April 5, 2007

A Mishmash of Mashups of Maps and Misnomers

Misnomer Dance Theater just launched a video remix contest.

Misnomer uploaded one of their dance videos to the video editing site Jumpcut and users can create their own mashup (mix) by editing the video and adding their own audio and video clips. You can access the video clip to be edited here or click the "Remix" button on the bottom right of the following video:

Here's a screenshot of the editing options for Jumpcut - click on image for larger view. I haven't used this video editing application yet, but the tools look very versatile.

Embedding Dance Videos on Google Maps

I'm sure my title for this post is bewildering - but the idea is to make mashups of different types of content. Chris Elam of Misnomer is already encouraging his audience to create their own mashups. But why not combine these dance mashups with a new mapmaking mashup offering from Google?

Google just launched a new feature for Google maps that lets users embed video directly into their own customized maps. So I took the code for the Misnomer mashup video on Jumpcut and added it to Google. As you can see from the following screen shot - click for larger image - you can actually embed and watch a video at a specific geographical location:

To experiment with this Misnomer map, you can click this link.

(Note: I just did some more experimentation with embedding videos into Google Maps. There seem to be technical glitches because the video code is not always saved.)

Just so you know, the location I created for Misnomer is the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. This is the venue where they are performing next week - it has absolutely nothing to do with their remix video. I just wanted to show how to embed a video into a Google map.

Promoting Dance with Customized Google Maps

These customized maps are great. You can add text, pictures and, of course, videos. I think that the perfect application would be to use these maps if you are promoting upcoming performances or a city-wide event that takes place at many different venues.

Dance fans could visit your customized map and see at-a-glance where all the venues are located and watch video clips without leaving Google Maps.

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February 22, 2007

Building a Derivative Dance Culture

On the Creative Commons blog, I came across a post about an "Open Art" show that is taking place now at the University of Florida. A student group, Florida Free Culture, is hosting this show in which the art work on display is made available under what is called a Creative Commons "Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0" license.

What this means is that anybody can download the images of the artwork, which are in a Flickr photo pool, and then modify or remix these images to create altered or augmented versions of the original. For example, one of these images could be edited and modified in a photo editing software program to create a more abstract version of the initial photograph.

In essence, users who download these digital images from the show are given permission under this Creative Commons license to create derivative works. From a copyright standpoint, a "derivative work" is a complicated concept that I don't fully understand. But I take the general premise behind this term as being a new work (book, artwork, choreography, etc.) that is built upon an existing work.

One of the things I realized about the Flickr pool is that all the photos are uploaded by the same person. I would have thought that an "Open Art" show organized by a group of students would have included work from a number of different contributors. But, in the end, it doesn't really matter since I just wanted to use this Creative Commons art show as a possible model for dance.

Creating a Derivative Dance Festival

An understandable tendency for choreographers and dancers is to protect their work from a legal standpoint, or, at least, ensure that choreography is not replicated without the express written consent of the artist or dance company.

But why don't we just turn these standard rules upside down and see what happens?

Why not host a dance festival in your town or city where all the dance performances are licensed under Creative Commons so that anybody can create and distribute derivative versions of the works in digital and/or live formats? And one of the stipulations would be that derivative works would properly recognize the original creator. It would be up to the festival organizer and dance companies whether derivative works could be created just for non-commercial purposes or also for commercial purposes. (Here's a link to the different types of CC licenses).

From a Practical Standpoint, What Does this CC-Licensed Event Mean?

Here's a rundown:

- All dance performances at the festival are recorded and the video is uploaded to a video sharing site. If there's a two camera shoot, the raw footage from each camera might be uploaded. The music tracks can be uploaded as well as separate audio files. Obviously a deal has to be arranged with the owners of the music - maybe under a CC license as well.

- Internet users are now free to do what they want with the video and audio files. They can edit the videos, insert their own dance footage and make any other creative changes and additions that they want. Then they can upload and share their finished works. (There happens to be an excellent overview in yesterday's TechCrunch of online video editing applications. So it's easier than ever for dance fans to edit video footage.)

- Derivative works can be created in the offline world as well. A dance teacher might incorporate part of a performance in whole or part into a dance routine that is taught during a class. Or a dance company might use one of the festival dance works as the basis for one of their new pieces. In either the class or performance setting, the original artist would have to be recognized under the terms of the CC license.

What Are the Advantages of this Licensing Approach?

- Dancers and dance fans will be able to use your work as the basis for further exploration and creativity. They are no longer just passive observers of your work (I think this is my mantra after saying this a hundred times in previous posts). They can create their own dance videos and/or work in a very direct, physical manner with your choreography.

- All participants in the dance festival will get a lot of exposure and recognition at a very low cost. This CC licensing approach is very viral in nature. In other words, since users - dancers and non-dancers - can experiment with your creations and create new works, they will be highly inclined to share what they've done with others. They might embed their new video on their blog or social networking profile, or they might upload their video to a video sharing site.

- The likely result is that you will get more exposure for your dance company and increase the likelihood that you will get more bookings in the future and larger audiences as well. Plus, since the Internet is an important part of this proposed CC licensing approach, there is also the possibility that you can sell or monetize your work through online channels.

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June 2, 2006

An Online Blueprint for Making Dance More Relevant

As a follow-up to my post yesterday, "Reclaiming the Relevancy of Dance," I'd like to offer my initial ideas on how we might move forward with such a project.

First, I'd post a message to my blog saying that I'm creating a collection of links to dancers and dance companies that are in the process of creating dance works or have already created dance works that address a specific topic.

As dancers add content (descriptions, pictures, audio interviews and videos) to their websites, blogs and multimedia sites (YouTube, Flickr, etc.), they can then send me the links to these resources.

For example, I could post a message such as the following:

I'm creating a resource guide with links to dance performances (individual or group performances) that deal with the topic of global warming. If you have created such a performance, please send me links to the relevant websites. Clearly, the best type of resource is a video clip so that people can watch your performance. But pictures, text descriptions and audio guides are also worthwhile.

Your dance work does not have to be finished in order to participate in this project. If you've created diagrams or illustrations of costumes, for example, and posted these images to your website or blog, these would be of interest as well.

So overall the goal is to aggregate dances that deal with a specific topic as a way to reach a larger Internet audience. Environmental topics are especially worthwhile because once we put together a list of, say, ten existing dance works (either completed or in progress), I think this would be an excellent resource for the thousands upon thousands of websites and blogs that address environmental issues.

In the end, I think this project would help all participating dancers and dance companies get considerable exposure for their work and upcoming performances.

Once this project is up and running, it can go in a number of different directions. For example, once there are a handful of dance videos dealing with global warming, then we could launch a mashup competition and encourage people to create their own global warming dance mixes that can be uploaded to a public video gallery. It would be nice, of course, if we could find a sponsor for such a competition that would offer cash and other prizes for both the best dance videos and dance mashups -- this actually might be possible if there is enough interest in this project.

That's my idea. What do you think? Also, global warming is just one of many possible topics to focus on. What are some of the main themes and ideas you address in your dance pieces?

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May 30, 2006

The Shakira "Hips Don't Lie" Mashup

Jackie Huba in her Church of the Customer Blog has a post about how Shakira's fans were encouraged to create their own video dance mixes of her "Hips Don't Lie" video. You can watch this video on YouTube that shows clips from many of the fan contributions:

The beauty of video mashups is that they are an excellent way to build an audience of energized fans. Jackie Huba points out that there is no way to really know whether this mashup contest is really an important factor in sending "Hips Don't Lie" to the top of the charts, but it certainly can't hurt.

I think encouraging fans of any type of dance to participate in a video mashup is a good idea. It's not difficult to implement this type of program and it gets a lot of people excited about your dance performances and classes.

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April 24, 2006

Crossing Flash Mobs and Site-Specific Performances

What would happen if you crossed a site-specific dance performance with a flash mob? I'm not sure, but you'd probably generate a large, engaged audience.

A flash mob is when a group of people -- who may or may not know each other -- use the Internet to arrange a public gathering to perform a specific act that takes place at a specific time and location. A dance flash mob would be when a group of dancers agree to meet at a designated location to dance for a few minutes and then disappear into the crowd. Here's an example of an Argentine Tango flash dance mob in Vancouver:

Or a more recent example of a flash mob took place at the University of Florida earlier this month to recreate a banned Xbox TV commercial that never aired. Here's the bizarre video of this recreation on YouTube:

The above flash mob is based upon a commercial that Microsoft never ran probably because of the excessive simulated violence -- just about everybody in the video is pointing their fingers at others as if they are going to blow each other's heads off. You can watch the original commercial:

What I find interesting is that within 12 days almost 50,000 people watched this University of Florida flash mob, which gives you an idea of what types of videos are most popular on YouTube -- ones that are inane, silly and meaningless. But I still think that there is some value that can be taken from this video and its success.

What is it about flash mobs that intrigue people? Why do people participate in flash mobs? Why do others want to watch videos flash mobs? I think it has to do with the compelling nature of spontaneous collective action. It's also an intriguing premise to consider how digital communication tools can be leveraged to bring strangers together within a very short time-frame to act in unison.

I was thinking about flash mobs when I came across a write-up on the Networked Performance blog for the upcoming Sitelines 2006 series of site-specific performances that is organized by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. You can view a map mashup that shows the locations for all of the performances:

The program kicks-off in Early May with a performance by Benoit Maubrey's Audio Ballerinas, which features dancers that wear "electro-acoustic clothes and dresses that make sounds by interacting with their environment."

I haven't figured out the answer to my opening question about the end result of crossing site-specific dance performances and flash mobs. But there must be something fun and intriguing that can be created - especially when you start with an outside performance by a technology clad dance troupe. So I ask you: how would you add a flash mob component to this performance to get more people involved and build greater levels of excitement and interest around this event?

Technorati Tags: dance, flashmob, performance, xbox, youtube

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April 7, 2006

New Dance Film Promoted Through Video Mashups

Today the Antonio Banderas "Take the Lead" dance movie opens in theaters.

While I haven't read any positive reviews of this film, New Line Cinema's marketing strategy has generated a lot of buzz for its unconventional approach.

At the heart of its pre-release promotional efforts has been the music mashup feature on the official website that I wrote about on March 29th. In addition Internet users have been encouraged to create video mashups (video mixes) that are actually sanctioned by the studio - although at this point the video mashups appear to be semi-official and done by video DJs. Three video mashups are featured in the video section of the official movie site. And you can also watch the trailer and mashups on popular video services such as YouTube and Google.

Here's the official trailer and mashups so you can watch examples:

Watch Official Theatrical Trailer

Watch Addictive TV Remix

Watch Eclectic Method Remix

Watch DJ 2nd Nature Remix

Technorati Tags: dance, mashups, marketing, video

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April 6, 2006

Video Mashups Offer New Possibilities for Dance - Part II

In Part I of what will be a four part story, I wrote that as a result of the introduction of a new type of online video editing software program:

dancers will be able to share, choreograph, document, learn, collaborate, analyze and create in ways that have barely been contemplated before.

In this second part of the story, I would like to describe the key features of this new crop of web-based video editing software. And in the next part, I'll explain why these features are potentially so important for dancers.

Introduction to Online Video Editing

Whether you use a video editing software program on your computer or a web-based video editing software program, the idea is the same: You edit a video clip by placing video sections on a time-line, trimming portions of the video, adding transitional effects and including introductory and other titles to your work.

A fast way to gain hands-on experience with online video editing is by visiting the Jumpcut website [via TechCrunch] . From the home page, click "Explore" to find a movie to watch. You will now be watching a video and the screen will look like this - click for larger image:

Click for Larger Image

On the above screen, you'll see that on the right-hand side there is a column with thumbnail images for each section of the video, in the bottom left there is a listing of "tags" that are created by users to categorize this video, and in the bottom right of the video screen there is a "Remix" button.

This "Remix" button is pretty radical. Click on "Remix" and you will be taken to the video editing area that looks like this - click for larger image:

Click for Larger Image

So even though you are not working with your own video, you can now remix the video, audio, titles and transitions in any manner that you would like. Then you can save and publish your work. I guess using the word "your" is a stretch. So I'll say you can now save and upload your remixed version of the original work.

Jumpcut does not appear to allow you to edit an existing video by adding one or more of your own video clips to the remix. So when I discuss in Part III specific applications for dancers, I'll assume that there soon will be or already are online video editing applications that allow video clips from any source to be used for remixing.

Tagging and Deep Tagging

In the first screen shot above, you can see the tags for this video in the bottom left-hand side of the screen. The tags are: "squished, funny, humour, faces, distortion." This video was tagged by users (or the original creator) so that all Jumpcut users can group videos that share specific characteristics. For example, show me a list of all videos tagged "funny." This is the essence of the concept of tagging. The owner of a website does not categorize information; the users of the website are the ones that categorize content - in this case movies.

But there are some richer possibilities for tagging and that's what is now known as "deep tagging." The reason why I talked about the video editing software program Motionbox in Part I was because it is the only program that I know of that will have this capability (it is not yet launched). In the context of video editing, deep tagging means that you can tag any section within a video clip.

So let's imagine that in the second of the two screen shots above that you wanted to tag this section of the video clip "racinggoggles." You would use the video editing tools of Motionbox to mark off this section of, say, 5 seconds and add the tag "racinggoggles."

Now users can conduct a deep tag search for the word "racinggoggles" and find any sections in any video clips that have this tag. This is clearly a lot more powerful than just tagging an entire video clip. You can now tag just 5 seconds of a clip (or any length you wish) so that other users can easily find it.

Wrap-Up

So for the sake of the upcoming Part III of this post, this is what we have:

1) An online video editing software program that allows us to mix multiple video clips from any source.

2) A software program that allows us to add video clips to a timeline, trim sections as needed, add transitions and include titles. And,

3) A software program that lets us add tags to any section of a video clip.

Technorati Tags: dance, education, mashups, software, tags, video, web2.0

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April 3, 2006

Video Mashups Offer New Possibilities for Dance - Part I

A post by Michael Arrington at TechCrunch blog describes a soon-to-be-released video editing software program that has some compelling possibilities for the dance world.

With the online Motionbox application users will be able to edit video, tag sections of a video clip, and mix video clips and sections into mashups.

Click for Larger Image

Tag sections of a video clip with Motionbox
Credit: TechCrunch

By combing these features into one software program, dancers will be able to share, choreograph, document, learn, collaborate, analyze and create in ways that have barely been contemplated before.

In order to provide adequate coverage of this topic, I'm going to write four separate posts:

- In this first post, Part I, I just want to introduce this topic and give credit to Matt Gough (see below) for providing the theoretical framework for the dance applications I'll be discussing.

- In Part II, I'll describe the specific features and capabilities of Motionbox - as best as I understand them. Motionbox has not even been released to the public yet. But in the big picture whether Motionbox succeeds or not is not of critical importance. The important point is that we are about to see the introduction of new video editing software programs that will have far reaching benefits for all dancers.

- In Part III, I'll describe in concrete terms how dancers, choreographers, teachers, students, researchers, librarians, notators and dance enthusiasts will be able to use this new breed of video editing software. And,

- In Part IV, I'll highlight some of the potential challenges and limitations to the dance-specific scenarios I describe in Part III. Among the key challenges include: 1) intellectual property protection, 2) ensuring the wide availability of good quality dance videos, and 3) the creation of sustainable business models.

If it were not for dance blogger Matt Gough's post, "networked choreography - ii," I do not think I would have recognized the possibilities of a program such as Motionbox for the dance community. In his post Matt offers a theoretical description of how Web-based video editing and tagging applications can serve as the basis for a new type of collaborative dance art. I actually did not understand Matt's post - it's intended for an academic audience - until we talked about it for an hour by phone. Once I understood his premise, I was very enthusiastic about the possibilities for dance, which I'll elaborate upon in the upcoming sections to this post.

Technorati Tags: dance, education, mashups, software, tags, video, web2.0

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March 21, 2006

Thanks for the Comments

It's nice to see an increase in comments to the posts I write on Great Dance.

(By the way, you can view the latest comments by going to Great Dance home page, scrolling down a bit and looking for the comments section in the right-hand column.)

Here are two of the latest posts on topics that I'm especially interested in:

- Simon Fildes shares his thoughts on hyperchoreography in response to "Spreading Dance with Mashups"

- And Justin writes that distance dance instruction is more than feasible, but requires more research in response to "Is Remote Dance Education Possible?"

I appreciate your comments, trackbacks and feedback.

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March 10, 2006

Spreading Dance with Mashups

Over the past few weeks, I've posted articles and podcasts that cover a range of approaches to creating interactive dance performances. There are telematic performances that unite multiple sites via high-speed Internet connections, There are mediated dance programs where dancers are outfitted with sensors and other devices, which control video, audio and images in real-time. And there are many technologies from wearable computers, motion capture and motion tracking that provide choreographers and dancers with many ways to explore their creative impulses.

But one area that I haven't touched upon is how end users - dance fans and enthusiasts - can play a role in creating or manipulating their own digital-based dance performances.

Before I explain what I mean I have to give some background about a hot trend called mashups. Mashups are a type of digital mixing of sounds, videos and pictures that just about anybody can create with relatively easy-to-use software.

Mashups

The first type of mashup was created by taking a vocal track from a song and adding it to an instrumental mix. While most of these mixes are unauthorized, they are widely available because of the many sound editing software programs and digitized songs available online. (This week's edition of Newsweek has a good introduction to Mashups.)

The Beastie Boys are joining the mashup craze by making authorized acappella tracks available for download so that their fans can create their own remixes.

Mashups are not just limited to mixing audio tracks. Here's an example of "Film Genre Remix" from Mashup Mansion (via: Micro Persuasion). The goal with these genre remixes is to create your own movie trailer for a film from one genre (such as horror films) and add your own voiceover to make it seem that the film is of a completely different type (such as a romantic comedy).

There are new online video editing apps being introduced all the time that let you create your own video mixes. Here's one Eyespot that I came across on the Mashable blog.

Web-based applications are also part of the boom in Mashups. The idea is that you take data from one source such as Google Maps or Flickr photos and build a new front-end so that your website visitors can access this data in new and innovative ways. Here are some sample applications so you can see what I'm talking about:

- The Geography of Seinfeld combines mapping data from Google with address information for famous New York City locations featured in this popular TV series. By clicking on, say, "Soup Nazi" or "Elaine's Apartment," you can instantly see on a map where they are located.

- Retriever is a mashup that allows you to upload or draw an image, and then the application will pull pictures from Flickr that match the structure and colors of your starting image. From my brief experiments, it doesn't seem that this application works too well, but it's amusing to experiment with.

You can find a whole bunch of Flickr Mashups on Webmonkey.

Back to Dance

Mashups are proliferating because they are fun and they put creative control in the hands of millions of Internet users. My purpose for writing this post was to consider whether there were opportunities for creating mashups for dance so that millions of online users could create their own dance remixes?

Dancers, choreographers and new media artists are already creating their own dance mashups - even though that's not what they would call their video creations. This is what Jimmy Miklavcic of Another Language does during InterPlay performances when he takes video feeds from multiple performance sites and mixes them together into abstract videos (listen to podcast). The same is the case for the global performance events hosted by the Digital Worlds Institute when they overlay a musician from one continent with a video feed of dancers from another continent (listen to podcast). And I'll write about the video mixing work of new media artist and professor John Crawford next week that combines pre-created video with live dancers and other imagery.

But what happens if dance enthusiasts are provided with videos of different styles of dance in various settings? Maybe some of the dance videos could be shot in chroma key (against a blue or green background) so that these images could be easily mixed with different backgrounds. Videos of dancers could also be combined with abstract imagery or distorted in various ways. I'm sure there are hundreds of possibilities.

Would dancers and choreographers be willing to make videos available online for the purpose of creating video remixes? Could this help dance companies reach larger audiences by giving fans direct digital control over the final output? Could dancers generate greater levels of interest in their upcoming performances by sponsoring a dance mashup competition that incorporates video of dancers who will be performing in this upcoming program? Or does the thought of making this video widely available scare you to death?

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October 25, 2005

Exploring Hyperchoreography on the Web

I've been hoping to find more native Internet dance performances that allow users/viewers to interact in some manner with the performance work. I haven't found many at all - even though I think these types of interactive performances are bound to grow in terms of number and complexity.

But here is one that I came across last night:

The website, Hyperchoreography.org, explores what happens when you port the concepts of hypertext into the realm of dance performances and choreography:

. . . Hyperchoreography is a non-linear dance performance 'space', existing in an interactive, networked medium. The elements are put in place by the creators, but the shape of the work is decided by the user at the moment of interaction.

In the "Works" section of the Hyperchoreography site, you'll find two examples of user-directed, non-linear performance work created with Macromedia Flash.

The first one, from which I included a screen shot above, is "The Truth: The Truth" (2004). Katrina McPherson and Simon Fildes created this work in collaboration with Ricochet Dance Productions. Choreography is by Fin Walker and Paulo Ribiero.

As you'll see when you enter the performance, there are two side-by-side video windows each of which presents the same two couples interacting yet the choreography is different in each case. As the notes ask, "What is the Truth? Which version gives the real story? Explore and compare and maybe you will find an answer."

As you press the arrow buttons for each video, you can create your own version of the "Truth" as you decide which images to watch and compare side-by-side. You can even record your selections for playback and analysis.

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