The terminologies of VJ-ing, Live Cinema, and Live Audiovisual Performance obviously overlap in terms of improvisation; audience engagement and participation; and intermediacy. However, the institutions for presentation, sequencing arrangement (structure, visual rhetoric), and the primary purpose and can be selectively emphasized or altered by their categories.
From my perspective, VJ-ing is about feeling and sensory responses. For example, a typical VJ-ing happens at night clubs or music festivals (institution) that are mean to be consumed as a form of sublime entertainment (purpose). The sequencing arrangement is often non-linear that does not have to follow a script or storyline. (Sequencing arrangement).
An example would be:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aLiCGkESs0
On the other hand, Live Cinema is essentially moving images in a live form. Even though there exist problematic approaches to current Live Cinema appreciation in the setting of formal film contests, theaters, opera houses (institution), Live Cinema aspires to be properly considered as moving images and to be judged upon its live cinematic values, which challenges the traditional definition of cinema, “namely narrative continuity and a fixed spatial arrangement” (purpose). Therefore, a script though less obvious than static films will probably lead the arc of storytelling when played live. (Sequencing arrangement). In other words, Live Cinema employs the performative elements (live music scoring, live visual effects) to expand the cinematic experience.
An example would be the Light Surgeon’s True Fictions (2007):
Live Audiovisual Performance is used more often to describe the community and the genre as a whole that includes VJ-ing and Live Cinema. Live Audiovisual Performance value the performance as the “aura” Benjamin critiques that the mass-produced art lacks.
However, rather than hard defining what is VJ-ing, Live Cinema, or Live Audiovisual Performance, I think what matters most is the statement from the creators/artists. A Live Cinema can be displayed and performed anywhere and a VJ can tell a well-constructed story. The definition does not matter once the statement is made clear.
Citation:
Live Cinema by Gabriel Menotti
Live Audiovisual Performance by Ana Carvalho
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin