Ars Electronica Archive
Prix
Prix Map
Pictures
Videos
Publications
Special Projects
Women in Media Art
S+T+ARTS
STARTS is an initiative of the European Commission to foster alliances of technology and artistic practice. As part of this initiative, the STARTS residencies foster pioneering collaborations and the STARTS Prize honors the most inspired results in the field of creativity and innovation at the crossings of science and technology with the arts. STARTS is funded through various schemes provided by the European Commission.
juice box sonic circus
Simon Brown
juice box sonic circus is hyper-realistic pictorial music accompanied by animation.
it's a ten minute video featuring music that depicts sounds from the world, and animation inspired by this music. the music can be perceived as both musical and as a recognizable sound at the same time.
for example, a field of water droplets, played on violin, might be organized into a classical fugue in the style of bach; a soundscape of long, bending pitches with sudden drops represent racing cars; voices singing in harmony are also quite clearly the wind blowing through the neighborhood.
a team of twelve animators is given total freedom to depict the musical events in any style or way they decide.
the final piece will be presented live, and freely available online as an animated film.
the project gracefully connects physical modeling synthesis back to music. developed for musicians, modeling synthesis became useful for a variety of other fields. juice box sonic circus makes use of these recent advances for the purpose of music. the project then has the potential to feed back to those fields. for example, neurological research is very interested in music, since it activates large swaths of the brain. how does the brain react to music that can also be perceived as “non-musical” sound?
the project elegantly teaches how various sounds are made. the audience might not have heard of a monopole sound source, but after hearing a realistic "performance" of turbulent fire, they will better understand how one works.
film, video, and virtual reality projects may benefit from this musical realism as well, with the possibility of sound design that doubles as music, and vice versa.
[silk road, example of our team’s animation style (animation time codes: 0:55-2:15, 3:06-3:55, 4:47-6:07, 6:22-8:33): https://vimeo.com/339584479 (pass: thesilkroad)]
it's a ten minute video featuring music that depicts sounds from the world, and animation inspired by this music. the music can be perceived as both musical and as a recognizable sound at the same time.
for example, a field of water droplets, played on violin, might be organized into a classical fugue in the style of bach; a soundscape of long, bending pitches with sudden drops represent racing cars; voices singing in harmony are also quite clearly the wind blowing through the neighborhood.
a team of twelve animators is given total freedom to depict the musical events in any style or way they decide.
the final piece will be presented live, and freely available online as an animated film.
the project gracefully connects physical modeling synthesis back to music. developed for musicians, modeling synthesis became useful for a variety of other fields. juice box sonic circus makes use of these recent advances for the purpose of music. the project then has the potential to feed back to those fields. for example, neurological research is very interested in music, since it activates large swaths of the brain. how does the brain react to music that can also be perceived as “non-musical” sound?
the project elegantly teaches how various sounds are made. the audience might not have heard of a monopole sound source, but after hearing a realistic "performance" of turbulent fire, they will better understand how one works.
film, video, and virtual reality projects may benefit from this musical realism as well, with the possibility of sound design that doubles as music, and vice versa.
[silk road, example of our team’s animation style (animation time codes: 0:55-2:15, 3:06-3:55, 4:47-6:07, 6:22-8:33): https://vimeo.com/339584479 (pass: thesilkroad)]