Dance, Voldo, Dance
Encyclopedia
Dance, Voldo, Dance is a machinima
-based music video
produced in 2002 by Chris Brandt
. The video, created using the fighting game
Soulcalibur, features two players both controlling the character Voldo
, using existing in-game animation to have the characters perform a synchronized dance to the song "Hot in Herre
" by musician Nelly
. The result of over a week's full time preparation and training, the video was conceived after Brandt noticed the character's animations and attacks could be triggered in sync with the beat of a song, and the reactions of onlookers to such a display. While several groups demonstrated interest in showcasing the video, complications arose from the copyright holders whose works were involved in creation.
The video has been well received, cited as one of the first examples of machinima-based music videos, and has since spawned several fan-based imitations with Voldo dancing to various songs. Several sources such as The Village Voice
have praised the video for its choreography and presentation, while several books and college professors have cited it as a notable example of machinima animation in lectures on the subject. It was also nominated at the 2005 Machinima Film Festival awards for Best Virtual Performance, and served as part of an exhibit for the San Jose Museum of Art
.
with both playing as Voldo, Chris Brandt noticed that because Reklaw didn't often play video games, he often utilized repetitive motions on the controller to attack. Brandt decided to mimic his gameplay, resulting in what he describes as "an impromptu dance of sorts". When the music playing in the background changed to "Move Bitch
", Brandt noticed a consistent time interval for all of Voldo's motions, and had the character's movement follow the beat of the music. Reklaw noticed and followed in rhythm, entertaining onlookers with the results. Later in September, Brandt met up with Reklaw and other friends, and the subject turned to what had happened in February. Deciding to demonstrate it, the two played against each other using Voldo again, with the characters "dancing" to various songs. Noticing the audience seemed to enjoy the homoerotic
nature of Voldo's animation, and decided to develop something from the concept.
In October, after realizing he lacked the funds to pursue the projects he wanted to, he decided instead to work on the Voldo video project using the song "Hot in Herre". However, the only partner he had to create the video with was his roommate, who wished to be credited anonymously as "Msr. M." and initially wanted nothing to do with it. After seeing Brandt work on the concept by himself however, M. decided to help under the stipulation that the project's schedule fit around his drinking habit. Development of the choreography was completed the next day, and the following five days were devoted to producing the video at five-hour intervals for each day, while the music played through the television via a PlayStation 2
's audio cable. However by the fifth day, both realized that the music was actually distracting, and Brandt recorded himself counting out the beat of the song. Using this as the audio track, they were able to complete the project easily, and after editing the video Brandt released two versions online, with the latter utilizing the song "Kiss
" by Prince
.
Attention was drawn in 2004 to the video by Brody Condon
, who had shown the video at a gaming/machinima conference in Australia. Interest was shown by G4TechTV, MTV
, and Microsoft
to feature the video on their respective media; however, they hit complications with both the copyright holders of Soulcalibur, Namco
, and Nelly, whose agents wanted $100,000 to license the song. To rectify the latter problem, Brandt contacted a musician he had worked with on another project, Tana Rusitanonta, who'd expressed interest in producing his own music for the character, to produce a song that sounded similar to the original without infringing on the copyright, producing the "final" version of the video. However, shortly thereafter Namco explicitly stated they would not license the character for such means, and discussions ceased.
as part of their "Heavenly Bodies" exhibit.
At the 2006 Machinima Film Festival, Machinima.com
founder Hugh Hancock and Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences
founder Paul Marino
cited Dance, Voldo, Dance as one of the first examples of machinima-based music videos. The book SwanQuake: The User Manual described it as a difficult form of machinima to characterize, describing it "genre-bending work" and having elements of puppetry, moviemaking, and choreography. Another book, The Machinima Reader, described it as "an ingenious fight-as-dance choreography", citing the "sexualized virtual identity" of the character combined with the original soundtrack. In Developing Interactive Narrative Content, Georgia Institute of Technology
assistant professor Michael Nitsche compared the animation to virtual puppetry in that it was rooted solely on in-game animation, yet also used it as an example to illustrate that such material could be entertaining. In Medien Körper Imagination, the motions used in the video were described as both descriptive and often prescriptive, comparing it to time and motion studies.
The Village Voice
described it as a "virtuoso in-game performance", describing it as one of the most impressive works showcased at 2005 Machinima Film Festival. The book Playing with Videogames called it "extraordinarily skillful and humorous", citing it as both a suspension of the game's normal purpose by players with "parodic humor" and one of the defining moments in machinima. In a study of video games as an art form, University of Montreal lecturer Martin Picard cited it as an example of machinima and performance, calling it "perfectly choreographed" and a "superb example of gameplay and performance". University of California
professor Michael Mateas stated he enjoyed the dance performance of the presentation in light of more narrative forms of machinima, adding that it was enhanced by Voldo's "S&M attire".
Machinima
Machinima is the use of real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation...
-based music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
produced in 2002 by Chris Brandt
Chris Brandt
Chris Brandt is an American filmmaker and cartoonist, director of the documentary "Independents".-Biography:...
. The video, created using the fighting game
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
Soulcalibur, features two players both controlling the character Voldo
Voldo
is a fictional character in the Soul series of video games. Created by Namco's Project Soul division, he first appeared in Soul Edge, and later in all games of the Soulcalibur saga with the exception of Soulcalibur Legends. His likeness has been used for merchandise related to the series, ranging...
, using existing in-game animation to have the characters perform a synchronized dance to the song "Hot in Herre
Hot in Herre
"Hot in Herre" is a popular song and single performed by the hip-hop artist Nelly, and was released in 2002 as the first single on his album Nellyville. The song's producers were The Neptunes...
" by musician Nelly
Nelly
Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr. , better known by his stage name Nelly, is an Grammy Award winning American rapper and actor. He has performed with the rap group St. Lunatics since 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in 2000 with his debut album...
. The result of over a week's full time preparation and training, the video was conceived after Brandt noticed the character's animations and attacks could be triggered in sync with the beat of a song, and the reactions of onlookers to such a display. While several groups demonstrated interest in showcasing the video, complications arose from the copyright holders whose works were involved in creation.
The video has been well received, cited as one of the first examples of machinima-based music videos, and has since spawned several fan-based imitations with Voldo dancing to various songs. Several sources such as The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
have praised the video for its choreography and presentation, while several books and college professors have cited it as a notable example of machinima animation in lectures on the subject. It was also nominated at the 2005 Machinima Film Festival awards for Best Virtual Performance, and served as part of an exhibit for the San Jose Museum of Art
San Jose Museum of Art
The San Jose Museum of Art is an art museum in Downtown San Jose, California, USA. Founded in 1969, the museum hosts a large permanent collection emphasizing West Coast artists of the 20th- and 21st-century. It is located next to the Circle of Palms Plaza and Plaza de César Chávez...
.
Conception and creation
In February 2002, while listening to music and playing Soulcalibur with Jesse ReklawJesse Reklaw
Jesse Reklaw is an American cartoonist and painter, author of the syndicated dream-based comic strip Slow Wave.-Biography:...
with both playing as Voldo, Chris Brandt noticed that because Reklaw didn't often play video games, he often utilized repetitive motions on the controller to attack. Brandt decided to mimic his gameplay, resulting in what he describes as "an impromptu dance of sorts". When the music playing in the background changed to "Move Bitch
Move Bitch
"Move Bitch" is the third official single off rapper Ludacris' album Word of Mouf. The single features Mystikal and I-20...
", Brandt noticed a consistent time interval for all of Voldo's motions, and had the character's movement follow the beat of the music. Reklaw noticed and followed in rhythm, entertaining onlookers with the results. Later in September, Brandt met up with Reklaw and other friends, and the subject turned to what had happened in February. Deciding to demonstrate it, the two played against each other using Voldo again, with the characters "dancing" to various songs. Noticing the audience seemed to enjoy the homoerotic
Homoeroticism
Homoeroticism refers to the erotic attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female , most especially as it is depicted or manifested in the visual arts and literature. It can also be found in performative forms; from theatre to the theatricality of uniformed movements...
nature of Voldo's animation, and decided to develop something from the concept.
In October, after realizing he lacked the funds to pursue the projects he wanted to, he decided instead to work on the Voldo video project using the song "Hot in Herre". However, the only partner he had to create the video with was his roommate, who wished to be credited anonymously as "Msr. M." and initially wanted nothing to do with it. After seeing Brandt work on the concept by himself however, M. decided to help under the stipulation that the project's schedule fit around his drinking habit. Development of the choreography was completed the next day, and the following five days were devoted to producing the video at five-hour intervals for each day, while the music played through the television via a PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
's audio cable. However by the fifth day, both realized that the music was actually distracting, and Brandt recorded himself counting out the beat of the song. Using this as the audio track, they were able to complete the project easily, and after editing the video Brandt released two versions online, with the latter utilizing the song "Kiss
Kiss (song)
In 1988 Art of Noise released a cover of the song, featuring Tom Jones on vocals. The song became the band's biggest hit to that point, reaching number eighteen on the U.S. dance charts and number five on the UK Singles Chart, higher than the original in that country...
" by Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
.
Attention was drawn in 2004 to the video by Brody Condon
Brody Condon
Brody Condon is an artist based in New York. Concerned with the aftermath of trauma and the over-identification with fantasy in contemporary culture, Condon’s work is best known for its influence on the re-purposing of existing pop cultural material to create performative situations, video, and...
, who had shown the video at a gaming/machinima conference in Australia. Interest was shown by G4TechTV, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, and Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
to feature the video on their respective media; however, they hit complications with both the copyright holders of Soulcalibur, Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
, and Nelly, whose agents wanted $100,000 to license the song. To rectify the latter problem, Brandt contacted a musician he had worked with on another project, Tana Rusitanonta, who'd expressed interest in producing his own music for the character, to produce a song that sounded similar to the original without infringing on the copyright, producing the "final" version of the video. However, shortly thereafter Namco explicitly stated they would not license the character for such means, and discussions ceased.
Critical reception
Since its release, Dance, Voldo, Dance has been well received by the public, appearing briefly popularity index Popdex's "Top 10". Several fan-made machinima have followed suit, each using the same concept of two Voldo characters dancing to various songs. In 2005, it was nominated for Best Virtual Performance at the Machinima Film Festival. In 2006, from January 21 to April 29 it was featured at the San Jose Museum of ArtSan Jose Museum of Art
The San Jose Museum of Art is an art museum in Downtown San Jose, California, USA. Founded in 1969, the museum hosts a large permanent collection emphasizing West Coast artists of the 20th- and 21st-century. It is located next to the Circle of Palms Plaza and Plaza de César Chávez...
as part of their "Heavenly Bodies" exhibit.
At the 2006 Machinima Film Festival, Machinima.com
Machinima.com
Machinima.com is a gaming and media streaming website, that aims to be a hub for machinima, the art of creating animated videos in real-time virtual 3-D environments. The site features machinima-related articles, and news. Machinima productions can be submitted for possible redistribution after...
founder Hugh Hancock and Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences
Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences
This is a list of film festivals dedicated to machinima, the use of real-time 3-D engines in filmmaking. The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences regularly holds such festivals, and recognizes exemplary machinima works through awards nicknamed the Mackies.-Machinima Expo:The is an annual...
founder Paul Marino
Paul Marino
Paul Marino is a film director, producer, animator, voice actor, and author currently focused on machinima, the art of using engines from video games to create films. He is a co-founder and the executive director of the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences , a non-profit organization formed in...
cited Dance, Voldo, Dance as one of the first examples of machinima-based music videos. The book SwanQuake: The User Manual described it as a difficult form of machinima to characterize, describing it "genre-bending work" and having elements of puppetry, moviemaking, and choreography. Another book, The Machinima Reader, described it as "an ingenious fight-as-dance choreography", citing the "sexualized virtual identity" of the character combined with the original soundtrack. In Developing Interactive Narrative Content, Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
assistant professor Michael Nitsche compared the animation to virtual puppetry in that it was rooted solely on in-game animation, yet also used it as an example to illustrate that such material could be entertaining. In Medien Körper Imagination, the motions used in the video were described as both descriptive and often prescriptive, comparing it to time and motion studies.
The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
described it as a "virtuoso in-game performance", describing it as one of the most impressive works showcased at 2005 Machinima Film Festival. The book Playing with Videogames called it "extraordinarily skillful and humorous", citing it as both a suspension of the game's normal purpose by players with "parodic humor" and one of the defining moments in machinima. In a study of video games as an art form, University of Montreal lecturer Martin Picard cited it as an example of machinima and performance, calling it "perfectly choreographed" and a "superb example of gameplay and performance". University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
professor Michael Mateas stated he enjoyed the dance performance of the presentation in light of more narrative forms of machinima, adding that it was enhanced by Voldo's "S&M attire".
External links
- "Dance, Voldo, Dance" video at Machinima.com.