The flexibility of VYV’s Photon server was highlighted in the tour of a stellar funk band that favors improvisation. Visual Edge Media Relies on VYV’s Media Servers for Jamiroquai’s Latest Tour.
Rob Currie, Creative Video Director at Visual Edge Media and long-standing Photon user, was recently thrown into the post-apocalyptic sci-fi universe of Jamiroquai’s latest album, Automaton.
After creating video content that was integrated into the band’s eponymous music video, he was asked by Jay Kay, the band’s frontman, to produce the visuals for its latest tour. Supported by our people at VYV-UK, Rob Currie and his team entered an unusual creative process.
“We were kind of told very early on the way Jamiroquai likes to play and go about their shows. They are very fluid. Jay Kay will change his mind about what he wants to play while he’s onstage. There were no options to have a time-coded show. They like to jam. They will do something impromptu. They will do stuff that comes into their head.”
– Rob Currie, Creative Video Director, Visual Edge Media
Article
The Visual Edge Media team developed a wide variety of video assets that would get selected and composited live by Currie. To do so, he built a video touring rig where Photon was tied to multiple MIDI controllers and a music sequencer software. This setup allowed him to jam with the band using multiple, live camera feeds and a bank of pre-rendered clips that would set the tone for Jamiroquai’s dark sci-fi universe.
“We used creative ways to bring the camera pictures on screen. A lot of alpha content on top of glitches and distortion. We wanted to make it a bit organic as well in the content and not feel like a regimented “on the beat” pop kind of show.”
-Rob Currie, Creative Video Director, Visual Edge Media
The Visual Edge Media team faced another challenge while creating the media. They had very little production time and had to find a way to pre-visualize content before hitting the road. They used Photon’s built-in VR function with a full headset support to get a proper sense of the scale while producing the media content.
A longtime Photon user, Currie had no doubts when the moment came to choose the software solution that would help him bring to life the video scenery for Automaton:
“I already knew from the very start that I was going use Photon on it.The strength of using Photon, which I have now known for several years, is that it acts as a solid playback engine. I had peace of mind knowing that I’m going to use something that I can throw stuff at. Second to that, I like the effects. I think a lot of them work very well, allowing you to get very creative.”
-Rob Currie, Creative Video Director, Visual Edge Media
VYV is proud to support content creators such as Currie in their endeavors. Besides being a stable and powerful media delivery system, Photon is an incredibly flexible software solution that allows third-party software and hardware integration. Live manipulation over multiple, composited camera inputs, VJ-style control functionalities, mind-bending real-time effects and full VR support for headset previsualization are among the reasons Photon should be the obvious choice for any content creators working with stellar music acts such as Jamiroquai.
Creative Director
Nick Clarke-Lowes, Andy Taplin & Rob Currie
Video Director
Rob Currie
Lighting Designer/Director/Programmer
Vince Foster
Video Content/Animation
Nick Clarke-Lowes, Andy Taplin & Rob Currie
Production Manager
Charlie Charlton
When
Mid to End of 2017
Where
European Tour