The VJ Book: Inspirations and Practical Advice for Live Visuals Performance

Book Description

VJing is a type of performance that combines the visual possibilities of filmmaking with the improvisational pleasures of jazz. This book-and-DVD package provides how-to's, software and inspirational interviews so that others can join the new, subversive movement.

Customer Reviews:

book is awesome, DVD is a waste of attention.......2006-10-22

book was very inspiring, really broad introduction, with lots of glimpses into what it really takes.
DVD was a total letdown, but then again not if you knew the useless airhead who compiled it.
would have been five stars without the DVD (although it does include some tasty demos of software)

Important Book for the VJ Phenomenon.......2006-04-13

The VJ Book is awesome. I'm so glad that this book is available. It's one of the best books made on the subject for people in the future to refer back to when researching the history and origins of VJing--especially in the US. There is alot of material in the interviews that I have never seen dealt with anywhere else in print. A common observation by some VJs interviewed in the book is that the aesthetic quality of VJ art at dance parties usually far exceeds the quality of any video installation that one might find in a museum. And yet, the museum installation usually gets way more funding. Anecdotes and stories that come though in the book's interviews are great at showing the nuts and bolts issues that VJs have faced in working their craft--insights that are hard to find outside VJ circles. In my opinion, VJing is one of the highest forms of visual art, yet has remained mostly underground and misunderstood because it is so historically new. There are no pictures in this book--its all written info. But the included DVD makes up for that--its a rare window into a world of VJs united in their artistic passion, but amazingly diverse in their styles and methods.

Not bad for the first real book on VJing.......2005-11-25

There's been so much discussion online about the development of a VJing book, but this one wins the prize as the first - or at least the first to make it into our letterbox. As a trailblazing tome on such a complex and rapidly growing and changing field, I can certainly forgive it a few errors and omissions.

The DVD is just OK - all the best material on it has already appeared elsewhere, such as the Eyewash Sessions, and there are some inclusions that I can't for the life of me see as VJing in any way. Calling something VJing isn't an excuse for a badly made music video clip. But hey, even without the DVD, the book's good value so just consider it a bonus.

The book is short and covers some complex technical topics a little too flippantly at times - eg, as a PC/Resolume user, my guess is that their criticisms of that program's poor performance were due to use of incompatible codecs with their clips. Perhaps if they'd got user reviews by professional VJs for each of the main packages it would have been more accurate and balanced.

Having said that, this book isn't about technicalities. The writers' and interviewees' passion for what they do is palpable. The main message of the book, at least to my mind, is that it doesn't matter HOW you do what you do, and that there is no right or wrong way to VJ. It's an art, and no instruction-book is going to make you any good at it, if 'it' isn't inside you.

There is a fairly American focus, but that's fair enough. The European, Australasian and other regional cliques can write our own books. This is a great starting point. If we Aussies want to claim credit for modern VJing thanks to the Fairlight CVI, that's another whole book to write.

The most wonderful thing about the book (and the reason I've bought 8 copies to give away already) is the historical contextualisation. I knew there were some early experiments with Colour-Music, but I had no idea they went back to the 1700's, when clavessins were made with precious stones, mirrors, lenses and candles to project coloured light. I want one!

A quote from the book that I think applies equally to anyone considering buying "the VJ Book":

"In writing these pages, I have felt myself to be addressing two classes of readers, namely those who know something of the art of Mobile Color, its past history, its hopes and its aims; and others who have never even heard of the subject...from the latter, I would ask for as open-minded a consideration of the subject as they can give me." AW Rimington, Colour-Music (1912).

Here, here.

VJ kattyb, VJzoo.com

Book Description

This ultimate insider's guide reveals the secrets that none dare admit, told by a show biz Veteran who's proven that you can sell your script if you can save the cat!

Customer Reviews:

re-name the book.......2007-10-03

The book should've been named "How to take the joy out of screenwriting."

Although Blake Snyder is at the top of the screenwriting industry (he has had two spec scripts that have been made into movies), it is fortunate that he wasn't born during the Renaissance and wound up teaching artists how to precisely paint.

Perhaps everything he states in the book may be the absolute gospel in Hollywood (ala Syd Field/Robert McKee at al), but Blake Snyder believes all screenplays must be severely structured:
- The script must have precisely 40 scenes for some unknown reason
- the theme of the script must be made by page 5
- the catalyst (a life-changing event) must occur precisely on page 12
- the hero finally making the decision to act must be on page 25 (end of act one)
- the B story of a script must begin around page 30
- there must be an identifiable midpoint (exactly on page 55 of a 110-page script) where the hero peaks or the world collapses all around the hero or vice-a-versa
- the hero's "All is lost" scene must be on page 75
- and so on.

True, he reveals previously unknown industry secrets such as all scripts must have a terrific logline, a great title, a likeable hero (thus the title of the book), and must have conflict.

On the plus side, the book is certainly well organized and extremely well written. Is it worth shelling out 3 bucks on E-bay? Check your public library.

Ignore the Haters; they didn't get it.......2007-10-03

If you think this book is just for family-film-oriented writers, you missed the big picture. Blake Snyder has hit the ball way, way, way, WAY out of the park with this one. Take the analytical tools he provides and unleash them on any mainstream movie from any genre from JAWS and SAW to E.T. and BACK TO THE FUTURE. I guarantee that the ones that follow his structure most closely are the ones that not only struck a chord with viewers, but laughed all the way to the bank.

Want to write a nice indy flick that you and your twenty closest friends can watch in someone's basement? Ignore Blake Snyder. Want to write a loud, crash-and-bang, content-missing movie people will forget in five years except to laugh? Ignore Blake Snyder. Want a movie you won't be able to pitch in five HOURS, let alone the five minutes you'll really have? Ignore Blake Snyder.

But if you want to write/direct/produce a film that satisfies on every level from the superficial to the sublime, then this is the book for you.

I never had a single offer on my work until I followed his advice.

SAVE THE CAT. Live it. Love it. Learn from it. Buy extra copies, 'cause if you're smart, you'll wear out the first one.

simple good advice and nothing more.......2007-09-30

This book contains alot of good advice for screenplay writing. however, the book is really aimed towards making "family films". all the movies he references are family films, and sometimes his own. It is a good book to get yourself in the right mindset for writing a screenplay but you can't rely on it to much or you might find yourself writing really dumb kids movies like "Blank Check". The process he gives you is very formulaic and his approach is more toward making money. but overall good read and good information. and who knows, maybe if you follow his advice to the point you could sell a screenplay to Spielberg for a million dollars too!

Friends close, Enemies closer.......2007-09-29

This IS a book about writing incredibly formulaic screenplays period. For my likes and dislikes, I would refer to Blake's movie ideas as groaners. That said, I find this book to be INCREDIBLY HELPFUL, amazing, on laying out that Hollywood 'movie' formula. It's great for creating structure. I'm not expecting this book to make me a more intersting storyteller. But I've worked with a number of hugely successful film producers / directors, and for the most part, they comletely rely on formula. Now, it's YOUR job to make that intersting. It's your job to know HOW breaking that formula makes your idea work better. It's all really valuable information. Do other books cover this same subject? Probably. But since I don't want to waste too much of my time reading screenplay books, I found this one to give me exactly what I needed. And I'll make it interesting.

Fun Learning.......2007-09-13

The kind of book I wanted to read and write at the same time. Fun, very informative, inspiring and helpful. I've already ordered some as a gift for other writer-friends.

Book Description

Mr. Wu the laundryman, the evil Fu Manchu, the sex maniac, the opium addict, the docile immigrant worker: These stereotypes applied to Chinese people stretch back to the Victorian era, yet resurface with regularity in today's media. In China itself the way the Chinese perceive and project themselves and their ethnicity has also evolved over recent years, with discordant and unofficial voices challenging normative ideas of Chinese identity. In order to understand the numerous ways of seeing and being Chinese, Chinas Unlimited analyzes Chinese literary and cultural texts, television soap serials, Asian MTV, as well as popular cultural representations of the Chinese.

"In Lee's book we have wonderfully grounded accounts of how both the Chinese at home and abroad and Westerners sought to represent China since the last century and how conceptions of what it meant to be Chinese--what Lee calls Chineseness--have been installed in contemporary consciousness." -- Harry Harootunian, New York University

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Chinas Unlimited: Making the Imaginaries of China and Chineseness.(Book Review): An article from: Pacific Affairs
Michael Dutton
Manufacturer: University of British Columbia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000ALRU2U
Release Date: 2006-07-14

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Pacific Affairs, published by University of British Columbia on December 22, 2004. The length of the article is 665 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Chinas Unlimited: Making the Imaginaries of China and Chineseness.(Book Review)
Author: Michael Dutton
Publication: Pacific Affairs (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 2004
Publisher: University of British Columbia
Volume: 77 Issue: 4 Page: 743(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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The U. S. S. Enterprise Officer's Official Date Book
Picture Corp Paramount , Walker , and Porter
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0671790994

Average customer rating:
Gridiron Glory: The Story of the Army-Navy Football Rivalry
Barry Wilner
Manufacturer: Taylor Trade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
History of Sports | Miscellaneous | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Football (American) | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

A Civil War

Return to Glory: The Untold Story of Honor, Dishonor & Triumph at the United States Military Academy, 1950-53

100 Years of Army-Navy Football

Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point

On Brave Old Army Team: The Cheating Scandal that Rocked the Nation: West Point, 1951

ASIN: 1589792777

Book Description

Consistantly ranked among the top ten college football rivalries by fans and pundits alike, the annual Army-Navy game is the one rivalry that, as one commentator has noted, stops the most powerful men and women in the world in their tracks for one day a year.

Average customer rating:

A bright set of studies, but the framework is somewhat vague

Scholarship of Leadership

Intelligence: Not Beyond Good and Evil

The leader as creator and embodiment of 'the story'

Well written, but disappointing...

Leading Minds: An Anatomy Of Leadership
Howard Gardner , and Emma Laskin
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Leadership | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Personality | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Social Psychology & Interactions | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Leadership | By Topic | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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Changing Minds: The Art And Science of Changing Our Own And Other People's Minds (Leadership for the Common Good)

Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi

Leading Change

Extraordinary Minds (Masterminds Series)

Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership

ASIN: 0465082807

Book Description

Leading Minds addresses a crucial and often ignored component of leadership -- the mind. What distinguishes the mind of an effective leader, and what is the mentality of his or her followers? Gardner links the study of creativity with the study of leadership to demonstrate the many similarities between traditional creators (artists and scientists) and leaders in business, politics and the military. He argues that the key to leadership is the creation of an arresting story -- one that grabs the followers' attention and inspires them to greater efforts. In portraits of a wide range of leaders -- from Oppenheimer to Gandhi -- Gardner re-creates each of their stories, shows where each fits in the matrix of "leader archetypes", and reveals the ways in which they ultimately succeed or fail.

Customer Reviews:

A bright set of studies, but the framework is somewhat vague.......2005-06-30

In the first two chapters of the book, Howard Gardner considers those components that make leadership possible. He reviews the features of human development that make possible the phenomena of leadership: humans' primate status, early socialization and so on. The author introduces a set of distinctions that figure in a cognitive approach to leadership: such factors as direct/indirect forms of leadership, leadership within and across domains, inclusionary/exclusionary kinds of stories, identity stories, the embodiment of stories, and resistances and counterstoreis. The author identifies four factors crucial to the practice of effective leadership: a tie to the community (or audience); a certain rhythm of life (combination of being inside the fire and being able to do reflection in isolation); an evident relation between Stories and Embodiments; and the centrality of choice.

The following chapters are studies of leaders in different domains, based on the biographies of these persons and general histories of the period. The studies are interesting and noteworthy.

The drawback of the book is that the authors' framework is not quite easy to form an image of it in the mind, i.e. not quite solid. There may be sometimes not very easy to find the links between the framework presented in the first two chapters with the studies of the leaders from the remaining chapters.

I highly recommend the books by Ronald A. Heifetz: "Leadership Without Easy Answers" and "Leadership on the Line", which say essentially the same about leadership, but the framework of Ronald A. Heifetz is much more elegant and explained better in comparison with one proposed by Howard Gardner.

Scholarship of Leadership.......2004-08-03

Gardner does something very rare in the leadership literature...he provides a book with practical ideas based on solid research and scholarship. Where many leadership books present only one person as a role model, Gardner uses a range of examples from a variety of areas to develop a simple but effective model of how to be an effective leader.

Intelligence: Not Beyond Good and Evil.......2002-11-22

This time in collaboration with Emma Laskin, Gardner has again produced a remarkably entertaining as well as informative book, one in which he takes a cognitive approach when examining eleven great leaders: Margaret Mead, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Robert Maynard Hutchins, Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., George C. Marshall, Pope John XXIII, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Margaret Thatcher, Jean Monnet, and Mahatma Gandhi.

As Gardner observes in his Introduction: "Our understanding of the nature and processes of leadership is most likely to be enhanced as we come to understand better the arena in which leadership necessarily occurs -- namely, the [in italics] human mind. Perhaps this characterization should be pluralized as [in italics] human minds, since I am concerned equally with the mind of the leader and the minds of the followers (whom I sometimes refer to as [in italics] audience members or [in italics] collaborators). Accordingly, this book is a sustained examination, first, of the ways in which leaders of different types achieve varying degrees of success in characterizing and resolving important life issues in their own minds and, second, of how, in parallel or in turn, they attempt to alter the minds of their various audiences to effect desired changes."

What we have here is a sequence of absolutely brilliant analyses of 11 exceptional leaders in quite diverse fields of engagement. As he did in Creating Minds (when analyzing the lives and achievements of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi), Gardner somehow maintains a delicate balance when respecting (indeed celebrating) the unique genius of leadership of Mead, Oppenheimer, Hutchins, Sloan, Marshall, Pope John XXIII, Roosevelt, King, Thatcher, Monnet, and Gandhi while at the same time explaining how each used the linguistic as well as non-linguistic resources at her or his disposal when attempting to communicate with and thereby convince others of "a particular view, a clear vision of life. The term story [in italics] is the best way to convey this point."

For Gardner, the story is "a basic cognitive form; the artful creation and articulation of stories [or messages] constitutes a fundamental part of the leader's vocation. Stories speak to both parts of the human mind -- its reason and emotion. And I suggest, further, that it is [in italics] stories of identity -- narratives that help individuals think about and feel who they are, where they come from, and where they are headed -- that constitute the single most powerful weapon in the leader's literary arsenal."

It is worth noting that, since the publication of this book, Gardner has become increasingly aware of the importance of understanding and grappling with the "counter-stories" that often loom so large in the minds of the audience. The most effective leaders understand the counter-story and address effectively the questions it raises. As indicated to those who visit Gardner's GoodWork Web site, his on-going studies of intelligence, creativity, and leadership are all conducted in an amoral way-- that is, human capacities can be used for good or ill. For example, Mandela vs Milosevic. Gardner is now trying to understand how human intelligence(s) and creativity can be yoked to serve the wider good.

In Part I of this book, Gardner establishes a framework for leadership, then (in Part II) shifts his attention to case studies which focus on nine of the eleven leaders; In Part III, he focuses on Monnet and Gandhi who illustrate "leadership that looks forward." In the final chapter, Gardner reviews "lessons from the past" and then suggests "implications for the future." I am grateful for the two appendices which follow: a chart which presents "The Eleven Leaders Viewed along Principal Dimensions of Leadership" and another chart on which Gardner records brief comments on ten "Leaders of the Second World War." Those in need of recommended sources for further study are provided with an extensive Bibliography.

The eleven men and women whom Gardner discusses in this book do indeed comprise an unusual combination. Although each is uniquely different from the other ten, all (in Gardner's words) by word and/or personal example, markedly influence the behaviors, thoughts, and/or significant feelings of a significant number of their fellow human beings. The leaders' voices affected their worlds, and, ultimately, our world." For me, it is essentially irrelevant how many persons comprise such a group nor do I have a quarrel with any of those whom Gardner selected. All are eminently worthy. Gardner has his own thoughts as to what lessons can be learned from their lives, of course, but it remains for each reader to make her or his own determination of that. Thanks to Gardner, there is a wealth of information to consider when doing so. He is indeed a brilliant teller of "stories."

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to read Gardner's earlier work, the aforementioned Creating Minds. Moreover, because they are not included among the works listed in the Bibliography, I presume to recommend, also, Albert Borgmann's Holding On to Reality and Gerald M. Edelman's Bright Air, Brilliant Fire.

The leader as creator and embodiment of 'the story'.......2000-06-09

There are many studies of leadership from almost as many perspectives. Howard Gardner focuses on the leader as creator, teller and living exponent of a story, and makes an overwhelming case for the centrality of this function in leadership, and its complement, countering the counter-stories that exist in the organisation. Leaders who understand and use this book will add greatly to their effectiveness.

The idea of the leader as living exponent of a story is combined with the concept of the 'five year old mind'. Simply put, even sophisticated people are not sophisticated in all domains. In other domains, the common denominator of shared understanding is the 'five year old mind', the five year old having a very concrete, literal and emotionally based understanding of the world. For success, a leader should know how to appeal to the five year old mind, as well as to more sophisticated audiences.

There are three parts - and do not miss the preface to the paperback edition. The first is 'A Framework for leadership', which states the main thesis.

"When one thinks of the leader as a story-teller, whose stories must wrestle with those that are already operative in the mind of an audience, one obtains a powerful way of conceptualizing the work of leading. It is important for leaders to know their stories, to get them straight, to communicate them effectively, and, above all, to embody in their lives the stories that they tell."

The second part consists of case studies of people who exemplify leadership across various domains. It includes examples from each of his two classes of leaders (direct leaders who engage directly with others in action, and indirect leaders (like Einstein) who influence others through their impact on how people see the world).

The third looks forward and summarises the enduring lessons for leadership. The principles that he extracts are both important and practical.

Approached as a guide to exercise of leadership, the case studies can be `dipped into', while Parts one and three are studied for their messages. If necessary, save the case studies for your holidays, because they are well chosen, brilliantly told and make fascinating reading.

It is a book that is not only valuable for the way it treats its core theme. It also provides an immensely fertile starting point for thinking about related issues of change. I first read it during a period in which I was intensely engaged in promoting cultural change in a large organisation and was able to relate very directly to Gardner's analysis and find direct value in his prescriptions.

Well written, but disappointing..........2000-05-24

Leadership studies are, in the main, disappointing, because they usually catalogue the things that leaders do, or should do-and thus become laundry lists of desirable habits, traits or competencies. Alternatively, leadership studies focus on a list great men, with a woman or two thrown in, and we hope that by studying their success, we can learn about leadership. In this sense, then, Gardner's book continues a tradition that disappoints.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Futurist, published by World Future Society on July 1, 1996. The length of the article is 471 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership.(Brief Article)
Publication: The Futurist (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 1996
Publisher: World Future Society
Volume: v30 Issue: n4 Page: p57(1)

Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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