Second Annual Fresh Minds Festival

http://freshminds.tamu.edu

Texas A&M University

Submissions due: September 1, 2013. Click here for submission form

Performance: September 2014. Watch http://freshminds.tamu.edu for the finalized date.

Texas A&M University invites fixed media works of visual music or other non-narrative fine art animation, video, or film in which the sound/music and visuals play equally important roles in the work, for a presentation on the Texas A&M University campus called the Fresh Minds Festival. The event will be mass curated by hundreds of TAMU students learning the elements of visual and musical design with the goal of presenting a program of works that are engaging and rewarding to curious newcomer audiences. This is an event filling the gap between “for experts only” and “people’s choice” type events. Last year, 380 students co-curated the festival, and we plan to open the opportunity to even more students this year. Each year’s evaluation cycle is launched with the screening of the previous year’s finalists.

A faculty panel will use the students’ evaluations of submitted works to shape a program, award up to $5,000 in prizes to the highest-rated among them, and arrange to fund campus visits by up to three selected artists for direct interactions with students. Creators of selected works are encouraged but not required to attend the event. Multiple entries will be accepted. There is no entry fee.

Due to the large number of students participating in the selection process, works will reviewed in stereo on student-owned equipment, delivered via an internet links for evaluation. Works selected for the event will be presented in full quality with up to 5.1 channels of audio.

Submissions due 12:00 A.M. September 1, 2013. Finalists will be notified by May 15, 2014 (following the two semester-long student evaluation period). The concert presentation will be in September 2014 to kick off the next evaluation cycle. Watch http://freshminds.tamu.edu for the finalized date.

Eligibility: All artists are encouraged to submit work, including professionals and students, except for artists currently employed or enrolled at TAMU, works created while employed or enrolled at TAMU, or works selected as finalists in previous years. Works earning honorable mention in previous years will be accepted.

Duration: 4-12 minutes

Online submissions. Complete the form linked below to submit a URL to your video work accessible via the world wide web. The video player at the URL you provide must be immediately visible at this link, without requiring logins or searching a list of videos. We recommend that you use a standardized video site like YouTube or Vimeo. You may make your video “unlisted” or protect it with a passcode if desired. Avoid less common formats, as technical issues may impede our curators’ ability to evaluate your submission. If your work is selected for performance, you must deliver a full quality video file by August 1, 2014.

Click here for submission form

Direct inquiries to: freshminds at tamu.edu

'Visual Music Practice and the Influence of Evolving Media Platforms on Aesthetics and Representation'. (INVITE FOR INTERVIEW)

2012-08-19T14:19:33.996Z

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)

All Discussions Tagged 'visual' - The Visual Music Village

The Fresh Minds Festival

Call for Works 2013-14

Second Annual Fresh Minds Festival

'Visual Music Practice and the Influence of Evolving Media Platforms on Aesthetics and Representation'. (INVITE FOR INTERVIEW)