Title: dyssonance
Github Link: https://gist.github.com/gabrielchi/50f61b31d296cd6e36cab9c041ab092b
Project Description
For my project, dyssonance, I took heavy inspiration from many different sci-fi/ dystopian films, such as Blade Runner, Akira and the Matrix. Films in this genre, both visually and audibly, have a very distinct style (eg. neon lights, heavy pulsing synths and bass, overly saturated colors). I wanted this project to be an exercise in creating art through a medium I have never tackled before, and I felt that the sci-fi/ dystopian genre would provide the foundation for a very distinct and striking style.
Perspective and Context
I think that this project fits heavily with the topic we learned, Synesthesia. Although I am personally not someone who experiences life with synesthesia, I felt that the music that I used for inspiration and created translates well into the visuals. Synesthesia, being the fusing of multiple senses (such as sight and sound), allows for those who have it to experience daily life in many different ways. I specifically chose the saturated version of green, yellow and red to emulate a thermal camera, which evoked feelings of technology and future. I believe that combined with the heavy synths and drums, the visuals and movement of it could potentially be similar to what a synesthesiac with an interest in dystopian films might visualise.
Development & Technical Implementation
When tackling this project, I originally started looking back at previous patches in order to have a foundation to start with. Therefore, I went back to the exercise related to synths, drum sequences and Beap to Vizzie.
For the drums and synth, I looked up several soundtracks to different movies, from both dystopian films, but also from other soundtracks that had visual accompaniment. The main inspiration for both the audio sequencers were underground raves, in places such as Russia. The rave culture in Russia has a lot of coverage, with multiple documentaries following the lives of youth ravers. Their wardrobe and style of dancing all evoked a dystopian feeling, accompanied by the pulsing beat of the music.
For the technical side of the music, I sampled a drum pack that I used for my other music projects, using a cell to midi, loading a kick, snare, hi-hat and percussion into each. That was fed into different smoothers in order to make the visuals less jumpy when they were connected. For the piano roll sequencer, I simply based the synth off of the different exercises we did in class. The pattern on the piano sequencer is fed into a midi to signal and graphic ADSR, which is fed into Cloud, where I tweaked the wave form of the synth and the fatness of the synth.
For the visual aspect, I mainly used the different vizzie effects to extremely skew the visual accompaniment. The DELAYR and PIXL8R helped immensely with creating a retro and almost 8 bit feeling that I was looking for. I then applied 2TONR to bring out the specific colors within the screen, and increased saturation and brightness with HUSALR. From there on, I plugged them back into the PROJECTR for viewing.
Presentation
I felt that overall, the presentation process proceed quite smoothly in terms of not running into technical difficulties or program crashes. The majority of my focus was on the initial reactions and feedback that I received when showing the project. I found very interesting to see an immediate response to the project, as the saturated colors and sharp movements of the project seem to startle some of the classmates. Additionally, receiving both critique and feedback was really important to me as I would use them to apply for my future projects.
Conclusion
When starting on this project, I was quite overwhelmed with the amount of tasks I had to accomplish. However, through personal research and assistance from other classmates, I was able to learn and improve in my skills using Max8. In terms of achievements, I think I succeeded at keeping a consistent aesthetic style, in both my music and visuals. Although I was happy with the outcome of the project, I would’ve liked to have a much stronger visual relationship between my music and my visuals. My soundtrack had a very distinct pattern, which I wish had translated over to my visuals; However, I now know how to apply such a method for future projects. I hope that in the future, I am able to apply everything I have learned and will learn in the near future for my projects for the rest of the semester. By applying such skills, I would like to create an installation that evokes emotion, and that actually resonates within audiences on a deeper level.