I was commissioned to create two music visualisation animations for the documentary ‘Ingredients For Disaster’ about the musician Nik Bärtsch and his band Ronin. The film was directed by Julian Phillips. You can view the trailer here! The brief was to create visualisations which would illustrate the complex structures underlying the music. Detailed MIDI transcriptions were created to drive the animation and ensure tight synchronisation between the audio and visual elements. Below I’ve posted Modul 45 and Modul 35 plus some videos and images to illustrate the creative process.
Modul 45
Modul 35
I worked closely with Alex Rigopulos who really helped me understand the intricate structures of the music and ensure every detail was relevant. For example each ‘wheel’ within the piece reflects the time signature of that element and the stems height represent the notes value. Hopefully helps the viewer visualise the interaction of the polyrhythms.
Definitely check out Nik and Ronin, they really do create something singular. Here’s a link to them performing Modul 45. Thanks to Alex Rigopulos and Julian Phillips for getting me onboard and Mike Mandel, Rick Cody and Simon Rigopulos for their help!
Process
The animation was created in Houdini and composited in After Effects. The audio was transcribed into MIDI and used to drive the animation in Houdini via the CHOPs network.
Animation Studies
Working Files
Sketches
Credits
Creative Direction: Alex Rigopulos
Animation Direction: Simon Russell
Audiovisual Systems Engineering: Mike Mandel
Music Analysis and Transcription: Rick Cody and Simon Rigopulos
Documentary Director: Julian Phillips
Composed by: Nik Bartsch
Drums: Kaspar Rast
Reeds: Sha (aka Stefan Haslebacher)
Bass: Jeremias Keller/Thomy Jordi/Bjorn Meyer
Drums and Percussion: Nicolas Stocker/Andi Pupato
Publishing for all Moduls by Ronin Rhythm Productions and Neonstars Publishing
Publishing by ECM