Freelance artist and designer Henrik Leichsenring claims to have invented the world's first mixable YouTube video. But even if he didn't, "The Mixable Dancer" is still an eerie reel worth freaking, thanks to its Donnie Darko disco vibe.

Henrik Leichsenring created the mixable YouTube video.
Photo courtesy Henrik Leichsenring

It worked out anyway. Gillström decked herself out in black accessories and played the surreal disco puppet for Leichsenring's "The Mixable Dancer," which viewers can remix in real time using 11 different beats and a timing wheel.

It's either an excellent time-waster or an indie glimpse at the hopeful future of YouTube video. Or both.

"I think YouTube is a great forum not only for fun time-wasters but also for people to come in contact with noncommercial creativity," Leichsenring said. "You don't have to buy anything, learn anything or download anything to interact and mix this video."

Making the interactive clip was a different story.

"The Mixable Dancer" was shot in Leichsenring's apartment in front a black sheet. He filmed the reel with a Canon Digital IXUS 100 IS, mashed the beats in Ableton Live 8 and edited the clip using Adobe Photoshop and After Effects, all of which come with learning curves of their own. Good thing Leichsenring was a full-time art director at an advertising agency in Sweden.

He's currently on the move to Montreal and scouting for a new agency (see his show reel above). Given that it took Leichsenring and Gillström only a month to make "The Mixable Dancer," chances are he'll land a gig just as easily. Especially if the "world's first" claim holds up.

"Well, you can never be absolutely sure," he said. "We found clips with similar techniques, like Boone Oakley's website and Kokokaka's "Play the Piano" video. But no clip that involves an interactive mixing of music and video. I'm quite sure this is the first one and that's why we claimed it."

See Also:

• Kutiman's ThruYou Mashup Turns YouTube Into Funk Machine
• Eclectic Method Remixes the Future of Open Video
• Want a Remix Manifesto? Name Your Price, Says RiP Director
• Black Moth Super Rainbow Shines With Hairy CDs, Interactive Vid
• Negativland: In the Future, Nothing Will Remain Intact

From Ricardo Autobahn, formerly of the wonderfully bizarre, surreal Peel-approved novelty act Cuban Boys comes this brilliant cutup/video sampling number creating a whole song from different films and TV shows - and yes they all rhyme, apparently an album and single are on the way - hurrah!

F1-Live is reporting that YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley was at last weekend's race at Silverstone in the UK, reportedly putting the finishing touches on a sponsorship deal with the new US F1 team. If the deal gets confirmed, it will be the first time a major internet-based company is represented on the track. It also opens some potentially interesting content producing avenues for YouTube in the sport of Formula One.

By Dave Pinter | © PSFK, 2009. | Article Link | Comments | More stories in: Automotive and f1, youtube

Osada Genki, a physicist turned painter and ambient noise artist, creates highly textural, abstract audiovisual paintings using snippets of altered video -- often of human faces and forms -- smothered under thick layers of kaleidoscopic digital glitchiness and wrapped in lush, gritty soundscapes.

+ Kao Study

+ Abura Ponchi E

+ Hanpa Nai Tomo

More on Osada Genki's YouTube channel and website.

YouTube appropriation abounds these days. Artist Josh Poehlein has created a series of landscape collages complied only out of screen grabs from YouTube videos.

Josh Poehlein: Modern History

By Dan Gould | © PSFK, 2009. | Article Link | Comments | More stories in: Arts & Culture, Web & Technology and art, youtube, ZZZ Short Post

YouTube today introduced a new feature that allows publishers to invite others to annotate their videos. Just a few weeks ago, YouTube introduced a new annotation feature that made it easier for publishers to add speech bubbles or spotlights to their videos. Now, you can send a special link to your friends so that they can easily add their own witty comments to your videos.

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YouTube's annotations editor now prominently features a link that you can share with your friends - or the whole Internet, if you choose to make it public. Commenters have to be logged in to YouTube to add annotations. The video's owner can moderate these comments, though it does look like all new annotations are automatically added to the video immediately; there doesn't seem to be a moderation queue.

Some video producers have found innovative ways of using YouTube's annotations feature, but often, they are only a distraction, and a lot of videos are simply better without them. Interestingly, YouTube acknowledged this in its announcement today and YouTube makes it pretty easy to turn annotations off altogether. Just go to your 'Account Settings' and look for the Annotations settings (obviously, you have to be logged in to YouTube for this to work).

And departed Silicon Alley Insider reporter Michael Learmonth wasn't entirely wrong in his article saying that Google had nixed the idea. Google and YouTube won't necessarily be offering live streaming video to users of the site any time soon. Why, when the search advertising company is already stuck subsidizing YouTube and venture capitalists are happy to continue subsidizing sites like Justin.tv and Ustream with their own money?

I just had to post this one...a hilarious video created by Idiots of Ants:

"What would it be like if Facebook was actually played out in real life?"

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All those American Idol wannabees on YouTube may serve an economic purpose: They help boost royalties for songwriters, according to a British report.

"The trend for posting self-made videos is driving the number of performances on the websites we license," said Andrew Shaw, managing director of broadcast and online at MCPS-PRS Alliance, a U.K.-based group that collects and pays royalties to songwriters, composers and music publishers.

See Also:

• How American Youth Will Screw Viacom
• YouTube Gets Jiggy with TiVo
• People Are A-OK With (Some) Online Video Ads, Says Research Group

Buried in Kara Swisher's piece about EQAL, the new "social entertainment company" from Lonelygirl15 creators Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, is the dilly that one of the previously unnamed investors providing $5 million in funding is none other than Google's cupcake princess, Marissa Mayer. What's the next project from the YouTubepreneurs made good? Well, it's going to be kind of like lonelygirl15, except with a shot of social-network frosting. [BoomTown]