thesis_outline.pdf

These are images from the Arcade Fire’s live stage set.  The red curtains and ambient lighting are a great launching point for my thinking about the installation materials , lighting, and color scheme.  This particular setup and color palette was very powerful and elegant.  The high contrast black and white projection worked well with the strong red of the curtain, but since my project is going to be in color I will need to consider how this will affect the visual result.

Sound Design: http://a.parsons.edu/~jrothman/Dreamspace.mp3

Piano Quintet: http://a.parsons.edu/~jrothman/Somnia_A_Deo_Missa.mp3

Animatic Moodboard: http://a.parsons.edu/~jrothman/Thesis_Moodboard.mov

Narrative Outline: http://a.parsons.edu/~jrothman/Thesis_Storyboard.doc

1. NIME (New Interface for Musical Expression) Conference and Exhibition

a) Performances at NIME vs. My Goals and Interests

b) The “Immersive” Multimedia Experience

c) Documenta 12 and Olga Neuwirth’s “Miramondo Multiplo”

* Juxtaposition of “MM” with summer reading “Man and His Symbols” by C.G. Jung

2. Formulation of a Plan

Basic building blocks for thesis project are: Narrative, Audio (surround), Visual (possibly surround)

a) 2 narrative possibilities: Audiovisual representation of 5 dreams detailed within “Man and His Symbols”; or an immersive installation in which the viewer experiences a flashback of his/her life from birth to death as recounted in many near death experiences.

b) Visual portion will consist of archival and home footage assembled in a surreal collage of memories and symbols of the collective unconscious book-ended by scenes from the real world in which the subject (first-person camera perspective to keep the subject anonymous) lays in bed awaiting his journey to the other side. Design Question = Presentation of visuals will either be from one central position, or from multiple positions to match the audio. LCD screens (Neuwirth, Aitken) or Projection + Fabric (Viola, Kassel Art School).

c) Audio portion will be a combination of sound design (electronic music and field recordings) and a piano quintet, the mood of which will match the visual elements. The audio will be mixed in 5.1 surround sound.

3. Precedents

a) Olga Neuwirth’s “Miramondo Multiplo”:

b) BT’s “This Binary Universe”:

Trailer

Creative Process Interview

c) Simon Pummell’s “Bodysong”:

Trailer

d) Other Narrative, Visual, or Musical Works

Narrative: Douglas Hofstadter’s book “I Am A Strange Loop”, Near Death Experience Archives (www.nderf.org), Haruki Murakami’s novel “Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World”

Visual: Bill Viola’s exhibition “First Dream”, Doug Aitken’s MoMA installation “Sleepwalkers”

Musical: Max Richter’s “The Blue Notebooks”, Arvo Part’s “Te Deum” and “Fratres”

4. Tools

Visuals – Final Cut, After Effects

Sound – Logic (Surround Mix), Pro Tools, Reaktor, Sibelius, field recording with binaural microphones

5. Possibilities for Interactive/Generative Element

Collage composition and the “Choose Your Own Adventure” aesthetic