matthew mars
photography...

... and music,
and ____, etc.

At its most basic, the theory behind The Moving Pictures Project is that tech toys and such like beat matching, syncing to picture, putting shit in order, as it were? Totally unnecessary. The optical phenomena known as the persistence of vision quite does the trick. I discovered this entirely by accident, projecting video that had been created on the fly, somewhat randomly, without rhyme nor reason, behind the players, next to the players, even on the players, the players being any given performers on the stage at any given time, at Sarah Kramer's All Arts Music Lounge at Fais Do Do back near the turn of the century. No matter what I showed, it matched the music... always. NO MATTER WHAT I SHOWED. Introspective singer/songwriter stuff, the angry slashing power chords of punk, lesbians with acoustic guitars?—whatever. Down to the very mood... even the transitions between songs. The persistence of vision guarantees that the video will always match the audio. Go ahead. Try it on for size. I dare you. Put up ANY piece of music against one of the example templates…put up a playlist with wildly disparate tunes if you really wanna put it to the test and…TRUST. It will work.Everytime.

So, yeah, one minute I'm figuring all this out on the fly, every Tuesday night in West Adams, right? Next I'm putting up 12 straight hours of discrete footage, big as the damn Cinema Dome, using projectors that cost more than a car, at the Shrine Auditorium, for an audience of 5000+, and that’s 5000+ half naked gay men on ecstasy (OK not all of us, but a lot, feel me?) for Jeffrey Sanker's Gay Pride party in 2005… and from there, off and running.

Thus began THE MOVING PICTURES PROJECT wherein, for a moderate licensing fee, I'll whip up a mix, no two ever the same, of some of the many templates I’ve assembled, wherein plot and character and such are absent, so as not to take away from your musical choices, and instead rhythm and movement and mood are emphasized, examples of which are to be found in this gallery, for use, projected or otherwise forDJs, VJs, video artists, club promoters, rave organizers, event planners, etc. Interested? Remember: we guarantee whatever music you choose to accompany your video, you'd swear we beat matched and synced that shit to within an inch of our lives, or your money back. Put up some video, turn down the volume*, crank up some tunes and watch it happen. Inquire within.

*the templates have temporary scores, but don’t take our word for it, try it with something random.