Passage of Time

I really like the idea behind this advert, i think i'm going to use this as inspiration to come up with my own take on it

The Big Bang Theory Opening

Because the idea behind this projection was the show the history of Sheffield i though it would be good to look at ways and showing a passage of time. This reminded me of the The Big Bang Theory opening and how it uses multiple images and timelines to show the progression of time

Endcliffe Orchestra

The Endcliffe Orchestra is an amateur group based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.  The orchestra is open to amateur musicians of grade V upwards (or equivalent), subject to vacancies.  The Endcliffe serves as a development orchestra and provides a friendly and relaxed atmosphere for amateur players in Sheffield, particularly lapsed amateurs and those who are new to orchestral playing and performing.

They will be performing in a joint concert with the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus at Sheffield City Hall. This is a celebration of Sheffield music as part of the nationwide Olympic cultural festival. They will perform one short piece on our own and a piece written specially for the occasion for orchestra, choir and other ensembles by Tim Allen.

This a piece of music from them, it quite an odd song choice though, Its a Green Day medley. However the result it actually quite interesting, completely turns the songs style on its head. I think this Orchestra could be one to watch in terms of something unique.

BeVox

 

I found this bit of text on the website which show what BeVox and what it stands for:

BeVox is about finding your voice

When we use the phrase, 'Finding your voice', we aren't just talking about a musical ability. For us it has a lot to do with developing greater confidence.

BeVox is about singing out

With BeVox, you learn a repertoire of fantastic songs, which are chosen to be fun, to challenge and to engage.
And, we'll give you the chance to enjoy great music. All our arrangements are written by Timothy Allen, a highly-respected vocal arranger whose arrangements have been performed worldwide.
Our weekly sessions will give you a chance to perform these songs and enjoy what you sing. We can also arrange performances in places you want to go.

BeVox is about being vocal

At BeVox, we're just as interested in your journey as we are your final destination.
The community of singers that make up BeVox all have a voice in what we do. If there's a song you really want to sing, tell us. If you want to perform somewhere personal to you, let us know.
If you feel strongly about anything to do with the company, your voice will be heard. We believe in empowering people and allowing them to lead and grow.

BeVox is about making a difference

Singing is great for you and your audience. It can also make a huge difference to the wider community.
If you'd like to support your local charities, then we'll give you the opportunity to sing in hospitals, retirement homes, schools and at community events.

Sheffield Cathedral Choir

As with most cathedrals in England, there has been a choir at Sheffield Cathedral for centuries, with the tradition remaining as strong today as ever. Choral music forms a central part of worship at Sheffield Cathedral, with around 40 boys, girls and men singing regular services as well as performing for a wide variety of special occasions in the Cathedral and beyond. In addition to providing rich and plentiful music for the Cathedral’s liturgy, this offers a fantastic experience and education for the young people involved in the choir.

This link allow you to listen to recording made by the choir

http://www.sheffieldcathedral.org/music/recordings-sheffield-cathedral-choir-music.php

Fanfare Team

The Fanfare is also part of the Concord Youth Music, link below

They can provide a team of up to 6 smartly uniformed fanfare trumpeters, playing special ceremonial 3-valved fanfare trumpets with banners. The repertoire includes fanfares and flourishes for all occasions to suit your various needs.

http://www.concord.org.uk/fanfares.php

visual imagery

an example of a fanfare

Listening to the music it very jazz and brass orientated, and very theatrical in nature, maybe my animation should reflect that.

Concord Youth Music Cermonial

For 25 years CONCORD performed as one of Britain’s foremost competitive drum and bugle corps collecting many honours and awards in the UK and Europe.  In 2008 the management and membership took the bold step of withdrawing from the constrictions of the competition arena and embarked upon a “new direction” offering members and staff a whole new series of challenges.  These gave the opportunity to explore new areas and formats of musical and visual entertainment, to learn to use new instruments and to add amplification and electronic forms of music-making.

CONCORD today has the flexibility and versatility to perform in a wide range of situations – be it on stage, in arena venues, ballrooms, at corporate events and in many other situations.  We are building a large and varied repertoire suitable for all occasions and challenging our cast members to adapt and expand their abilities in a wide range of musical genre and performances. 

The below allows you to view more images and learn more about concord music

http://www.concord.smugmug.com/

Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus

A brief history of the chorus

Early history

Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus was formed in 1935, but its origins are much older. Sheffield, like many towns and cities in Yorkshire, has a long and distinguished tradition of music-making, particularly with its choruses, and the Philharmonic Chorus was formed from two choirs dating back to the middle of the Victorian period.
The first of these was the Sheffield Amateur Musical Society, founded in 1864, developing from a singing class run by H.W.Ibbotson since 1857. When Sheffield City Hall opened in the 1930s, the Sheffield Philharmonic Society was formed in 1935 to put on an annual season of concerts, many being given by the Hallé Orchestra. The Philharmonic Series of concerts still takes place to this day in the City Hall, with concerts given by many world-famous orchestras. The Amateur Musical Society was adopted as the resident chorus, and renamed itself the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus.
However, the Amateur Musical Society was not the only chorus in Sheffield. In 1876, the Sheffield Musical Union had been founded by Henry Coward (1849–1944). Coward was to conduct the Union for an astonishing period of 57 years, retiring only in 1933. As a musician, he was mostly self-taught, but became a highly respected choral conductor in the Yorkshire region, and also conducted other choirs such as the Huddersfield Choral Society. At its height, the Sheffield Choir was probably the leading amateur chorus in England. Amongst others, it gave the first performance of Elgar’s Coronation Ode (including Land of Hope and Glory) in 1902. Coward was knighted for his services to choral singing in 1927.

Sir Henry Coward

The Sheffield Choir, numbering about 200 members, toured Canada and the United States in 1908, but this was just the precursor to an even more remarkable tour. In 1911, the Sheffield Choir was joined by singers from other choirs conducted by Coward on a six-month world tour, still remembered as one of the most remarkable events in British choral history. The tour covered 34000 miles, with 134 concerts in Canada, the United States, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania and South Africa.

Sheffield Big Band

website leading to the university's big band

http://www.musicinthegardens.co.uk/bands/sheffield-universaity-big-band-wednesday-29th-big-band-night/

imagery:

Glenn Miller's Big Band

In a workshop, Toby mentioned looking at existing big band's like the one of Glenn Miller.

These are a couple of his album covers

As you can see a lot of them feature the blue hue which ties in nicely with the idea of twilight, so theres defintely a link i can use with this.

This a piece by the man himself, its quite upbeat and very dancy, if the muisc in Alight Twilight is going to be like that, then its something i should keep in mind when coming up with my animation so it will fit along nicely with the music.

Musicians That will part of Alight

I decided to have a look at the actual acts that will be performing on the night, Will be nice to find some background information about them and the style of music thats being played

Twilight: imagery & coloured used

When thinking about the word twilight, these are the types of image that conjour up in my mind. An occurance is the colour blue, however with a subtle hint of orange in some place, the two colour together create an interesting mix.

Theatre - Imagery

Because Alight Twilight will be held in the city hall, a place which is very theatrical i though i'd show imagery that i think is associated with it, to show the style and theme that may come across

City Hall

This is where alight Twilight event is being held:

Timothy Allen

 

Timothy Allen is a talented composer and musical arranger.
He specialises in working with people who have no previous musical experience - enabling them to achieve their potential. As a musical director and vocal coach, he has trained over 5,000 singers, and arranged or orchestrated nearly 1,000 songs during his 15 year career.
His arrangements have been performed worldwide, including The Royal Albert Hall.

"Olympic Triptych" takes its inspiration from two themes, and three words. The themes are those of the Olympic ideal, and the development of Sheffield as a city. The three words, which delineate the three sections of the piece, are Unite - Arise - Alight.

Composition began in September 2011, and the first two sections were workshopped with some of the participating groups on Bonfire Night, 5th November 2011. Ensembles involved in the final piece include Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus (the commissioning choir), Sheffield Music Academy, Sheffield City Opera, Escafeld Chorale, BeVox (Timothy's own choir), New Mill Male Voice Choir, Sheffield University's Singing Society, Sheffield Bach Choir, Concord Youth Music and the Endcliffe Orchestra.

"Olympic Triptych" will be the finale of the "Alight: Twilight" event - a fully scripted show with narrative, projections, several orchestras and multiple choirs. The event is being directed by Mark Langley, and will bring together participants from across Yorkshire. Tickets will be available from December 2011 - link to follow.

More information about Twilight

I found this crucial piece of information that gives me alittle bit more information about the main people involved in the Twilight set

A city. Its people. Their music. On this unique day over 750 performers will join together to celebrate Sheffield’s contribution to the national BBC/LOCOG led Music Nation weekend, a countdown event for the London 2012 Festival, the finale of the Cultural Olympiad. Local musicians, singers and dancers will perform in a one-off evening spectacular created by Mark Langley that will celebrate the musical, cultural and historical events that make up our great city of Sheffield. The performance will be a fully directed show with a narrative starting from when Sheffield was first recognised as a city in 1893. Musically flying through the decades Alight: Twilight will culminate in the world première of Timothy Allen’s “Olympic Triptych” which has been specifically composed for the unique forces in the Oval Hall taking part in this truly once-in-a-lifetime event.

Deciding on the outcome

After carefully reading through the brief i have chosen to go down the projection route, the requirement is:

''specifically for the ‘Twilight’ event at the City Hall – to be used in the venue, to accompany the experience of the musical performances themselves. Can be still-image sequences or moving, but should not be synchronised to performances.''

As i am doing motion graphics i really want to keep developing my skills and with this side of the festival hopefully i can chanllege myself and come up with something intriquing and unique.

To move on from here i am now going to research more into the 'twilight' part of the event to see what it entails to help me form my animation

existing branding for festivals

 Just thought it would be interesting to look at existing posters for music events, just to see the layout, what information they've included, the imagery, the text, the colours and the overall style. Its interesting to see the variation in look depending on the what the event is about.

Participatory Design, Public Interaction

After that inspiring workshop i thought i go see if there any examples in the design world of people using this tech technique, or the idea of letter others create the art

http://vimeo.com/11328910

This student was testing to see if people would write their opinions of police, in an anonymous yet public way. This let the audience decide how the final poster looked liked. Furthermore the crucial part of the whole design was their comment so in that way the designer has left it up to the public to be in control and be controversial or not.


This video shows an interactive poster concept whereby each poster stand has an inbuilt webcam which them can be linked with another stand so two people can have a conversation with each other. I thought this was a very clever way of getting people to interact with one another

Out of my control & Crowd Speak

In this workshop we were each given a blank letter from the word 'alight', we were then instructed to add a small design to it, them pass the letter on to the next person, this carried on for the full session and by the end each letter had been fully illustrated in some way by everyone in the room.

Its a fascinating way to work as it means letting go of your creative control and letter others influence the design. Normally i'm a bit of a control freak when it come to my work, but i found this workshop quite enjoyable. I really like the idea of everyone participating in the design and the final results  were quite rewarding.