by Brian Eno and Eukeka! I could apply this system to video, I thought!!! I immediately began experimenting with various system setups . My first obstacle was realizing video had sync to contend with, making it a much more difficult medium to work with than audio.
Realizing I have been making art virtually all of my life and haven't really documented much of anything in print, I am going to post an excerpt from a recent email I wrote replying to an inquiry received from a member of the Nerve Net Digest.
email excerpt:
well now the video techniques i spoke of r pretty ancient, but i'll be happy to describe it for u.
it's been about 20 years since i first began doing the video loop pieces. the only obstacle one would encounter in doing video looping would be finding a couple of old reel-to-reel video machines (b&w or color), in good working order. if you have access to these, the rest is just a matter of patience and persistence. there were many variations and configurations of video looping systems which i devised, but i will explain the simplest system, which i used for many years (mostly using b&w equipment & often, employing video processing for color; others were done in color). as to how you do it (this is where i usually draw a diagram-but will just explain), you place two reel-to-reel video machines as far apart as you want your delay to be and thread your video between the two. the first machine is recording, the second is playing back. a camera is feeding the recording deck and a monitor is displaying the play back deck. you aim the camera at the moniter and let the games begin. now, depending on what type of piece you wish to create you can either have the camera stay zoomed within the confines of the monitor screen, or you can have it zoom out showing the monitor screen at varying ratios within the camera's frame. i created 'ambient', 'wallpaper' or 'abstract' (whatever you want to call them) pieces keeping the camera zoomed in within the frame of the monitor. i would zoom out beyond the frame of the monitor to create 'performance' oriented pieces.
the looping systems are difficult to get good results with, even when using perfectly functioning equipment. in many case i spent more than 20 times the amount of time setting up the looping system, in relation to the time i spent recording the piece!!
i hope this answers your inquiry to your satisfaction. if you need any other info let me know.
take care,
stevo
end of email excerpt.
This is just the tip of the iceberg concerning my video & music/audio art looping endeavors.
more to come...
I would like to hear from anyone who has worked with video looping techniques; and welcome all other inquiries as well.
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