Props to Allan White & Brian Holt for discovering the tools & methods necessary for making this happen. Here are a list of resources to help you set this up:

- Air Display app for iPad

- Brian Holt’s method for mirroring specific displays

- and obviously an iPad, Mac, WiFi network, & ProPresenter 4.

You can use this with virtually any software or simply create more desktop space for your work-flow. I can’t wait to try this out during an event and to see how ProVideoPlayer responds. What’s great about Pro4 & PVP is its simple UI & large thumbnails, which makes controlling via touch much more accessible.

Now the question for all of us is “How can I apply this?” One way I’ve thought of is if you want to take advantage of Stage Display but don’t have a back-wall projector or confidence monitor; the iPad can rest comfortable on a music stand right on stage with the band!

What other applications can you see involving this method?

Some time ago, I wrote a post called “Which Format Is Best?”, which walked you through my process of converting video files for more “VJ-friendly” playback. I should say right off the bat that this conversation only applies for Mac users. The short version is, when you download content (mini-movies, motions, etc), you are receiving a QuickTime movie that has been encoded with the H.264 codec (the industry’s standard right now). However, when pulling more advanced playback stunts like on-the-fly speed control & quick sporatic dissolves, this codec seems to struggle, resulting in choppy playback at the time of adjustment. And since I like my playback to be as smooth & seamless as possible, I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. So in that post, I highlight another codec that I’ve been using called “PhotoJPEG”; when exported at 50-75% quality (don’t ask), it results in a balanced combination of smooth playback, file size, & quality. #VICTORY

Last week, all of that changed.

When we were in the final stages of producing the Playback Drive, I asked the team the question, “Are we going to give people H.264 like everybody else, or are we going to go the extra mile and convert them all to PhotoJPEG?” The beauty of working together on a team is that there are other people more knowledgeable than you could ever imagine being yourself. Some liked the idea, and some didn’t. Why? Because they were never satisfied with PhotoJPEG to begin with. You see, PhotoJPEG compromises a fraction of quality when compared to H.264. The difference is marginal (even I cannot tell sometimes.) But to the professionally trained eye, you can tell.

So which is more important when VJ-ing? Pristine quality? Or seamless playback?

We thought about offering both codecs with a “read me” file explaining which format was for which situation. We didn’t want to compromise the quality of our loops, not even a fraction. But one of the guys on the team (Jason Norris, who’s been working w/ Nick Rivero on all sorts of crazy cool ideas) did a little research and experimentation.

What he discovered is this: if you export a video to QuickTime using H.264 but choose the option to KEY ALL FRAMES, it will result in seamless playback, just like PhotoJPEG…except that you’ve not compromised any quality! Here’s a snapshot of the advanced settings when exporting via QuickTime 7 (this should apply to other programs as well):

So…I have officially abandoned PhotoJPEG as my VJ codec of choice. From now on, it’s H.264 all the way (keying every frame along the way, of course.)

So what? What does this mean for you?

- if you’ve gone through all the work of converting all your loops to PhotoJPEG, then welcome to my camp. But I’m not that worried or frustrated honestly, b/c remember, the difference in marginal. Just select this compression type & setting for new loops that you’ve created or downloaded. Don’t re-export your PhotoJPEG videos back to H.264…it won’t help you regain that little bit quality. If it bugs you that you have lost that extra margin of quality…sorry…again, welcome to my camp. If you downloaded content from WorshipHouse Media, you can always re-download it in it’s original format via their new “My Media” feature.

- if you are new to all this, just know that this is for more advanced VJ playback & getting rid of the little things that most people won’t really notice. But if you still want to follow my lead, then whenever you download a loop/motion from a website, simply convert it to H.264 with the settings I described above.  (FYI: it’s already in H.264, but not with the “key all frames” option.) Also, this practice does not apply to “mini-movies” or any kind of video that you aren’t scratching/jogging/speeding up/slowing down/etc. To learn more about batch conversion, read my previous post and watch the video. Compressor works great, but for those without Final Cut Studio, I recommend Stomp.

A note of warning: when keying all frames using “Best” on compression quality, it will result in a much larger file size, about 4-5 times the size of a file using the default settings of H.264. For example, a 90MB video will now be around 400MB. The day after I posted this, Joel Smith of Thr_ve tested this compression method himself and found that if you use “High” instead of “Best”, you will find a much more conservative file size without compromising the quality. But in any case, you are going to be dealing with a larger file size, which is totally worth it to me. So if you’re thinking of getting a Playback Drive, you might want to consider the 2TB model! ;)   — And yes, the Playback Drive already has everything converted with these new settings. (the amount of content equals 33GB.)

It’s all about excellence. Even in the details. Thanks, Jason, Nick & Joel for working hard to find a better way for all of us!

This year, i want to make more intentional efforts in my exploration of the VJ world. A lot of the technology that would seem futuristic to us has actually been around for a while…hidden away in clubs, VJ festivals & other underground areas that might seem foreign to some of us. But i wonder if some of these cool new toys & techniques will ever go mainstream enough for the rest of us to get our hands on it. Here are just a few examples of what i’m talking about. Be prepared to be blown away. Enjoy.

*wiki-wiki*

warning: be sure & tighten the wrist strap. the last thing you need is for your sound guy to get a black-eye! (even though he may deserve it!  j/k )

More Wiimote awesomeness. This time using Modul8 VJ software.

Quartz has a significant role in the future of VJ-ing. VJ Shakinda is the leading authority on Quartz VJ-ing.

I wonder if my nephew would let me borrow his Nintendo DS…like, permanently.

i’ve wanted one of these for years.

uhhh….i don’t think this will fit as a carry-on.

Use your iPhone to VJ and map projection.

Community-driven projection mapping. Yes, please. (via CreateDigitalMotion)

Wii, before it’s time. I’m still waiting on Nick Rivero to figure this one out.

It’s so bad.

here’s another link worth checking out. Would be cool to get multiple people to connect and VJ with their iPhones during worship.

So there you have it… a glimpse into the crazy world of true VJ-ing.  i watch this stuff & realize i have barely begun to scratch the surface.  i hope some of these ideas continue to develop, as i’d love to start VJ-ing outside of a mouse, keyboard & trackpad. The KORG Nano has been a good start. But there’s so much more to explore. And i’m counting on guys like Zac Dixon, Allan White, Graham Robinson & Nick Rivero to help make this more mainstream & to produce some content that takes us deeper into worship.

Have you found any links/videos of new or non-traditional tools for VJ-ing? Don’t keep it to yourself! Spread the love and share with the rest of us!

It’s my favorite time of year. I’m a sucker for all the old Christmas movies, the lights, the gaudy tree decorations, the egg nog…the whole nine yards. So it’s a dangerous thing when I get my hands on a few projectors, as you can imagine. :)

When you think about it, the Christmas/Advent season is filled with more imagery than any other time of the year. Not only in the story of Emmanuel, but in our own culture’s visual way of celebrating. And if we’re lucky, we get snow on top of that! (ok, i know you Northerners think i’m crazy, but those of us in the South enjoy our 1-2 snowfalls each year!)

This year, i get the privilege of participating in two different Christmas tours.

One of them is the Skaggs Family Christmas tour (as in Ricky Skaggs). Yeah, i know. I was shocked when I got that call. I’m intimidated by the fact that the Skaggs family is made up of prodigy-musicians and the last thing i would ever want to do is distract any audience with a bunch of video loops. I mean, really, Ricky Skaggs on mandolin is enough! But they really wanted to create a unique visual environment, and one of their family members that i work with brought our name up at the right time! However, I had already committed to another tour, so luckily Chris Rouse (who grew up on bluegrass) was available and ready to put his VJ hat on! Check the tour schedule, and if the Skaggs are coming to your town, touch base with Chris and come out to the show! (depending on the venue, you might even see some Environmental Projection in action.) And if you’re coming to the Nashville show on the 22nd, then let me know ’cause i’ll be there cheering Chris on.

The other tour, the one I’m currently on, is the Gloria Christmas tour, featuring Travis Cottrell, Cindy Morgan & Shaun Groves. They are a stellar combination of artists…i would call them the songwriters of songwriters. Their lyrical masterpieces make my job easy, as i just plug & play the videos where they fit. It’s an incredible experience.

The first half of the Gloria tour is much more fun & nostalgic, then it brings attention to the injustice of poverty around the world. Shaun Groves does in an incredible job of telling stories of injustice and calling the audience to action…. to forsake the spirit of consumerism that plagues Christmas, and to live out Christmas beyond the giving of gifts to each other.

The second half is completely focused on the Story of Christ. Over and over, the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus is sung about. It honestly was really hard to visually compliment this so many times, but thankfully i had just enough videos to do it differently each time. I’m using mostly older stock content videos as well, as some clips from a few movies & cartoons, and I did find some new gems on WorshipHouse Media a few weeks ago that look really nice. I love to find new ways of blending & projecting them.

Here’s a montage video I created that shows you just a few of the visual moments of the night.

My favorite moment of the night isn’t in the montage b/c it’s not on Travis’ Christmas record. The song is “What Child Is This?” with a new song he’s written called “This Is Our God”. I love it b/c it answers the question. During this song, I project Names of God all over the screens and walls. It’s a visual way of answering the question, as well. (a revelation that invites a response) It’s too much to take in sometimes. It’s so simple, yet the most powerful I’ve experienced in a long time. Here’s a moment I caught on my phone and posted to Twitter:

Please be sure to check the schedules and see if one of the tours are coming to a city near you…Chris & I would both love the chance to get away, grab a cup of coffee, and hear your story.

Merry Christmas!

MPEG-1, WMV, MOV, M4V, AVI…the list goes on. Remember the good ole days when everything thing was on VHS? (And then LaserDisc came out…man, that was exciting.) There’s so many file formats to choose from. And while they all technically/supposedly/are-rumored-to playback in most presentation softwares, which is the best format for VJ-ing?

///////////////////////////////////////////

UPDATE!

Since this was posted, I have discovered a better codec for the best VJ playback experience. Instead of going with PhotoJPEG, use H.264 …except you want to KEY ALL FRAMES! Read more about this here.

For those of you using Stomp to batch export, here is a screen-shot of the new settings.

“Most VJ content doesn’t interest me– the flashing lights and swirling and pulsating images. What interests me is technology that enables me to recollect and rearrange images, transitions and timing in response to the moods in the room…. I could do more, like mix in some live camera. And that’s all slick and cool– but again, the question is Why? What would that add to my story? Showing you as an audience member, does that add something to my story? If I don’t have an answer to that question, I won’t do it. I’m not going to add something just because it’s technically possible.”

Read more excerpts from ‘The VJ Book’ here:
http://feralhouse.com/press/thevjbook/text_excerpts.php

no matter what media i have in my playlist… no matter what software & technique i’m using… no matter what the message is…

…the most influential layer in VJ-ing is the music. It’s the one element that completely dictates the emotion of the moment.

i’ve curated and sequenced an iMix via iTunes…a playlist of music that inspires me way beyond the melodies of today’s worship songs. i hear these songs, and my mind explodes with imagery.

the worshipVJ iMix

it’s just a fact… sometimes i hear the music of a church, band or artist, and i simply struggle with what i would VJ for them. a friend pointed out to me the other day that i’m not very analytical in my VJ-ing b/c i mostly “feel” the music as i VJ. it’s very true. if i can’t “feel” the music, it’s very hard to VJ. (that doesn’t mean i have to necessarily ENJOY the music…. “feeling” and enjoyment are different.)

i might hear a popular song like “How Great Is Our God” led differently depending on the band’s style, and so i would VJ that song completely different for each band. VJ-ing is not just reflecting the content of the song but the musical context in which it’s carried.

This is why i always teach people to treat your software & media like a musical instrument instead of a “tech tool”. Let the movement of the visuals groove with the beat of the music, and when the bass & drums drop out, let the visuals back off (slow down, go to black, etc).

When i’m editing a video, the first thing i start with is picking the music… once i find a soundtrack for my vision, i let it orchestrate the entire video. here is an example of a video i created for Beth Moore a few weeks ago. (turn up your speakers or put on some headphones)

Does this make any sense? Let me know. And if you struggle with “feeling the music”, just go watch “Mr. Holland’s Opus.”

thanks to Allan White, Jason Norris & Nicholas Rivero for teaching me the ways of the Jedi.

to experience more Quartz awesomeness, check out these blog posts:

Quartz Composition VJ-ing

Screencast: Routing iTunes’ Visualizer into ProPresenter (by Allan White)

VJ Shakinda’s blog (lots of great Quartz Composition posts, even a book coming soon!)

Quartz Composition (from worship*VJ in Poland)

Now we’re talking!

This discovery was a joint effort. Allan White & Nick Rivero have been exploring various ways to incorporate LIVE Quartz compositing (like the iTunes visualizer) into a presentation program like ProPresenter. When I visited Allan in Portland a few weeks ago, he showed me his progress of successfully piping in the iTunes visualizer into ProPresenter (as a live feed) via CamTwist. Meanwhile, Nick and his friend Jason Norris started experimenting with this, and Jason took it one step further by adding a midi controller device that could manipulate a Quartz composition window. Nick used this method while VJ-ing for Kristian Stanfill at a recent event.

The next step is to figure out a way to send a live audio feed (ex. from a band, kick drum, etc) to the Quartz screen so that it reacts to the live music. Jason tells me he is working on this. I also need to figure out a way to change the live feed in PVP to CamTwist instead of iSight. I’m sure it’s easy…i just need to email Renewed Vision. And i’ll be ordering my Korg nano controller very soon!

Today, i’m going to start something new and hopefully consistent for worshipVJ.com. Introducing, the “VJ Blend”.

Check back MOST Wednesdays for a new VJ blend. But I’m going to preface with this…it may not be as consistent as other bloggers’ weekly witty posts. if you follow me on twitter, you have probably connected the dots that i travel a lot…and many times i’m in some crazy 3rd world country getting into all kinds of trouble. So i’m telling you now, i’m gonna miss some weeks. cool? cool. here we go.
(revision: it’s now the following wednesday, and i know for a fact i won’t get to this every week…so i’ve removed all traces of “Blend of the Week” and am now sticking with “VJ Blend”. So much for that. It will just have to come any random moments, i guess. #weeklypostfail )

“VJ Blend”: Introduction

If you use a VJ software like ProVideoPlayer, you have the option of manually blending (cross-dissolving) visual elements live during an event. This is the essence of VJ-ing…not just pushing the play button, but pushing multiple play buttons & then blending/manipulating/speeding/slowing/colorizing/effecting/etc. as i work with more and more visual media, i have noticed that many clips (produced completely independent of each other) work in visual tandem, and the result is creatively inspiring, to say the least. It’s as if they were meant to be together!

That’s what the “VJ Blend” is all about: showing examples of this. And this isn’t about me saying “cool! look what i can do!” but more about “here’s what i’ve discovered and i’m going to show you how to do it yourself.” Because i really believe in what i do, and i am told constantly that it’s impacting people during worship in ways that i would have never imagined. this really does blow me away. and it’s my heart to share these experiences, techniques, & ideas with you so that you can lead your congregation into deep, meaningful worship using visual media.

Each “blend post” will come with a few elements: a nifty picture that sums it all up, a video demonstration captured live from PVP, links to download the media, and a few worship song suggestions where the blend could be used.

any questions?

i give you our first “blend” = OVERFLOW.

RESOURCES: “Prison” & “Cup” by Radiate Films.

SONG SUGGESTIONS: “Made Me Glad”, “Just to Be with You” (a new song by Paul Baloche), “Fill Me Up”, and any songs w/ lyrics or themes involving the words “overflow”, “fill me up”, “pouring”, “water”, etc.

SOFTWARE: i am using PVP in this example b/c it’s the software of my choice, however, anyone can VJ using a myriad of options. There are tons of VJ softwares out there, and you can also blend visuals using multiple computers and most any video mixer.

(music used in the video is “Armistice” by MUTEMATH – BUY IT… NOW! Trust me.)

Here’s a few shots of some moments we had during worship at LifeWay’s Deeper Still conference this past weekend.

(photo by Rich K. Here, i blended a loop, created by Everett Bowes, with a Names of God loop by Visual Worshiper.)

(We had a live worship art experience on stage before Beth Moore spoke…we blended live camera (iMAG) shots of the artwork unfolding, along with another Names of God loop.)

(This was one of the most powerful moments of visual worship i have ever experienced. it involved me VJ-ing… NOTHING! Instead, we showed close-up iMAG shots of the worship art that attendees had drawn earlier during the conference. These drawing/writings were visual confessions/prayers/art offered up to God…so when we started singing “Savior, He can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save!” and people saw their own “mountains” written out on the plexi-glass boards and projected during worship….wow…there are no words to describe it. It’s visual worship at it’s best…b/c it comes straight from the hearts of the congregation, and not some computer! Nate was on stage painting artwork behind the visual confessions (opposite side of the plexi) and that was an offering of visual worship that was unique and powerful in it’s own right.)

(Here’s one more shot for those of us wanting to see the VJ-ing in action. You can see PVP in the foreground and the screens in the background. While we sang “In Christ Alone”, i blended a Names of God loop with Shift Worship’s Easter Drawing.” the lyrics were lower-thirds (standard for the conference b/c of all the iMAG); normally, i would have put them in the upper-third section of the screen.)

I always suggest waiting for the bridge of the song, or when the chorus changes keys in the end, to bring in the Names of God. Playing them throughout the entirety of a song (or all the time, for that matter) can get very redundant. Save it for the right moment… Trust me. :)

Comments? Ideas? do you have any moments that you’d like to share?

We’re live streaming “Conversations on Visual Worship” at the Gurus of Tech conference! Join in on a discussion i’ll have with Jonathan “Biscuet” Smyth, Camron Ware, and we’ll be taking questions from the live audience. we’ll cover topics such as tools for visual worship, the role of the worship VJ, visual philosophy, relationships within the worship team, and what visual worship looks like in the global Church.

@kanatanate and I are at ENTER this week, a worship conference hosted by New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

So far, it’s been one of the best worship conferences i’ve ever been a part of. i can’t say enough about the leadership here…from Ross Parsley (worship pastor) to the Desperation Band guys, to Kevin Morehouse (tech director) & his media team. Kevin even created his own worship software that is pretty stellar (both PC & MAC!!)…it’s called SongScreen Liquid.

The other day, Nate’s iPhone conveniently fell into the pool, so he was forced to get the new iPhone 3Gs. And we’re benefitting from the new video recording capabilities and were able to capture some pretty cool VJ moments during worship while Jared Anderson led.

nate brought it with the visuals, and i was busy capturing & tweeting video (via Tweetie).

It’s interesting to me that the origins of "VJ-ing" in it’s purest form come from an underground culture, birthed in the club/rave scene back in the 90s. And here we are years later applying the same art-form to our worship experiences. And after watching this and seeing what other VJs are doing, i don’t even feel like a VJ. and i’m definitely not European.

Here’s an excerpt from Create Digital Motion , where i found this video:

"Michael Faulkner of D-FUSE says the most interesting thing in this video: it’s when technology becomes redundant that it’s accepted as art. Photography gets invented, and suddenly painting – a business and a craft for centuries – is “high art.” (Don’t ask, incidentally, about what late 19th Century art critics and salon organizers thought was great painting. It was utterly dreadful.)

Ctrl Alt Shift is a 10-minute documentary, pointed out by Resolume developer Bart on their forums , featuring live visualists and audiovisualists. It has a number of things going for it: a terrific artist lineup, asking the tough, obvious questions about why fundamentally we do this stuff, and an editing style that makes projection, live-style edits, and eye candy animation part of the documentary object. It’s a tasty treat to watch if you know the artists, and even if the chatter in this video is the sort of thing you discuss over beers and V4s with your mates, it could be an ideal video to pass along to your friends who don’t yet entirely get what this whole thing is about."