'Visual Music Practice and the Influence of Evolving Media Platforms on Aesthetics and Representation'.

2012-08-19T14:12:29.000Z

Hello VMV users.

My name is Caoimhín Watts, a final year student at Glasgow School of Art. I am currently studying a masters degree in animation, and I have studied Art & Design and Graphic Design previously. I am trying to gather information/research for my dissertation and final practical work. The title of my written piece is, 'Visual Music Practice and the Influence of Evolving Media Platforms on Aesthetics and Representation'.

I am currently contacting a number of people/companies who I believe could give informed responses in a short interview regarding the above topic, and I was hoping that some of the people on Visual Music Village may be able to spare half an hour of their time. I would be very grateful and interested to hear your views on the subject, having seen some of your work.

If you are willing to speak with me I would, of course, send a copy of any questions I will ask during interview in advance. Any answers/information you provide would be used for my dissertation and to inform my practical work, and for no other purpose. Also, I would be happy to send you a copy of my completed work, both written and practical, once completed. I would really appreciate it if I could organise a short interview over Skype with some of you in the next few weeks, if this would be convenient.

If you prefer to answer my questions in written form, that's totally fine too. Any input is very welcome! Written responses can be sent to caoimhinwatts@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks very much for your time

Caoimhín Watts

Questions...

1 Sound and song bring to every person an individual experience, an 'inner perception' and deeply personal sensation. With this in mind, how effective is a standardised methodology for colour scaling and structured representation of form within the context of visual music creation?

2 Colour Movement/Tempo Form

How important/dominant are each of these in terms of their use in the visual representation of music/sound?

3 Do you think we have a good enough understanding of the psychology and physical mechanisms of sight and of individual emotional reaction, to enable us to create an informed visual response to the aural?

4 To what extent do you think contemporary visual music practice is embraced by the gallery system - and is its acceptance (or lack of) comparable to that of earlier works and styles by the likes of Mary Ellen Bute or Oskar Fischinger, for example?

5 What affect does viewing environment and context have on viewer perception of abstract visual music? (e.g. Animated footage in a gallery space/on a personal computer screen/viewed before a film at the cinema/in a 'live' VJ context etc.)

6 Can abstract animation - without characters, subjects or objective realism, express any narrative within a musical score? (example - Beethoven's 'Pastoral')

7 Creative time-based tools which work within 3D space, controllable particle systems (such as 'Trapcode Form' and 'Plexus') and programmed manipulation of form and movement over time are part of the contemporary visual music practitioner's toolkit. How has this influenced the progression of style, aesthetics and representation within the field of visual music creation?

8 Dance is an instantly controllable visualisation of music. Do the process-based tools and methods employed in visual music creation afford a true, absolute, organic and harmonious representation of music? Does 'process' stifle or aid the creation of true representation?

(The above question does not take into account audio reactors/digitally synthesized (instant) visual music forms.)

9 Can exact, mathematically produced visual representations capture the essence of a piece of music?

10 Are stereoscopic visuals more representative of stereo sound than conventional screen based visuals? Why?

11 Can you tell me about your own practice and some of your ideologies concerning the creation of visuals as a representation of music.

THANKS AGAIN!

(caoimhinwatts@yahoo.co.uk)

Caoimhin Watts's Posts - The Visual Music Village

'Visual Music Practice and the Influence of Evolving Media Platforms on Aesthetics and Representation'.