In-Depth Coverage: Stylefames NY Opener

Conference openers have become the vehicle of choice for many studios to show what they can do without an overbearing client or agency brief hemming them in. The creative contraints for conference openers are usually very loose (probably owning to the guilt organizers feel for not being able to pay anyone for their work), inviting experimentation and risk-taking that’s hard to find in the commercial world.

While the budgets may be low, the expectations are very high. And for a conference about “the art of the pitch,” the expectations are unusually high.

A Meeting of the Minds

Enter co-directors Anthony Scott Burns and Chris Bahry of Tendril, who created an epic, sci-fi noir opener for the inaugural Style Frames NY event getting underway today.

As usual, the audio deserves as bright a spotlight as the visuals — and in this case, the man behind the audio, John Black (CypherAudio) had a special role to play in this collaboration.

We got the inside scoop on the process behind the project from John Black, Anthony Scott Burns and Chris Bahry of Tendril.

Interview with Anthony Scott Burns, Chris Bahry (Tendril) and John Black (Cypheraudio)

John, let’s start with you, since it many ways this collaboration began with you. Tell us how that came about.

John Black/Cypheraudio: During my initial meeting with Stephen and Heather [of Stash Magazine, organizers of the Style Frames NY event], they asked me who I would be interested in working with to create the opening. I immediately suggested Tendril.

Read on for loads of process imagery and behind the scenes details… →

Tyler Nicolson: No Noodles

No Noodles, a short stop motion film by Tyler Nicolson.

David Kamp: Sound Creatures

Who knows what kind of creature is making those snuffling noises in the bushes just behind you. Or the animal skittering for cover under that dock at the water’s edge.

Berlin-based composer and sound designer David Kamp recently took on the role of curator and sent some of his favorite illustrators and animators the sound of an imaginary creature and asked them what they think it looks like. The resulting (still growing) menagerie is on view at sound-creatures.com.

Thanks to David for sharing a little bit more about the project below.

How did the project come about?

In my animation projects I often get to define the sonic world of characters. The question I ask myself very often is, “How does this thing sound?”

I thought it would be interesting to turn that process around and ask people, “What does this sound look like?” But I didn’t have a clear idea how to approach this yet.

One day I posted a pretty weird animal sound on my facebook page and wrote, “I have no idea what this is.” My friend Joonas Utti replied that he wanted to draw it. That’s when it clicked, and I thought it might be a fun process for people to create an illustration or animation inspired by a sound I created. I then went on to record (or to be honest record/create/synthesize) quite a few sound creatures and sent them to the visual artists involved in the project.

Are the visual artist previous collaborators? New friends? A combination?

They are people I either worked with before or people whose illustration or animation work I admire.

I was lucky to get many very talented people on board. Soon there will also be a non-curated online version of the project where basically everyone can participate on a new set of sounds.

Are any of the creatures dangerous?

Not unless you connect them to loudspeakers bigger than yourself.

Collaborators featured at the top: Mark Verhaagen, Ian MacArthur, Nick Sheehy, Dave Prosser / below: Janine Rewell, Ville Savimaa.

Corgan Media Lab: AICP Southwest Sponsor Reel

The crew at Corgan Media Lab create a wilderness of type and triangulated polygons in the AICP Southwest Sponsor Reel.