The Estuaries Series: a multi-component output comprising three full-scale audiovisual compositions, supported by a book chapter, journal article and conference paper.
- Submitting institution
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De Montfort University
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 33017
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
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- Location
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- Brief description of type
- Creative project where another item classification is unsuitable
- Open access status
- -
- Month
- -
- Year
- 2020
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- This submission constitutes an extended body of work developed from 2016-2020, integrating several complex strands of activity and inquiry. The core of the work was the development of three full-scale audiovisual compositions, totalling 20 minutes, that can stand alone or be presented as a series. The portfolio also entailed the programming of two custom objective-C plugins for use in Apple Motion, major updates to the Nodewebba software, a book chapter, a journal article and a conference paper.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The Estuaries Series multi-component output comprises three full-scale audiovisual compositions, supported by a book chapter, journal article and conference paper. The compositions (Estuaries 1, Estuaries 2, and Estuaries 3) can be presented either individually or as a 20-minute multi-movement work.
The project responded to the current lack of a solid theoretical framework for audiovisual counterpoint in audiovisual composition. It also sought to investigate previously unexplored generative techniques for animation and audiovisual integration.
Thus, the project had four objectives:
1. Develop a novel abstract-animation technique through the visualisation of ‘direct-search’ mathematical- optimisation processes.
2. Explore new potentials of my variable-coupled map networks (VCMN) approach as a generative-music tool, as embodied in my Nodewebba public- release software.
3. Assess the potential for VCMN to establish complex but coherent audiovisual counterpoint.
4. Gain further clarification and refinement of my concept of ‘fluid audiovisual counterpoint’.
A detailed account of the project and the resulting research insights appears in the chapter ‘Technique and Audiovisual Counterpoint in the Estuaries Series’ in Sound and Image: Aesthetics and Practices (2020, Routledge). It demonstrates fluid-counterpoint concepts manifested in the Estuaries Series and argues for particular potentials and limits to using non- perceptually informed algorithms for generating audiovisual counterpoint.
The concept of ‘fluid audiovisual counterpoint’ was first presented in the article ‘Towards a Fluid Audiovisual Counterpoint’ in the journal Ideas Sónicas 17(4) (2015).
Nodewebba was first released prior to the REF period, but ‘Nodewebba: Software for Composing with Networked Iterated Maps’ for the 2016 ICMC was the first paper describing the system. Nodewebba subsequently received two major public updates via the Estuaries work.
Estuaries 3 was awarded First Prize: Audiovisual in MADATAC X (2019) in Madrid and has screened at 12 international festivals. Estuaries 1 has screened at 10 international festivals, and Estuaries 2 has screened at 11.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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