The recent years have seen a growing interest among composers and musicians alike to explore the ... more The recent years have seen a growing interest among composers and musicians alike to explore the creative possibilities of combining music with visual media both within and beyond the realms of established collaborative art forms. The technological advances of the digital era have established an artistic climate of increased and ever-evolving potential for collaborative practice not least for works combining music and the sonic arts with timebased visual media. However, the combination of music-particularly music involving live performers-and visual arts whose ontological state is less obviously temporal (e.g. sculpture) can constitute a slightly more elusive and arguably problematic marriage.
The Palgrave Handbook of Sound Design and Music in Screen Media
Melvin explores the concept of the cinematic overture, addressing the broader interpretations of ... more Melvin explores the concept of the cinematic overture, addressing the broader interpretations of the term within current and classical filmic practices. The chapter focuses on two films—Tom Ford’s A Single Man (2009) and Steve McQueen’s Shame (2011)—and in particular their opening sequences, neither of which constitutes an overture in the conventional sense, yet nonetheless seems to embrace many of its preconceived functional and aesthetic connotations. By considering the integration of sound, music and image in each example, Melvin offers a more holistic reading of the overture that renegotiates its established notions within the vernacular of contemporary cinema.
Monument is a multi-channel sound installation that explores the use of ultrasonic, audiospotligh... more Monument is a multi-channel sound installation that explores the use of ultrasonic, audiospotlights (forming three sonic "pillars") as a means of diffusing a three-part vocal composition against a multi-channel soundscape in order to create a virtual, interactive audio environment within a public space.
... Crossan, Seán (2008), 'Hunger, Irish film and television review', http:// w... more ... Crossan, Seán (2008), 'Hunger, Irish film and television review', http:// www.estudioirlandeses. org ... Hill, John (2006), Cinema and Northern Ireland: Film, Culture and Politics, London: BFI. ... Mac Giolla Léith, Caoimhín (2008), 'Flesh becomes words', Frieze Magazine, issue 117 ...
Commissioned for SPNM’s Folk from Here project. Premiered by an ensemble led by Kathryn Tickell a... more Commissioned for SPNM’s Folk from Here project. Premiered by an ensemble led by Kathryn Tickell and Kuljit Bhamra at University of York, May 2008. Performances at RNCM, Spitalfields Festival and Cheltenham Festival (2008). This 9’ work researches the compositional possibilities of creating music for an ensemble incorporating both Indian classical musicians and instrumentalists from British folk traditions. Composed following several workshops with the ensemble, the piece engages with folk idioms as a means of devising a hybrid musical language that establishes common ground between the diverse folk traditions within the group. In attempting to reconcile the commission brief to create a notated score for instrumentalists whose practice tends towards aural dissemination and improvisation (in one instance, a complete absence of Western notational literacy) the work provides a significant point of reference. Here, the integration of improvisational and ‘open form’ passages, melodic mate...
…Until the Needle Dips was composed for the 2007 Right to Music, a year-long access-widening comm... more …Until the Needle Dips was composed for the 2007 Right to Music, a year-long access-widening community music initiative in collaboration with the London Mozart Players conducted in schools and day centres in Surrey. The piece was created during the final phase of the Right to Music project. A 6-month-long series of composition and improvisation workshops was carried out by Adam Melvin and trainee animateurs from the Yehudi Menuhin school in three primary schools and an ALD day centre in Surrey. The long-term goal was to create a multi-movement piece based around the broad theme of ‘the number 8’, one that would incorporate music from all four centres combined with my own four-movement octet, for performance in a concert featuring Schubert’s Octet. The theme that emerged from the workshops was that of the points of the compass.…Until the Needle Dips was performed in the Menuhin Hall in Nov 2007. The four movements of the Octet – named after the winds of the four cardinal points of the compass – were performed by an ensemble incorporating Menuhin school pupils (strings) and London Mozart players (winds)*. Each movement dovetailed and alternated with pieces created in the workshops in response to ideas prompted by the four intermediate points of the compass. The performance was as follows:NW – featuring musicians from Lockwood (ALD) centre, GuildfordN – Tramontane*NE – featuring pupils from St John’s Community School, DorkingE – Levante*SE – featuring pupils from Chandler’s Field School, MoleseyS – Ostro*SW – featuring pupils from St. Andrew’s School, CobhamW - Ponente*
Commissioned for Comment-8 project, part of Northern Ireland’s regional programming around the 20... more Commissioned for Comment-8 project, part of Northern Ireland’s regional programming around the 2012 Olympics, this 25’ collaborative work with writer Carolyn Jess-Cooke for duo, narrator and 4-channel sound responds to a brief to create a work influenced by an Olympic sport, in this instance, archery. The piece addresses an unusual yet germane research question concerning musical composition, namely, how to compose a work that engages with a sporting theme and communicate that influence within its musical construction and performance. The piece’s innovation lies in its multifaceted approach to this task, adopting a compositional strategy that simultaneously engages with the physical mechanics of the chosen sport as well as its broader connotations. Informed by several meetings with Ballyvally archery club, the solo cello at the heart of the work reflects the shared relationship that exists between archer and bow/arrow and musician and (stringed) instrument featuring material develop...
Embodied image schema theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980; 1999) posits that the forms of familiar b... more Embodied image schema theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980; 1999) posits that the forms of familiar bodily gestures and interactions inform relationships within our conceptual and metaphorical systems. It has been applied in various domains, from linguistic metaphor to visual arts (Johnson, 2007) and common practice music theory (Brower, 2000). However, although the language of the film soundtrack is frequently described in gestural terms, embodied image schema theory has not been extensively applied in this field. In seeking to apply this theory to cinematic models, Villeneuve’s Enemy (2013) presents a potentially interesting and representative exemplar. The soundtrack’s omnipresent musical construction is drawn from a palette of sonic–musical gestures which are restated in a variety of timbral guises and across a range of diegetic and audiovisual contexts, even encroaching upon the film’s dialogue. The frequent exaggeration of technological sounds, from the hums of computers and fluor...
This article discusses how the combination of circumambient sound and predominantly fixed camera ... more This article discusses how the combination of circumambient sound and predominantly fixed camera position in It Can Pass Through the Wall achieves a similarly spatial and performative use of sound to that found in multi-channel electroacoustic concert performances. I consider to what extent space itself can ‘tell a story’.
Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, 2017
ArtsIT (Arts and Technology) has previously been presented on four occasionssee the contribution ... more ArtsIT (Arts and Technology) has previously been presented on four occasionssee the contribution by Brooks and Brooks in this publication. Reflecting trends in the expanding field of digital art, interactive art, and how game creation is considered an art form, the decision was made to modify the title of ArtsIT to be known as "The International Conference on Arts and Technology, Interactivity and Game Creation," but still with the acronym ArtsIT. Complementing the ongoing series and to expand the European Alliance for Innovation (EAI) portfolio of events, an initiative to establish a new and complementary event to ArtsIT was undertaken and titled "The International Conference on Design, Learning and Innovation (DLI)." The keynote lecture for ArtsIT was given by Antoni Jaume-i-Capó from Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain, who enthralled attendees in the first session of the first day. The DLI keynote took place on the second day with Sudarshan Khanna and Surabhi Khanna sharing their focused research on play and toys. This LNICST book presents the proceedings of the two-day co-located ArtsIT and DLI events of 2016. Sessions were hosted in two adjacent auditoriumsto facilitate delegate ease of accesswith coffee and adjacent relaxation areas overlooking University Park where the campus of Aalborg University in Esbjerg is located. The campus is a short distance from downtown where all major hotels, restaurants, shopping and entertainment can be found near the busiest port in Denmark. Also close by is the high-standard youth hostel: all ideal for delegate access. Known as the "Energy Metropolis," Esbjerg is a major supplier to the offshore industries as well as being a key fisheries location. Culture is also a main aspect of the city with it being a regular winner of the Danish City of Culture Award. The opening contribution in this book is by the editors, who, as authors, detail the strategy behind the initiative of a co-located double conference for the European Alliance for Innovation. The first delegate paper is titled "The Farm Game: A Game Designed to Follow Children's Playing Maturity.
In recent years, there has been an increase in the creation of interdisciplinary art works incorp... more In recent years, there has been an increase in the creation of interdisciplinary art works incorporating music and moving image, which have sought to explore the relationship between the two media beyond the more established realms of collaborative practices within film. Lately, the concert hall itself has been subject to such explorations offering a platform for musicians and composers to absorb visual media into their own artistic environment as a way of expanding their work into the multidisciplinary or simply enhancing the concert experience. Yet, while music and the moving image continue to blossom together in the gallery and movie theatre, the same relationship in the live concert environment can still constitute a somewhat uncomfortable and often problematic combination. Is this merely a simple question of temporality, a practical or aesthetic issue concerning interaction and synchronicity or is there more to it than that? Could one problem be that there is a visual element already in existence in any concert performance for the simple fact that we see the performer(s) onstage? Is the concert performance already an interdisciplinary environment?By considering the role of the moving image in the context of live musical performance from the rather more unusual perspective of the concert composer and with particular reference to areas of my PhD research including examples from my own works incorporating video, this paper aims to address and offer solutions to some of the practical and aesthetic considerations surrounding this thoroughly engaging development in music and the moving image.
The brainchild of former Blur frontman, Damon Albarn and animator, Jamie Hewlett, Gorillaz are th... more The brainchild of former Blur frontman, Damon Albarn and animator, Jamie Hewlett, Gorillaz are the self-proclaimed world’s “first virtual hip-hop group”, consisting of four animated characters who serve as a front for the bands’s chief protagonists as well as an extended network of collaborating musicians, DJs and producers. Since their debut release and first public performance in March 2001, they have evolved from arguably little more than a novelty experiment, to something of a popular music phenomenon, reconfiguring the role of moving image within the genre and challenging our perceptions of what constitutes a pop group. Upon closer examination, however, their success, particularly as a live act, can be seen as something of a mystery. The absence of visible, in-the-flesh musicians on-stage in favour of screen animations and guest performers during their live peformances, the associated familiarity of Albarn’s voice and the simple fact that the band’s conceptual ideas concerning multimedia exploration seem to predate the technological advances required to realise them, are all factors that might appear to condemn Gorillaz to failure as a performing outfit. Do they represent one of the most successful marriages of music and moving image in the concert environment to date, or do their performances offer little more than a string of guest stars with visual decoration?By viewing the development of the band’s live shows in the context of established conventions within video and popular music performance, and exploring their existence as a collaborative force, this paper aims to shed light on the practice of one of pop’s most unique acts.
... Crossan, Seán (2008), 'Hunger, Irish film and television review', http:// w... more ... Crossan, Seán (2008), 'Hunger, Irish film and television review', http:// www.estudioirlandeses. org ... Hill, John (2006), Cinema and Northern Ireland: Film, Culture and Politics, London: BFI. ... Mac Giolla Léith, Caoimhín (2008), 'Flesh becomes words', Frieze Magazine, issue 117 ...
The recent years have seen a growing interest among composers and musicians alike to explore the ... more The recent years have seen a growing interest among composers and musicians alike to explore the creative possibilities of combining music with visual media both within and beyond the realms of established collaborative art forms. The technological advances of the digital era have established an artistic climate of increased and ever-evolving potential for collaborative practice not least for works combining music and the sonic arts with timebased visual media. However, the combination of music-particularly music involving live performers-and visual arts whose ontological state is less obviously temporal (e.g. sculpture) can constitute a slightly more elusive and arguably problematic marriage.
The Palgrave Handbook of Sound Design and Music in Screen Media
Melvin explores the concept of the cinematic overture, addressing the broader interpretations of ... more Melvin explores the concept of the cinematic overture, addressing the broader interpretations of the term within current and classical filmic practices. The chapter focuses on two films—Tom Ford’s A Single Man (2009) and Steve McQueen’s Shame (2011)—and in particular their opening sequences, neither of which constitutes an overture in the conventional sense, yet nonetheless seems to embrace many of its preconceived functional and aesthetic connotations. By considering the integration of sound, music and image in each example, Melvin offers a more holistic reading of the overture that renegotiates its established notions within the vernacular of contemporary cinema.
Monument is a multi-channel sound installation that explores the use of ultrasonic, audiospotligh... more Monument is a multi-channel sound installation that explores the use of ultrasonic, audiospotlights (forming three sonic "pillars") as a means of diffusing a three-part vocal composition against a multi-channel soundscape in order to create a virtual, interactive audio environment within a public space.
... Crossan, Seán (2008), 'Hunger, Irish film and television review', http:// w... more ... Crossan, Seán (2008), 'Hunger, Irish film and television review', http:// www.estudioirlandeses. org ... Hill, John (2006), Cinema and Northern Ireland: Film, Culture and Politics, London: BFI. ... Mac Giolla Léith, Caoimhín (2008), 'Flesh becomes words', Frieze Magazine, issue 117 ...
Commissioned for SPNM’s Folk from Here project. Premiered by an ensemble led by Kathryn Tickell a... more Commissioned for SPNM’s Folk from Here project. Premiered by an ensemble led by Kathryn Tickell and Kuljit Bhamra at University of York, May 2008. Performances at RNCM, Spitalfields Festival and Cheltenham Festival (2008). This 9’ work researches the compositional possibilities of creating music for an ensemble incorporating both Indian classical musicians and instrumentalists from British folk traditions. Composed following several workshops with the ensemble, the piece engages with folk idioms as a means of devising a hybrid musical language that establishes common ground between the diverse folk traditions within the group. In attempting to reconcile the commission brief to create a notated score for instrumentalists whose practice tends towards aural dissemination and improvisation (in one instance, a complete absence of Western notational literacy) the work provides a significant point of reference. Here, the integration of improvisational and ‘open form’ passages, melodic mate...
…Until the Needle Dips was composed for the 2007 Right to Music, a year-long access-widening comm... more …Until the Needle Dips was composed for the 2007 Right to Music, a year-long access-widening community music initiative in collaboration with the London Mozart Players conducted in schools and day centres in Surrey. The piece was created during the final phase of the Right to Music project. A 6-month-long series of composition and improvisation workshops was carried out by Adam Melvin and trainee animateurs from the Yehudi Menuhin school in three primary schools and an ALD day centre in Surrey. The long-term goal was to create a multi-movement piece based around the broad theme of ‘the number 8’, one that would incorporate music from all four centres combined with my own four-movement octet, for performance in a concert featuring Schubert’s Octet. The theme that emerged from the workshops was that of the points of the compass.…Until the Needle Dips was performed in the Menuhin Hall in Nov 2007. The four movements of the Octet – named after the winds of the four cardinal points of the compass – were performed by an ensemble incorporating Menuhin school pupils (strings) and London Mozart players (winds)*. Each movement dovetailed and alternated with pieces created in the workshops in response to ideas prompted by the four intermediate points of the compass. The performance was as follows:NW – featuring musicians from Lockwood (ALD) centre, GuildfordN – Tramontane*NE – featuring pupils from St John’s Community School, DorkingE – Levante*SE – featuring pupils from Chandler’s Field School, MoleseyS – Ostro*SW – featuring pupils from St. Andrew’s School, CobhamW - Ponente*
Commissioned for Comment-8 project, part of Northern Ireland’s regional programming around the 20... more Commissioned for Comment-8 project, part of Northern Ireland’s regional programming around the 2012 Olympics, this 25’ collaborative work with writer Carolyn Jess-Cooke for duo, narrator and 4-channel sound responds to a brief to create a work influenced by an Olympic sport, in this instance, archery. The piece addresses an unusual yet germane research question concerning musical composition, namely, how to compose a work that engages with a sporting theme and communicate that influence within its musical construction and performance. The piece’s innovation lies in its multifaceted approach to this task, adopting a compositional strategy that simultaneously engages with the physical mechanics of the chosen sport as well as its broader connotations. Informed by several meetings with Ballyvally archery club, the solo cello at the heart of the work reflects the shared relationship that exists between archer and bow/arrow and musician and (stringed) instrument featuring material develop...
Embodied image schema theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980; 1999) posits that the forms of familiar b... more Embodied image schema theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980; 1999) posits that the forms of familiar bodily gestures and interactions inform relationships within our conceptual and metaphorical systems. It has been applied in various domains, from linguistic metaphor to visual arts (Johnson, 2007) and common practice music theory (Brower, 2000). However, although the language of the film soundtrack is frequently described in gestural terms, embodied image schema theory has not been extensively applied in this field. In seeking to apply this theory to cinematic models, Villeneuve’s Enemy (2013) presents a potentially interesting and representative exemplar. The soundtrack’s omnipresent musical construction is drawn from a palette of sonic–musical gestures which are restated in a variety of timbral guises and across a range of diegetic and audiovisual contexts, even encroaching upon the film’s dialogue. The frequent exaggeration of technological sounds, from the hums of computers and fluor...
This article discusses how the combination of circumambient sound and predominantly fixed camera ... more This article discusses how the combination of circumambient sound and predominantly fixed camera position in It Can Pass Through the Wall achieves a similarly spatial and performative use of sound to that found in multi-channel electroacoustic concert performances. I consider to what extent space itself can ‘tell a story’.
Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, 2017
ArtsIT (Arts and Technology) has previously been presented on four occasionssee the contribution ... more ArtsIT (Arts and Technology) has previously been presented on four occasionssee the contribution by Brooks and Brooks in this publication. Reflecting trends in the expanding field of digital art, interactive art, and how game creation is considered an art form, the decision was made to modify the title of ArtsIT to be known as "The International Conference on Arts and Technology, Interactivity and Game Creation," but still with the acronym ArtsIT. Complementing the ongoing series and to expand the European Alliance for Innovation (EAI) portfolio of events, an initiative to establish a new and complementary event to ArtsIT was undertaken and titled "The International Conference on Design, Learning and Innovation (DLI)." The keynote lecture for ArtsIT was given by Antoni Jaume-i-Capó from Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain, who enthralled attendees in the first session of the first day. The DLI keynote took place on the second day with Sudarshan Khanna and Surabhi Khanna sharing their focused research on play and toys. This LNICST book presents the proceedings of the two-day co-located ArtsIT and DLI events of 2016. Sessions were hosted in two adjacent auditoriumsto facilitate delegate ease of accesswith coffee and adjacent relaxation areas overlooking University Park where the campus of Aalborg University in Esbjerg is located. The campus is a short distance from downtown where all major hotels, restaurants, shopping and entertainment can be found near the busiest port in Denmark. Also close by is the high-standard youth hostel: all ideal for delegate access. Known as the "Energy Metropolis," Esbjerg is a major supplier to the offshore industries as well as being a key fisheries location. Culture is also a main aspect of the city with it being a regular winner of the Danish City of Culture Award. The opening contribution in this book is by the editors, who, as authors, detail the strategy behind the initiative of a co-located double conference for the European Alliance for Innovation. The first delegate paper is titled "The Farm Game: A Game Designed to Follow Children's Playing Maturity.
In recent years, there has been an increase in the creation of interdisciplinary art works incorp... more In recent years, there has been an increase in the creation of interdisciplinary art works incorporating music and moving image, which have sought to explore the relationship between the two media beyond the more established realms of collaborative practices within film. Lately, the concert hall itself has been subject to such explorations offering a platform for musicians and composers to absorb visual media into their own artistic environment as a way of expanding their work into the multidisciplinary or simply enhancing the concert experience. Yet, while music and the moving image continue to blossom together in the gallery and movie theatre, the same relationship in the live concert environment can still constitute a somewhat uncomfortable and often problematic combination. Is this merely a simple question of temporality, a practical or aesthetic issue concerning interaction and synchronicity or is there more to it than that? Could one problem be that there is a visual element already in existence in any concert performance for the simple fact that we see the performer(s) onstage? Is the concert performance already an interdisciplinary environment?By considering the role of the moving image in the context of live musical performance from the rather more unusual perspective of the concert composer and with particular reference to areas of my PhD research including examples from my own works incorporating video, this paper aims to address and offer solutions to some of the practical and aesthetic considerations surrounding this thoroughly engaging development in music and the moving image.
The brainchild of former Blur frontman, Damon Albarn and animator, Jamie Hewlett, Gorillaz are th... more The brainchild of former Blur frontman, Damon Albarn and animator, Jamie Hewlett, Gorillaz are the self-proclaimed world’s “first virtual hip-hop group”, consisting of four animated characters who serve as a front for the bands’s chief protagonists as well as an extended network of collaborating musicians, DJs and producers. Since their debut release and first public performance in March 2001, they have evolved from arguably little more than a novelty experiment, to something of a popular music phenomenon, reconfiguring the role of moving image within the genre and challenging our perceptions of what constitutes a pop group. Upon closer examination, however, their success, particularly as a live act, can be seen as something of a mystery. The absence of visible, in-the-flesh musicians on-stage in favour of screen animations and guest performers during their live peformances, the associated familiarity of Albarn’s voice and the simple fact that the band’s conceptual ideas concerning multimedia exploration seem to predate the technological advances required to realise them, are all factors that might appear to condemn Gorillaz to failure as a performing outfit. Do they represent one of the most successful marriages of music and moving image in the concert environment to date, or do their performances offer little more than a string of guest stars with visual decoration?By viewing the development of the band’s live shows in the context of established conventions within video and popular music performance, and exploring their existence as a collaborative force, this paper aims to shed light on the practice of one of pop’s most unique acts.
... Crossan, Seán (2008), 'Hunger, Irish film and television review', http:// w... more ... Crossan, Seán (2008), 'Hunger, Irish film and television review', http:// www.estudioirlandeses. org ... Hill, John (2006), Cinema and Northern Ireland: Film, Culture and Politics, London: BFI. ... Mac Giolla Léith, Caoimhín (2008), 'Flesh becomes words', Frieze Magazine, issue 117 ...
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