First Video Dance; What Do I Do?

I'm about to do my first Video Dance...

What is the "rule of thumb"? Do I just play videos? Do I interact? Give prizes away?

I would appreciate if anyone could guide me in my first production.

What is the event? You sold yourself on the event based on what?

School Dance.

I just sold the videos. Nothing else.

But I was wondering what else do the "Big boys" throw in? What do the music video people on tv do at their dances when they hire themselves out?

School Dance.

I just sold the videos. Nothing else.

But I was wondering what else do the "Big boys" throw in? What do the music video people on tv do at their dances when they hire themselves out?

We throw in music videos. It's rare we play a song we don't have video for. When we do, we can put up a crowd cam that's mounted in our truss and controlled remotely, or we can put up a powerpoint slide. Some folks use ambients heavily, but we do not.

Doing a video dance is really quite similar to an audio-only dance. Play a good mix of music; with a little more gear.

Valerie just saw your post at http://www.ourdjtalk.com/showthread.php?t=14221

AWESOME.

I'm just a small guy looking to learn.

I'm getting into video so the kids in our area will have more then just music.

I think they deserve better so I want to take them there.

The video dance I'm talking about is for about 100 kids.

Any suggestions?

My video dances I too play mainly nothing but videos.

I don't do anything different. I have cool lighting and I play the videos. I'm not interactive unless I am asked to be. I'm a let the music speak for me kinda DJ.

I find it hard as many of the new hit songs are late coming out on video subscription. I'd say I end up with ambiants one 8 to 10 songs in a night as I have not recieved the video for the song yet.

I am only averaging about 3 video dances a year, it more than pays for the video sub. It's nice to have the videos to play in the bar also.

We do plenty of dances that size. Generally we are pretty heavy in top 40/hip hop. A little techno, a little rock, a little country.

With the smaller groups, they tend to tire pretty easily. I don't like a dance over 3 hours for that size group (50-150 attendance). If they're into it, they'll be plenty tired and I don't want them sitting down and watching TV because they're tired! A small group tends to stick together, and they don't have the numbers to rotate the dance floor.

Set yourself up with a basic playlist, not unlike what you would do with an audio based dance. You can change things up, but sometimes, especially at first, video can give you enough things to handle it can get overwhelming. Practice with your mixers so you know how to handle the audio and video smoothly. Review your videos so you don't get caught playing something inappropriate.

I'd love to do the video thing but 2 things hold me back and you should consider number one the most.

1. Content. In my area high schools, suggestive video in some schools would get hammered. Mix in some overlays if you can.

2. For me, I thrive on beatmatching. Video tricks at a cheaper price are getting better, but its still tough to loop, keylock, and beatmatch video. I think serato is leading the pack on it. I may be wrong.

Thoughts?

I'd love to do the video thing but 2 things hold me back and you should consider number one the most.

1. Content. In my area high schools, suggestive video in some schools would get hammered. Mix in some overlays if you can.

2. For me, I thrive on beatmatching. Video tricks at a cheaper price are getting better, but its still tough to loop, keylock, and beatmatch video. I think serato is leading the pack on it. I may be wrong.

Thoughts?

I beatmix video with Virtual DJ quite well.

Pioneer is leading the pack. I beatmix videos all night with my DVJ-1000s. I don't do anything different from a normal event just play what you would normally play but with videos instead of just music.

I'm stopping the music video thing. I mostly do weddings (Schools and kids are a pain, and the schools around here don;t pay, not even for proms.) Also, the videos today are getting so provacative, there is always a parent or someone getting in my way. Good thing I invested so much money in the DVDs :(
I do use the projector and screens for video montages at weddings, it has been much more lucrative than the video...

Anyways, I need to get on topic. Just do what you always did. Forget there are even videos playing. On occasion I'll put up a message on the screen such as what's coming up, and of course, do the slide show when I don;t have a video (Very rare) and have done the camera thing. I used to carry the camera out in the crowd. Pretty cool. Everyone always liked it.


Just got my last subscription dvd last week.

I'd love to do the video thing but 2 things hold me back and you should consider number one the most.

1. Content. In my area high schools, suggestive video in some schools would get hammered. Mix in some overlays if you can.

2. For me, I thrive on beatmatching. Video tricks at a cheaper price are getting better, but its still tough to loop, keylock, and beatmatch video. I think serato is leading the pack on it. I may be wrong.

Thoughts?

Video SL is still a little before its time, yeah you can scratch it and it scratches the video but if your video is NOT PERFECT it will crash the otherwise normally stable program. Ive had VIDEO SL the paid for version for 2 months but have yet to feel comfortable taking it out.

While I'm not looking to "dis" anyone's product, beatmixing with video has been around LONG before Serato's video plugin, most notably via the Pioneer players, but even via computer prior to SSL's video plugin. For the last 2 years, I've also used Virtual D.J. for this application, and I love it.

And now with my Hercules RMX, the crossfader for audio IS also the crossfader for video, so very little additional gear is needed, and the learning curve is pretty small.

Okay I'm just curious here why would you sell and contract for services you don't have or know how to provide, that would be like me going and buying a service station tomorrow then asking questions. Your enthusiasm is great but your posts seem to either be set up, staged or phishing or you're selling stuff you can't provide crossing your fingers and praying. Good luck with your video party you'll have a lot of people to get ideas and info from.

Ill tell you I've been djing 20 years have a lot of high end equipment and software I've had videoSL for 4 montbs (the paid version) and practice with it EVERY DAY we book nearly 500 jobs a year and I still wouldn't feel comfortable even doing video as an add on yet.

I hope people get you the info and help you're looking for and forgive my post cynnical nature but really come on, 1st video, 1st school dance,can't get the volume to work, maybe you should stop gigging for a couple of weeks and learn the basics


Kyle

When it comes to mixing videos I have taken the DJ software out of the equation.

We are dealers with NewTek products http://www.newtek.com like the TriCaster which is a standalone appliance that allows mixing and matching of avi videos (among other formats). It is a rock solid application that even allows internet streaming, and mixing of Text Live (soon to be a reseller as well).

It is NOT a DJ application, but is easy enough that a corporate buisnessman who designs power-point could tackle in 5 minutes, without looking cheesy either.

This is what alot of Pros (video industry) use for a software based video mixing solution, also will edit your photo montages.