LAUAN601: Module Evaluation

Practical Evaluation

• The practical has allowed me break the barrier of intricate technicalities and uses purely imaginative approach within the poetic realm of visual music. 
• I have used various traditional medium and let their materiality speak of my expression.
• I have discovered that visual music is not about the music, it is about articulating personal impression of phenomenological experiences.  
• As I do more of them I felt more engaged with my thought as I embraced the sensation of movements in free form animation.
• KinoManual experimental workshop has taught myself about the process of direct-on-film animation and creating synthetic sound. It made me realise that everything is in the grasp of the hand as long as the artists have strong passion in their personal emotive expression.
• It is easy to lose train of thought in the process of free form animation, which resulted on an incoherent animation during the process and have to rethink of doing things differently. 
• This is why it is hard to put a full stop in the whole practical investigation as I learned new things every time with the framework of embracing the outcome of without having a solid plan. 
• I found that the process of visual music is similar to meditation in which the physical sensations of things are felt through constant rehearsals of closely observing our surroundings. 
• In the future, I want to do more of the experiments using nicer music or go even more abstract with the noises, or perhaps create a hybrid animation combining both narrative and abstract aspects; like those animations screened in festivals, I want my animation to have a bit of both.

Animation: Birds

To complete my practical methodology, I did a visual music piece using the chirping noise I have gathered from Hyde Park.

Mapping out noises at the park

The chirping sound is a fugue. Its impression is conveyed in Klee's painting below.

Fugue in Red (1921) by Paul Klee

Visual Music: Birds from Brenda Christie Muliawan on Vimeo.

Media: Acrylic paints on cartridge paper

I applied the direct-on-film animation technique while doing the visual music of the chirping sound by lining up papers and make long brush strokes over several pages and shapes which interweave.

Animation: Triangles

Inspired by Boogodobiegodongo to create a free form animation using oil pastels. I have developed a workflow by rehearsing the rhythmical pattern in my mind, drawing loosely based on it, then match it up to the music.

Learning points

• Developed an intuition for timing and spacing.
• Oil pastels' rough texture combined with loose lines creates jittery movements, saturates the screen.
• Within the loose synchronisation, there are coincidences in which the sound and visual are synchronised. Having this variation allows the whole composition to achieve harmony.

Visual Music Practice: Household Triangles from Brenda Christie Muliawan on Vimeo.

Peter Millard

Millard's naive drawings are inspired by Basquiat and Dubuffet. By incorporating this style in his animation, he creates a sensorial experience of the manic in everyday life.

Man from Naples (1982) by Jean-Michel Basquiat

The Lost Traveller (1950) by Jean Dubuffet

Boogodobiegodongo from peter millard on Vimeo.

Animation: Monster Inside the House

Deconstructing the anatomy of a radiator.

Possible forms that goes with the sound rupture.

Learning points:

- Be more spontaneous

- Take the observational approach, using forms from surroundings

- Using characters. Inspired by Boogodobiegodongo and rubber hose animation from 1920s

Critical Reflection:
- I tend to put moving character at the centre of the screen
- Should think about composition within the whole screen

Visual Music Practice: Crocodile Heater from Brenda Christie Muliawan on Vimeo.

Visual Journal: Len Lye

Lye is interested in motion as a language of art. 

Vibrating sensation through sequence of vivid colours and repeated patterns inspired by tribal art characterises Len Lye's work.

It has vast influence in the history of music video.

Stills from Rainbow Dance

Applying what I have learnt from Len Lye's work:

Potato Stamp Pattern Test

Mark making using paints and dyes by Len Lye compared to the organic look of the potato stamp

Marks conveying a sequence of motion

Repeating patterns in a direction

Variation of overlapping patterns

Brushing action

 Patterns Len Lye's work is inspired by tribal art and cave paintings

There are other exceptions of some monochromatic films and sketches

Primitivism in Free Radicals and Tusalava: messy, strong lines brings out the energy of the jitter

Study Sketches: Mapping the impression of movement through patterns

Visual Journal: Contemporary Inspirations

Books on Books by RAY

Abstract visual composition made using paper cutouts. Mechanical movements tells a satirical narrative of the future of graphic design in China.

Books on books from RAY on Vimeo.

Jazz Factory by Ed Cheverton

A unique approach to visual music: Loose synchronisation, timed so that the visuals seemingly produces the sound. Vibrating textures on the background follows the audio trajectories as an accompaniment to the melodic stem. 

Jazz Factory from Edward Cheverton on Vimeo.

Eye Echo from RCA MA Animation Workshop 2016

Visual music exercises done in RCA to explore the effect of vibrations using jittery textures and colour contrast. Judging from these visual responses to the audio, it can be discerned that the visual elements gets more saturated as the stems in the audio increases.

Eye Echo - RCA MA Animation Workshop 2016 from karolina glusiec on Vimeo.

Jazz Foo Foo by Emanuele Kabu

Abstract music video: Uses textures and repetition of sequence helps to convey the pulsing energetic rhythm.

Winterplay - Jazz Foo Foo [OFFICIAL] from Emanuele Kabu on Vimeo.

Colorimetrie en Mouvement by Nicolas Menard

Menard creates a mathematical colorimetric system based on his appreciation of Josef Albers' theory of interaction of colour. The film is a montage of recording during the development of the app, showing the metamorphosis of shapes and colour randomly jumping from one rule to another. Soundtrack applied to make the abstract universe more illustrative.

Colorimétrie en mouvement (2013) from Nicolas Ménard on Vimeo.

Woop, woop, chop by Nicolas Menard

Early development of colorimetric system.

woop woop, chop (2012) from Nicolas Ménard on Vimeo.

Spank Shot by Gina Kamentsky

Repetition of audio to create the comedic effect of the players fighting in hockey game. The intensity is conveyed through flashing colours in the background to match up with the upbeat rhythm.

Spank Shot from Gina Kamentsky on Vimeo.

Visual Journal: Different Stages of Geometrical Abstraction

Basic abstraction of concrete objects:

1. Non-objective fragmentation
2. Deconstruction
3. Two dimensional
4. Non-figurative two dimensional

Geometrical abstraction used in performing arts:

Dance Curves: On the Dances of Palucca (1926) by Wassily Kandinsky

Dominant Geometry on Chaplin's Performance

30 seconds gesture drawing exercise to convey dynamics of motion:

In this experiments I am trying to abstract concrete imageries in the 'Athletes of God' exercise from https://www.quickposes.com/en into its dominant curves and lines to express the direction of force and weight. The purpose is to accentuate the distribution of energy based on observation.

Wassily Kandinsky - On Spirituality in Art

In the book, Kandinsky explained that spiritual harmony in music is taken from natural phenomena and a matter of soul alone. Similarly, abstract painter is studying and proving their material to create the effect of spiritual vibration.

Kandinsky believes in the spiritual nature of colour:

• No objective connotation
• Synaesthesia - 'hear colours' and 'see sound'.
• Having to paint just circles, makes him focuses on colours interaction.
• Psychic effects of colours echoes and reverberates to other senses.
• Manipulation of unsuitable combination gives fresh possibilities to harmony.

Colour Study: Squares with Co centric Circles

Animation: Experiment with Graphical Notation

For this experiment, I have mixed pre-recorded sounds into an abstract rhythmical piece.

Appreciating sound artefacts by showing the dominant shapes and colours.

Graphical notation made through reduced listening of the cooking track.

Storyboard drawn with consideration of the graphical notation.

Outcome: Making a spontaneous free form animation with the audio wave structure in mind is more effective in capturing the feeling of movement than storyboarding.

Animation inspired by the graphical notation

• Mix and match each audio stems with a representative visuals. 
• Repetition makes point of reference which helps to express ideas effectively.

Visual Music Practice: Cooking from Brenda Christie Muliawan on Vimeo.

Oskar Fischinger's Visual Music

Oskar Fischinger's animation the movement of forms and the rhythm of the music echoes each other. This symbiotic flow arises from the interaction of colours and energetic movements linked to Fischinger's psychological states.

Fischinger's structural workflow:

• analyse a piece of music.
• breaking it down into time components.
• do the drawings separately from the music to create a visual composition.
• as a result, synchronisation is done entirely on its own.

Kreise (excerpt) by Oskar Fischinger from CVM on Vimeo.

Sources

• A credible documentation of Oskar Fischinger's Biography from Center for Visual Music: http://www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Fischinger/
• William Moritz on Oskar Fischinger and Music: https://vimeo.com/13793156

KinoManual Experimental Workshop and Synthetic Sound

As major contribution to the development of my practical, the workshop has exposed me to the process of direct-on-film animation and Norman McLaren's synthetic sound.

Process of synthetic sound:
-drawing on the audio side of a film strip
-different shapes generates different sound

I have learnt that the queer aesthetic of direct-on-film comes with spontaneity and versatility of the mind. I felt more engaged with my thought when I do more and embrace the sensation of movements in free form animation. This humble pursuit preserves the organic quality within visual music.

Gestalt and Josef Albers' Interaction of Colour

How do we perceive and interpret forms & colours in mind?

Constellate: Perceive in terms of patterns rather than individually. Create a relational structure of the simply objective and turn them into a sensed natural phenomena.

Colour Intervals and Transformation

Transformation concerns colour intensity and light intensity showing equilibrium between contrast and affinity. By stepping up and down, it creates a special effect of transparence called film colour. 

Colour interval

Middle Mixture : Intersecting Colours

From the top - spatial illusion through connection and separation.

Last two - illusion of volume called fluting effect.

Spacing and relation between similar colours

Free studies with 3 colour stripes

The Bezold Effect

A method in which the colour combinations can be changed entirely by adding or changing one colour only.

Bezold Effect

Free Studies 

Practically, colour application has physical attributes of shape and size. Variations these inherent properties and other factors - recurrence and placement - are taken into account in the overall effect of their interactions. Hence, unlike notation in music and choreography in dance, colours' shapes and sizes does not necessarily directly related to tones. It is a more complex natural phenomenon which should be investigated in a qualitative manner through experimentation.

Failed attempt of free studies - No focus

Free studies with music: Redbone by Childish Gambino

Free studies with music: Fantômas by amiina

Mouse Click

Doors Opening and Closing

Quantity

2 basic quantity questions:

size - extension in area

recurrence - extension in number

"Both measurements concern predominance and emphasis. They establish weight in space - and weight in time."

Quantity (animated to Get It On by T. Rex)

Exploring Quantity in Circles and Squares

Exploring Quantity in Rectangles

Investigating Movement as Gestalt

Examining Barthes' the 'diction of language' in music in which 'body' performance plays an important part in creating gestalt; merging the theories of form with the making process of objects to create a sensed natural phenomena.

Learning Points

• Performance: Variations of timing and spacing give a different nuance to the new image formed.
• Intuitive trial-and-error with spontaneous movement repeatedly done to create the desired effect (personal agreement of what is aesthetic).

Translation and Rotation

Vibration

Tutorial 3

Change title to 'Importance of audio to animated performance or movement'

Tacit: understood or implied without being stated

Visual language

Chaplin economy of gestures

Wassily Kandinsky - Constructivist geometry and spiritual effect of colours

Don't bring up animated characters, just elemental figures, forms and animated composition

Visual Music

Principles of animation: acting or reacting which comes first?

Acoustic language

Dedicate a section about diegetic and non diegetic sound

Audio motives. melodic repetition.

Tacit language developed based on prior knowledge of acoustic properties such as timbre, minor/major key, pitch, layers of sound affects planes in visual composition.

Practitioners

Oskar Fischinger

Len Lye

Norman McLaren

Samantha Moore

John Whitney

Stan Brackhage (responding to organic noises)

Markus Waltz

(Contemporary ones)

Rainer Kohlberg

Steven Woloshen's Casino

Experimental Composers

William Basinski - Disintegration Loops

Keith Fullerton Whitman / Hvartski

Relevant Quotes from Animation in Context

‘The narration told the overall story, but the music created the deeper shades of meaning.’

‘The musical phrase associated with each character is known as a leitmotif.’

‘Leitmotifs can also be ‘hardwired’ into the human psyche. In other words, there are many natural and manmade sounds that can evoke an instinctive emotional feeling or association in the human mind … Leitmotifs can in this way be associated with abstract cultural ideas and evoke spiritual feelings’

Modernist Philosophy

Italian Futurism

vision of progress

celebrated the modern utopia made up of machines, revolution, movement and speed

dynamism and energy

Gesamkunstwerk

'cross-fertilisation of modernist art forms was often expressed in tactical programmings of the manifesto.'

Arnold Schoenberg

Twelve tone composition

'explore ideas of creating structures of visual pattern'

formal patterns and dynamics, fluidity

Wasilly Kandinsky

non-objective abstract art

Music satisfies the modern desire for rhythm in painting, for mathematical, abstract construction, for repeated notes and colour, for setting colour in motion.

Analyses forms and colours not from ideas association but from painter's inner experience.

'inner necessity' - Sensorially rich, intuitive, inner subjective observation.

Constructivist

Seeing aesthetic combination as a whole not as separate things.

Approach of learning: reflect on our experiences and construct our own understanding of the world.

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky#Theoretical_writings_on_art
• http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/constructivism
• Rodrigues, C. (2004) Introducing Modernism, Royston: Icon Book Ltd.

Synesthesia: Intuitive Scribbles

I was inspired by and loosely draw lines and forms to some of the old Blade Runner soundtrack. I realise one thing about making visual music is that you have to get the mood of the music right before scribbling in order to get the right form. The form is shaped after first few seconds listening to the music and familiarising with the rhythm.

In the first two drawings I use one continuous line to get into the flow. 

The circles and dotted lines drawing is inspired by Oskar Fischinger's Experiment Painting. Sparseness between lines signifies rhythm and the size of the circles follows fortissimo. Constructing the composition according to the flow of the music.

Examples of Visual Music