In September 2007, I produced the ¡Viva la Creaçion! project for internet provider XS4ALL. For this ‘WikiVideo’ project, I produced nine compositions together with the general public in nine days with my audio-visual instrument SenS IV. Although these compositions were produced in just one day, I used them for a successful live performance at the film festival in Milan. I was awarded an international Webby Award for this project in 2008.
How?
Anyone was invited to upload videos in JumpCut (a kind of YouTube) for me to work with. In the morning I would download the videos and in the evening I published my composition in JumpCut. The next day I used the viewer comments under the video to improve it and uploaded the final version. I then moved on to the next composition.
JumpCut had a pretty advanced remix function, allowing the audience to remix my composition and also participate that way. Popular Dutch hip-hop acts Opgezwolle, de Jeugd van Tegenwoordig and Duvel also contributed to promote the project.
Website
The project was centered around the ¡Viva la creaçion! website. To promote the event, I produced a special composition, ‘Like this!‘, featured on the site. The website linked to a blog, the JumpCut website and the YouTube channel.
On the blog I showed which samples I was going to use that day and the results (the compositions). The contributers to the composition that gathered the most likes in JumpCut won the ¡Viva la Creaçion! Award at the ¡Viva la Creaçion! event in Amsterdam.
Tracks
This video shows a compilation of the nine audio-visual tracks I made during the project. Each track is produced in one day, using only videos uploaded by the audience. I call these type of quickly produced videos ‘disposable videos‘. Watch the full compositions (and more) below.
Day 1 – Snipperclip
On the first day I used video samples of a music video of Dutch hip hop group Opgezwolle and two videos uploaded by the audience: somebody playing poker and some ducks in a field of grass. I used SenS IV’s audio-visual effects to turn Opgezwolle’s vocals into a crazy bassline, grooving on a glitchy audio-visual rhythm. The track is called ‘Snipperclip’.
Day 2 – Of je worst lust
On day two I used only one video uploaded by the audience. It was such a crazy cool video that I didn’t need more. The track is called ‘Of je worst lust’, which means ‘if you like sausage’, a Dutch expression.
Day 3 – Beats tikken
On the third day I used four videos uploaded by the audience. A guy with a scooter, a girl shouting, guys working in a kitchen and a guy rapping into the camera. I flipped the scooter into a bassline and used the kitchen to create a beat, skrtZed the other samples and morphed the scream into a funky rhythm synth. The track is called ‘Beats tikken’.
Day 4 – Klappen
On the forth day I used three uploaded videos. Two guys working in a garage, a woman opening a wine bottle and a guy working on the railway. I turned the guys working in the garage into a phat bassline. The track is called ‘Klappen’.
Day 5 – Lekker smerig
On the fifth day I created a track with Dutch hip hop producer Duvel. We used five uploaded videos. A guy saying “Lekker smerig” (“Nice and dirty”), a car driving by with a girl shouting, two boys in a room (watching the ¡Viva! website on their computer), a guy in a store and a guy showing his food. The track is called ‘Lekker smerig’, a nice and dirty track.
Day 6 – Say what !?!
On the sixth day I used 5 uploaded videos. A video of Aart Muis (who worked with me from 2002 to 2005) dropping meat on his bald head, Aart using a vacuum cleaner on a blue ball, Aart’s girlfriend Mignon shouting “Say what !?!”), two playing doing yudo and a dog jawning. I used different audio-visual effects to create this crazy techy groove track, called ‘Say what !?!’.
Day 7 – Copy ‘n’ Toothpaste
On day 7 I used only one uploaded video. A video of somebody brushing his teeth. This audio-visual drum ‘n’ bass track is called ‘Copy ‘n’ Toothpaste’.
Day 8 – skrtZz rock
On the eighth day I used seven uploaded videos for a crazy skrtZz track. The track is called ‘skrtZz rock’.
Day 9 – Ik ben een baas
On the ninth day I used video samples created by Dutch hip hop group De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig to create a funny dancy track. It features two police officers that get harrassed by De Jeugd. I used this track in a DVJ set for a fasion show a few months later. After that event I added vocals of Willie Wartaal, who hosted the fashion show, to the track. The track is called ‘Ik ben een baas’ (‘I am a boss’).
DVJ performance @Milan Film Festival
On September 15 I did a DVJ performance at the Milano Film Festival with the ¡Viva la Creation! tracks mixed with other DVJ tracks.
¡Viva! Award show
On September 27 the ¡Viva la Creaçion! project was concluded at the PICNIC festival in Amsterdam. At this event the ¡Viva la Creaçion! Award was presented to Carlo Ruijgers, who uploaded the video for the Copy ‘n’ Toothpaste track. This track got the most likes on JumpCut, which made it the winning track.
Webby Award
But that is not where the project ended! In 2008 I won a Webby Award for this project in the category ‘Best Editing’. In June 2008 I went to New York to accept it. The videos below show the winner announcement and my acceptance. It is tradition that the winner gives an acceptance speech of 5 words. My five words were ‘Sampling, your right to copy’. The third video is a TV news item about me winning the award.
Technology used
For this project I used SenS IV and Logic Pro (music software). SenS IV was barely finished. AVBlock was nog yet added and also not the real time motion graphics software.
The aim of my technical development is to create the ultimate audio-visual instrument. To make it possible to work with visuals and music at the same time, in one unified creative process. Ideal for audio-visual artists like me. Thanks to the tight integration into Logic Audio and the real time workflow, I was able to create tracks intuitively and quickly. Very important for this project.
The video below shows how SenS IV and Logic were used to create ‘Like This!’, the promotion track for ¡Viva la Creaçion!.
Bonus
I did a live performance together with Guillermo Kardolus in my studio to get people to vote for me for the Webby Award. I used my SenSorSuit and the video drumkit with SenS IV.
I used ‘Like This!’ for many SenSorSuit shows. This video shows a live performance I did together with Guillermo on the video drumkit, in Utrecht. I control the audio-visual bassline, skrtZzes and other effects with my suit.