April 26, 2007

Video Headcams and the First Person Dance Experience

One of the hottest and sometimes inane crazes on the Internet these days is Justin.tv. Justin Kan has strapped a small video headcam to the side of his head and records everything he sees and hears 24/7. The video feed is streamed in real-time to Justin.tv where you can watch the feed. (Here's a video from San Francisco Chronicle that shows Justin in action.)

Photo credit: Cnet via Webware

Justin's video camera is connected to a notebook PC in his backpack. And the video stream is transmitted by a wireless broadband EV-DO card - such as the one offered by Verizon. All of this equipment is widely available and relatively easy to set-up.

There are a number of streaming video services that you can use to
transmit your live video feed in real-time. In a recent post from Robin Good's excellent Master New Media video-focused blog, you can learn how to "Broadcast Yourself Live on the Web." In particular, take a look at video applications UStream and Stickam, which you can use for live broadcasts from video-cams.

It would have been nice to have found a video of a dancer wearing a headcam so you could see an example of a dancer transmitting video from a first person perspective. But I couldn't find one. So if you haven't seen other examples of first-person videos, here's a video of a snowboarder wearing a headcam - it's nothing too exciting, but it gives you a general idea:

Headcams for Choreographers and Dancers in the Studio

What would be possible applications for video headcams in the dance world?

I think it would be fascinating to watch choreographers and dancers creating a new work from the first-person point of view.

Imagine a choreographer wearing a headcam similar to the one used by Justin. As the choreographer works with dancers to create a new work, the Internet audience gets to watch the process unfold in the exact same way that the choreographer does. I think that this type of real-time video would be captivating. Even the slow parts would be fascinating to see - a completely unedited, authentic behind-the-scenes look at how dances are created.

In addition, one or more dancers could have headcams of their own. So that way Internet viewers could watch the rehearsal process from both the choreographer's and the dancer's perspective.

I believe that this type of video programming would capture a large audience and sponsors would underwrite this initiative. This would especially be the case if big name choreographers participated in this project.

The real-time streaming video applications also have tools for community feedback. So as the dance-making process continues, the global Internet community would be sharing their feedback in text - or, for that matter, in audio or video formats. "Mr. Morris, I don't agree with your approach here, I just shot a video a few seconds ago that shows you how the dancers ought to perform this movement phrase." Mark Morris would then review my clip, and IM me back to tell me that my recommendation is right on the money!

Headcams for Dance Performances

One or more dancers equipped with video headcams during a performance would also be intriguing. Last year I wrote a post "Video Cams for Contact Improvisation, which addresses the same topic without the live Internet feed component.

Tomorrow I'm attending Daniel Burkholder's "My Ocean is never blue" performance at Dance Place.

I think it would be fun if a couple of the dancers wore video headcams that transmitted their feeds directly to the Internet for a global audience to watch. In addition, two monitors could be set-up on each side of the stage. This way the audience could watch the performance and simultaneously see two different first-person perspectives as experienced by the dancers.

Here's a brief section with a much smaller cast of "My Ocean is never blue" which was performed at the super-small Transformer gallery in DC last month. You can briefly see me in the back in the red shirt in the opening seconds:

Posted by Doug Fox on April 26, 2007 9:05 AM

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