Via the people who want to organise the world’s information for us (google.com/insights/search), a few insights about the world of VJing and motion graphics, comparing results between 2004 and 2010.
“Insights for Search aims to provide insights into broad search patterns. Several approximations are used to compute these results. (And it has to be said – their secret sauce yields a few surprising results) The Insights for Search map is intended for general analysis of volume patterns. Borders are an approximation and may not be accurate.”
( Remember, the map is not the territory, Google said so. )
VJ as a search term? Down slightly, but still flying along. Most popular by far, by people searching from countries in South East Asia, topped by Indonesia. Top search? MTV VJ, followed by Burma VJ. Couldn’t find the part where they listed ‘cool people squinting into laptops’.
VJ Software?
Arkaos lovers are most likely to live in Portugal, then Belgium, Argentina.
Resolume: Portugal, Czech Republic, Austria.
Quartz Composer: Japan, Austria, Switzerland (*Australia 4th!)
Modul8: Esp Switzerland then Austria, Italy.
VDMX: Esp Germany then UK, US.
Of note – Portugal and Austria seem to be pixel hotspots! The Arkaos graph is on a sharp decline over time, and if the search is restricted to just 2010, the numbers tilt a little differently. And also – *why do more people in Australia search for Quartz Composer, than all of the people in the United States?
And for less off the shelf VJ related packages, in order of popularity: Isadora (by a fair margin), VVVV, processing + video, max msp + jitter, pure data + gem.
Questions People Ask VJs
“What software are you using?” +300% (Bedroom VJs are on the up )
“Can you play this song?” -57% (People are getting better at distinguishing DJs / VJs, or are just sending their requests through twitter and facebook )
‘Video Jockey‘ as a search term, is thankfully on a decline. ( Most popular by far, in India.)
‘Scratch video‘ peaked in late 2005, declined, and seems to have stabilised since then. ( Most popular in U.S. )
‘DVDJ‘ – by far most popular in the U.S., on a slow decline.
‘Video mapping‘ – on the up and up, esp in India.
And In the Wild: What’s it like for practicing VJs? Are conditions improving? A few more search terms:
“Goddammit! I’m VJing from a milk crate on the side of stage again, drowning in foldback.” -24%
“This venue has built-in projectors, as well as preview monitors and cameras for use in our in-house digital mixer.” +6%
“Your VJ rider includes meals, top shelf drinks and professional shoulder massages on the hour.” +1.7%
MIDI vs OSC: Midi canes, and is apparently searched for the most in Madagascar, 4 times the nearest search-nation, France. Something to do with evolution and volcanoes I suppose. Germany loves OSC the most, followed by the Taiwanese.
Adobe After Effects Vs Apple Motion : Unsurprisingly, AE is the gorilla here, and especially in the Philippines.
Final Cut Pro VS Adobe Premiere : Premiere well ahead, though in decline. Australians are the 2nd biggest searchers for FCP ( after the U.S.).
VJ iPhone vs VJ Android: One side gets steamrollered. Guess which has the flat graph.
VJ Styles:
Worryingly, kaleidoscope is on the increase (esp in UK) and fractal remains high. Tunnel effect sacred geometry and lens flare remain threatening. ‘Data moshing’ is not yet searched for in high enough volume to warrant google graphing.
[Update: From the heart of pixelated heart of Berlin, Lucy confirms in the comments, that indeed, Google’s aim is true – Germans love beer, hiking *and* VDMX. And confirmed again via Kyle, searching for VJ Loops -“Seems Portugal is the mecca!”]
[[ Update 2 (aka newsflash) : Apparently people who play behind laptops making real-time video – seem to really like statistics. The comments keep on coming – from India, Germany, Austria.. y’know, all the pixel powerhouses… ]]
heh. nice one JP. yeh its funny.. i really notice the germany/vdmx thing here.. friends are always saying things like; ‘VDMX is like the most popular software, right?’
erm.. what??! im still not used to hearing that.. and it certainly isnt true anywhere else you go. was just you and me in melbs right? oh and what’s his name.. with his desktop image set to a grid so he could align his setup *exactly* 🙂
Also fyi the turnout for VVVV workshops at the visual berlin festival this year swamped everything else we did. by a long shot.
x
Awesome read. So so worried about Tunnel & Kaleidoscope, seems like some cliches never die. Ha.
Some notes on that last one: while “lense flare” is 0, “lens flare” has plenty of results. Also check “bloom effect”, “lens blur” and “aberration”. A lot of this is from Photoshop, but hey, I’d say Photoshop trends bleed into visualist practice 🙂
Haha, that was interesting and entertaining. Kaleidoscope and tunnel, lolz…
““Your VJ rider includes meals, top shelf drinks and professional shoulder massages on the hour.” +1.7%”
WHAAA! I gotta start beefing up my riders. Great article mate.
Did a search for VJ Loops after reading. Seems Portugal is the mecca!
[…] Skynoise just published some interesting stats on Google search terms related to VJing. […]
Funny to see those stats, I haven’t met a lot of people in Austria who use Resolume yet – mostly Modul 8.
But it’s also a matter of region, whereas vienna has developed an awesome, thriving VJ scene over the years, I might be one of the few (personally I know 1 other) VJs residing in southern Austria.
Great Article!
some ModulAids arounds Frankfurt, know only one guy using vdmx,
vvvv quite popular here and on the pc side arkaos or resolume
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by cdmblogs, ??????????, Resolume VJ Software, KNNKT, vade and others. vade said: The State of VJing Today, Some Hard Stats http://bit.ly/aL0EPC via skynoise – interesting notes. […]
Another great resource for those who are looking for Vj Loops https://limeartstore.com/