Reviewing
a set of stock media may seem a bit odd for a magazine located rather
far from industry. However, as there are many artists who appropriate
industrial imagery -- such as media tacticians, video artists, interventionists,
etc. -- there is a certain rationale behind making these sorts of
products visible to the new media art population. Not to mention that
these products are an expression and part of digital culture.
JumpBacks, Video Traxx and the Director's Toolkit
are series of royalty-free stock video and stock imagery for media
producers. All of these media collections are supplied on DVD-R
at broadcast quality respectively (HD versions are now available
of some collections), and represent large selections of themed and
abstract media that I have seen numerous times now on syndicated
video segues, trailers, and bumpers.
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The problem
with describing these products is their sheer volume and diversity.
Each of the Director's Toolkits contains 55 GB of information, including
backgrounds, lower third animations for titling, overlays, and static
images for creating visual ID. Conversely, there are 20 volumes
of abstract JumpBacks backgrounds, and a number of Video Traxx collections,
constituting one of the larger collections of media available for
quick video production.
The
only complaint I might have about the collections is more akin to
an embarrassment of riches. Due to the fact that each of the collections
resides on several DVDs, they can be somewhat difficult to navigate.
There is a cataloguing program that comes with the collections,
but flipping DVDs can get a little tedious. I have the same trouble
with my 9-CD 3D model collection, so it really isn't meant as an
aspersion to Digital Juice, it's merely that broadcast-quality video
takes a great deal of storage room.
In addition,
the collections, like just about any set of stock, have a distinctive
style. Therefore, those who are on tight deadlines and use the stock
without further editing and development risk to appear cliché.
The result could be an unwanted "infomercial-esque" style,
unless you're aiming for a cheesy, saturated style like artists
such as Davy Force (aka The Video Sheriff). Fortunately, the media
(especially in the Director's Toolkits) layer extremely well, and
anyone with access to Combustion or After Effects can put together
some excellent effects very quickly.
At a price of
around $250 and up for the collections, and whole sets for under
$1500, Digital Juice's media sets can be a little expensive for
individual artists (without a fellowship or grant support), but
are quite affordable for small to medium-size production houses,
or institutions offering broadcast production classes. From a video
/ media artist's perspective, Digital Juice's products are ideal
for quickly coopting an industrial or regional broadcast production
style in the vein of Force, EBN, and others. And with a little work,
you can even bastardize the graphics to give them a filmic, underground
look for your back-alley broadcasts.
Digital Juice
has created a solid niche in the area of stock video and background
music. Their selection is quite large, and while they have a trademark
style in some respects, their media still reflects certain aspects
of televised culture that can be very useful to media artists and
-- with one of the Toolkits -- can be modified to reflect different
visual styles. Although these packages are clearly aimed at a media-producers'
market, Digital Juice's stock media products represent a fairly
affordable way for media artists to become doppelgangers of the
big guys.
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