ONE is more / Romeo & Juliet / A Final Visualisation Project

Visualising Romeo & Juliet / R&D / Deanna Crisbacher

Following Computer Animation Arts' animated adaptation of Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra, comes Hector Berlioz's Romeo & Juliet (1839).  In common with our previous visualisations of classical music, our resulting animated response to Berlioz's composition will be screened live at concerts in Katowice, Poland in February 2019 and in Amiens and Soissons, France in March.  In contrast to Red & The Kingdom Of Sound, this final visualisation of sound will be non-narrative, focusing instead on data visualisation and CG simulations.  The four parts of Berlioz's composition are showcased below.

The provisional methodology of the project is outlined within the following presentation: put simply, we're hoping to use Berlioz's music as an agent by which we can create animated simulations from datasets that pertain thematically to each of the four pieces of music.  For example, I've been working with an academic at Harvard University who is an expert of dreams and dreaming, and who has compiled numerical data sets relating to the different constituents of individuals' dreams.  By taking Berlioz's La Reine Mab ou la fee des songes (aka Queen Mab, Queen Of Dreams) and using it to visually activate the dream data, we're hoping we can create abstract animations that synch with the music accordingly.

Once again, I'll be working with CAA alumni, Ethan Shilling - a creative force with which to be reckoned! - who is currently investigating all the likely ways by which we might use Berlioz's music to visualise the different data sets for each of the four movements of Romeo & Juliet.  Below is Ethan's very first excursion into using Autodesk Maya as the mediator between sound and image.

Recent CAA graduate, Deanna Crisbacher, is likewise joining the project, her mission to ensure our resulting simulations are things of beauty!  Again, it's incredibly early days, but Dee's already been tinkering around with Ethan's original simulation to interesting effect!

This is the inaugural post for our new visualisation project - expect more frequent updates from this point forward!  Watch this space!

CAA & ONE is More @ Katowice, Poland / 27th January 2017

Filharmonia Śląska, Katowice, Poland

On Friday, January 27th, CAA's celebrated visualisation of Darius Milhaud's ballet, La création du monde was screened in Katowice, Poland, with live accompaniment by the musicians of the Filharmonia Śląska.  Milosz Kula was their conductor, and in the grand surroundings of their concert hall, our sixteen minutes-or-so cascade of shape, colour and form illuminated the fascinated faces of a full house. 

This is the sixth screening for our animation, which began life as a multi-participant speed paint challenge, in which the students, alumni and staff of Computer Animation Arts were invited to visualise Milhaud's jazz-inspired ballet as a series of abstract digital paintings. CAA alumni Tom Beg and Jordan Buckner then worked with the resulting paintings, translating them into moving image. In common with previous screenings, the experience of watching the animation accompanied by the full bombast and beauty of a live orchestra was magical and transformative. Many thanks to Keith Burden of Clever Projections, who ensures our screenings run smoothly.

La création du monde was screened in Katowice as part of the ONE is more programme: An Orchestra Network for Europe – ONE - is a distinctive network of classical symphony orchestras initiated by Orchestre de Picardie in 2003. Since 2005, it has received support from the European Union under the Culture Programme for 4 cultural projects. Its successive periods of activity have been called ONE, ONE - a new dimension, ONE step further and from June 2011 to 2015 ONE goes places. In 2010, under the title ONE is more, it prepared an application under the Creative Europe programme of the EU. For this bid, the University for the Creative Arts joined the partnership.

Inside the Filharmonia Śląska concert hall #1

Inside the Filharmonia Śląska concert hall #2

Inside the Filharmonia Śląska concert hall #3

The pianist practices in a quiet moment

The instruments await their musicians

Preparing for the first rehearsal

Milosz Kula conducts at the second rehearsal #1

Milosz Kula conducts at the second rehearsal #2

Milosz Kula conducts at the second rehearsal #3

Milosz Kula conducts at the second rehearsal #4

Milosz Kula conducts at the second rehearsal #5

Milosz Kula conducts at the second rehearsal #6

La création du monde / Tom Beg & Jordan Buckner

CAA & ONE is More @ Zilina / 6th December 2016

Simon Chalk conducting the Slovak Sinfonietta during a rehearsal for the screening of La création du monde 

On December 6th, CAA's celebrated visualisation of Darius Milhaud's ballet, La création du monde was screened to a full house at Zilina's concert hall, Slovakia, with live accompaniment by the musicians of the Slovak Sinfonietta.  Simon Chalk was their conductor and master of ceremonies, and following a short presentation explaining the provenance of our animation, the lights dimmed, the musicians began to play, and shapes and colours began pulsing across the screen.

This is the fifth screening for our animation, which began life as a multi-participant speed paint challenge, in which the students, alumni and staff of Computer Animation Arts were invited to visualise Milhaud's jazz-inspired ballet as a series of abstract digital paintings.  CAA alumni Tom Beg and Jordan Buckner then worked with the resulting paintings, translating them into moving image. In common with previous screenings, the experience of watching the animation accompanied by the full bombast and beauty of a live orchestra was magical and transformative. Many thanks to Simon Chalk, for all his fizz and enthusiasm for the project, and to Keith Burden of Clever Projections, who not only ensures our screenings are faultless, smooth and gremlin-free, but who also drove the three thousand mile trip to Slovakia and back in the short space of four days!

La création du monde was screened in Zilina as part of the ONE is more programme: An Orchestra Network for Europe – ONE - is a distinctive network of classical symphony orchestras initiated by Orchestre de Picardie in 2003. Since 2005, it has received support from the European Union under the Culture Programme for 4 cultural projects. Its successive periods of activity have been called ONE, ONE - a new dimension, ONE step further and from June 2011 to 2015 ONE goes places. In 2010, under the title ONE is more, it prepared an application under the Creative Europe programme of the EU. For this bid, the University for the Creative Arts joined the partnership.

Keith Burden of Clever Projections readying the projector

La création du monde / Tom Beg & Jordan Buckner

ONE @ UCA 15th April 2016

The Viola District / Samantha Niemczyk

On the morning of April 15th, CAA had the pleasure of meeting Orchestra directors from Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovenia, France and Slovakia - aka the Orchestra Network for Europe.  Our job was to inspire them, to share with them our progress so far on our Kingdom Of Sound project - an animation-in-the-offing to accompany live performances of Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra.  I'm happy to report that our ideas for this animation were met with genuine excitement and even a round of applause!  Green light!

Speed paints into Maya / Research & development

The Flute District / Sam Niemczyk

Projection mapping experiment / Ethan Shilling

The Violin District / Heidi Grover

Speed paint interpreted in Maya / Ethan Shilling

The Double Bass / Eva Pinnington

Speed painting as digital set / Ethan Shilling