We’re proud to announce that we are partnering with Misnomer Dance Theater to stream their performance live from the Joyce Soho.

The performance and live stream will happen tonight (Friday) at 7:30pm. You can catch the action on the LiveStream channel or watch the embedded video below.

I just recently wrapped up a video project for NextBook and JDub

This video was designed for a live event in LA, to be played on a plasma screen. However, we created the project files to be modular, and reusable for multiple formats.

NextBook at Milk + Honey from Jaki Levy on Vimeo

For this project, NextBook gave us the challenge of working with text for their new releases.

Because we had to work with so much text, we hand animated each frame to create a high definition experience, while keeping all the text present, readable, and comprehensible.

Additional credits:
Thanks to Rob Moon for the handsome design + the great animation help

Last night, The Defibulators hosted a great night of music to celebrate their new CD Release, Corn Money.

New York Magazine writes:

In the way they re-create the barroom swing of the Hank era, the Defibulators and their fellow indie-country bands present themselves as more authentic than, say, Taylor Swift. But while Corn Money has moments of unvarnished beauty (“Your Hearty Laugh”), it also includes a degree of Hee Haw–style cornpone (note long underwear). So what is their music: paean or put-on? “It’s not ironic, what we’re doing,” insists Bru. “We’re not making fun of [country music].” Jennings arches his brow. “Or are we?” Noting Bru’s disapproval, he adds, “We’re not making fun of it. We’re having fun with it.” Sighing, Bru sums up the mystery that is their world: “It’s kind of hard to describe to people.”

You can listen for yourself on their site.

But before you do, watch this video we made to promote their new album.

New Album CORN MONEY out March 3rd! from the defibulators on Vimeo.

for a little more backstory on this video, read my original post

Peter Radizeski and I were recently guests on Jeffrey Powers’ show, Geekazine, on UStream.tv.

We spoke about cell phones, the data on them (McCain’s and Obamas Blackberry issues), elections in Estonia, Yahoo email and their new social rollout, the Palm Nova, and a whole lot more.

Check out the show below, and catch his show every Monday, at 7pm on Geekazine’s UStream channel.

Part I – Introductions

Part II – Yahoo’s new design, Estonia’s SMS voting, Blackberry issues on Capitol Hill, and the new Palm OS

A few related links on what we spoke about
Yahoo Goes Social – TechCrunch
Estonia to vote via SMS
A reporter finds private campaign info on McCain’s BlackBerry purchased at a garage sale
Obama will hire a Chief Technology Officer
Wall Street Journal, Google, and Net Neutrality
Google violates Net Neutrality – not
Jan Chipchase, Nokia, and the Use of Cell Phones around the World – a fascinating look at cell phone culture around the world
I read this article when it was pulished, but re-found it via Designing for Humans

This Monday, John Perry Barlow will be speaking at NYU.

I remember during the RNC of 2004, John Perry Barlow organized a protest. The idea was simple enough: dance around the city and express our political opinions in a creative way.

For those who can remember back, there was a larger police presence in New York City during the RNC in 2004 (19,000+) than there were soldiers in Afghanistan (10,000+).

I heard about this particular protest while working on another segment at the RNC and just couldn’t resist the opportunity to join up.

Watch the video for John Perry Barlow’s explanation (be patient while loading):

Related Links:
About Axis of Eve
About Coco Fusco

The video below was made for JDub, an NYC record label, to help them pitch their artists at a sales conference. JDub represents artists such as Matisyahu, Golem, and Sway Machinery.

The purpose of the video was clear: showcase the label’s artists and their energy.

Check out the video for the final product.

Deliverables:
In addition to editing the final video and delivering a DVD for the sales conference . . .

We also optimized images, logos, and videos for JDub. Additionally, we converted multiple video files from DVD’s from performances, archives, and promos. All these graphic and video files were delivered to JDub for future use.

Finally, we produced this media player for all the video files. The media player can be managed by JDub without knowing any code.

Watch our other videos

[media id=2 width=540 height=400]

The video above is Lamentation by Martha Graham, shot at Saratoga Performing Arts Center during a live performance.
It was a 2 camera shoot, taped and edited entirely for the web.

NOTE : This is a ROUGH VERSION, not the final version.

This is intended as a preview.

Choreographer: Martha Graham
Dancer: Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch
Music by: Zoltan Kodaly

Shot + Edited by: Jaki Levy

I’ve been spending the first part of my Summer with the Martha Graham Dance Company. We’re on a residency at Skidmore. I’ve had the privilege of working with phenomenal dancers from the company, and am also working with a team of over 30 students to produce a group blog.

For an overview of the project, visit the site : http://clytemnestraproject.com/about-the-project/

The video below was shot and edited in one day, and features original choreography from all the students.

Dancing in the Fields from Jaki Levy on Vimeo.

You can take a look at the photos here

Buddy Ebsen Hackett is The Defibulators marketing “arm” for The Defibulators, a brooklyn based musical act. Who-ee! This is the first version of a promo video for The Defibulators‘ new album.

All songs by The Defibulators
thedefibulators.com

We produced and edited this version in 1 very fun night.
The fire in the fireplace was real and made the entire Brooklyn apartment very, very smokey.

Darian Dauchan’s Media Madness directed by Margaret Perry premiered at The Kitchen’s Counter Culture series. The show features live video and pre-rendered video pieces and is a “multi-media” extravaganza.

 

 

You can read an in-depth interview with Darian in The Ithaca Times or check out this great interview in The Ithacan.

I’ve been working on the show as the video designer. It’s been quite rewarding working with Margaret and Darian. Right now, we’re using the following equipment for the video setup:

• 2 TV’s
• 1 projector
• A Camera for the Live Feed
• A Video Amplifier and an A/B Video Switcher
• Surprisingly, Keynote is running it all.

In the next production, I’d like to incorporate more interactivity into the piece using either Isadora or Max/MSP Jitter so I can create custom titles during the live feed. For example, there is a scene for a press conference (picture above). I’d like to have graphics and lower thirds appear that say “LIVE,” to give it a sense that it’s a media circus in a fictional place by creating custom titles.

However, I’ve found the delay and pixelation in these software platforms to be problematic.