We have come across the word Video Jockey a lot. But there is another term for VJ and that is Visual Jockey, an artist who makes your experience a vivid one through their visuals in various album art, merchandise, and visuals for music artists playing live.
The unique and experimental nature of a Visual Jockey certainly makes it an exciting career choice.
Ravi Soni from the City of Lakes is making us mesmerized with his unparalleled visuals. We ran talking to him and found some really interesting things!!!
Let us share it with you!
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Tell us a brief about yourself.
I was born and brought up in Udaipur, I did my masters in Computer Science and was working as Assistant Professor when I first saw the LED Screen and immediately decided to enter into the field of Visuals.
It has been 5 years since I did my first show and have played for lots of artists including big names like Saleem-Sulaiman, Mika Singh, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Neha Kakkar, Vishal-Shekhar, Meet Brothers and a lot more.
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We have always heard about a ‘Video Jockey’. Tell us about what exactly a ‘Visual Jockey’ is?
A Visuals Jockey is an artist who mixes the visuals LIVE to display them on a screen. This screen can be an LED Wall, Projector screen or any other display device. The visuals being displayed contain various images, photos, videos, loops, texts etc.
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What made you choose such a different profession? Were your family and close ones supportive of your career choice?
It was my love towards music and live shows what brought me into this. This is a creative job where you need to show your skills each and every day.
My family and friends have always been a huge support through my journey as a Visual Jockey. Most of the times, I am out for my shows but they never complain and rather always help me getting things done.
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What are the hurdles that you have faced, or are facing to be a Visual Jockey?
I shall say there are no institutes for learning this profession and so it is a bit difficult to reach up to a competitive level. Without getting proper guidance, it is a must for one to get into self-learning and which takes lots of time and dedication. Also, bringing yourself to a level where your work is recognized enough to make you being paid a handsome amount is the most necessary thing.
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What are the trends in the industry regarding visuals?
This profession is related to show-business and just like every other profession in this industry, trends in this also keep changing with time.
As of today, Live-Sets are trending.
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What is the future of the Visual Jockeying?
The future is very bright as daily new technologies are being introduced in visual presentations. Projection Mapping and Interactive screens are a few examples.
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Tell us about the places/festivals/events etc. where you have played? Any experience worth mentioning?
Over a past few years, Udaipur has become an events hub with Big Fat Weddings being held and a lot of celebrity performances are organized. I have done various events pan-India.
There are lots of good experiences when my work was appreciated but if I have to mention one, I must never forget this event when I was playing visuals for artist “Gurdeep Mehndi”. I noticed that again and again, he was showing visuals to his band as the visuals were going exactly in theme with the song he was singing.
After a few songs, he suddenly shouted “Stop Stop” and everyone went silent and then he asked, “Graphics pe kaun hai?”.
I replied to the question and then he said: “Sabse pehle saare log graphics ke liye taaliyaan bajayenge, maine itne shows kiye par aise exact matching graphics pehli baar dekh raha hu”.
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Indian Visual Jockeys are making their names on the world front. Any advice you want to give to the budding VJs?
I consider myself as a beginner who is trying to learn something new daily and that is the only thing I consider as the most important part of any profession.
