Video Gong ShoW

Update: I've done this show a couple times at the echo park film center now, fun was had by all. Erika Anderson made a neat video of the event

Last time I was in Houston doing a screening at the Aurora Picture Show, Andrea Grover and I had a discussion about doing a video gong show. The key would be to automate the process and place the control in the hands of the audience. Each audience member would be handed a "voting button" as they entered the theater. As they grew bored with whatever was playing onscreen, they could depress their button. A electronics circuit would be built which would tabulate the votes in real time, and display the percentage of unhappy viewers on screen. Once 50% or more of the viewers were unhappy, a large gong would be rung automatically and the video would shut off. A tabulation of how long videos "survived" would be kept, and a prize would be given at the end for the video that survived the longest and the shortest. The whole event would be an open screening, with people invited to bring in whatever videos they had on hand.

I'm currently in the process of building this piece to show at the aforementioned Aurora Picture Show July 23rd. I hope that you'll come see it should you find yourself in Houston that weekend. Wear summer clothes if you're flying in to see the show. I'm working with Adam Overton and Brett Schultz on this project. John Reed built a great auto-gong device. Joel Murphy helped me build the vote switches about a year ago when I first thought of the idea. Okay, maybe it was two years ago. Everything takes me forever. You know how it is. Get off my back.

auto gong

adam at work

stuff

Links:
Technical description
Submission guidelines and possible FAQs
Prizes
Images from the show at the Aurora
Houston Chronicle article on the Video Gong Show
Houston Press article on the Video Gong Show
KUHF Interview about Video Gong Show and "remade, re-remade, re-re-remade" [12.6 meg mp3]