Videofeedback

Video feedback or videofeedback is the process that starts and continues when a video camera is pointed at its playback video monitor. The image from the camera is delayed slightly in time as it travels through the extensive circuitry of the recording system and then is output to the video playback monitor. This is a simple description of the physical setup to make videofeedback. For the mathematical formula of how it works see the model.giflink below.

How to create videofeedback:

Connect a video camera to a video monitor. Point the camera at the monitor and adjust the camera so it is about 1 to 2 meters away and looking at the center of the monitor. Adjust the camera tripod so the camera can be tilted over on its side and still be looking at the center of the video monitor screen. Start the camera recording and turn on the monitor with the video camera recording signal being displayed on the monitor. By adjusting tilt, zoom, focus, and all the other available video controls on both the camera and the monitor, and by placing objects between the camera and the monitor interesting abstract and fluid imagery is generated.

A brief look at its brief history:

First discovered shortly after Charlie Ginsburg invented the first video recorder for Ampex in 1956, video feedback was considered a nuisance and unwanted noise. Technicians and studio camera people were chastised for allowing a video camera to see its own monitor as the overload of self amplified video signal wreaked havoc with the 1950's video pickup, often ruining the pick up. It could also leave a video "burn" on a playback TV and/or montors of the time as well.

In the 1960's early examples of videofeedback Art become introduced into the psychedelic Art scene in New York City. Nam June Paik is often cited as the first video artist, although this is disputed, and had clips of videofeedback on display in New York City at the Greenwich Cafe in the mid 1960's. See the article Video art.

David Sohn mentions videofeedback in his 1970 book: Film, the Creative Eye. This book was part of the base curriculum for Richard Lederer of St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire when he introduced making videofeedback as part of an English curriculum in his 1970's course Creative Eye in Film. Several students in this class participated regularly in the making and recording of videofeedback. Sony had released the VuMax series of recording video cameras and manually "hand-looped" video tape decks by this time which did 2 things, it increased the resolution of the video image, which made the picture prettier to behold, and it brought video tape recording technology within the general public's grasp for the first time and allowed for such video experimentation to take place by the general public.

During the 1980's and into the 1990's video technology became enhanced and evolved into high quality, high definition video recording. Michael C. Andersen generated the first known mathematical formula of the videofeedback process, it can be seen here: http://www.videofeedback.dk/vf/ss/model.gifand he has also generated a Mendeleev's square to show the gradual progressive formulaic change of the video image as certain parameters are adjusted. It can be seen here: http://www.videofeedback.dk/vf/ss/sspost.html An online video clip of actual videofeedback can be viewed here: http://www.videofeedback.com/videofeedback/videofeedback6.htm

In the 1990's the rave scene and a social return to Art of a more psychedelic nature brought back displays of videofeedback on large disco dance floor video screens around the world. There are filters for Adobe Photoshop and non linear video editors that often have videofeedback as the filter description, or as a setting on a filter. These filter types either mimic or directly utilize videofeedback for its result effect and can be recognized by its vortex, phatasmagoric manipulation of the original recorded image.

In 1998 two websites dedicated to videofeedback went live on the world wide web: www.videofeedback.com, and www.videofeedback.dk. Videofeedback.com has an entertainment and commercial artistic stance with one online videofeedback clip currently on display, while videofeedback.dk is dedicated to scientific, and artistic understanding of the video feedback process and features links to many independent websites around the world with online video clips and beautiful still screen shots of videofeedback.

External links

www.videofeedback.dkStefan Heuslerwww.videofeedback.comCharles Baldwinwww.exploratorium.eduThe San Francisco Exploratorium (Skip Sweeney)

References

Skip Sweeney: Video Feedback (date unknown), San Francisco Exploratorium, http://www.exploratorium.edu/turbulent/exhibit/feedback.htmlCharlie Ginsburg/Ampex: http://www.tm-tape.com/trivia_3.asp (date unknown).Richard Lederer, Professor of English, St. Paul's School, Concord, NH.Michael C Andersen: Physica 10D (1984).David Sohn: Film: The Creative Eye (1970).Michael Cramer Andersen and Jesper Petersen: Simulation of video feedback. August 1996.Stefan Heusler: videofeedback.dk (1998)Charles R. Baldwin, AS, Journalism; videofeedback.com (1998), How to make it, what it is (2000).