“Here’s a creative way to promote your upcoming symphony season and up your brand: Strap your conductor in a motion capture suit, switch on a dozen high-tech cameras, and get an artist to translate the data into kaleidoscopic shapes and colors,” reports Tom Huizenga on Tuesday (6/20) at National Public Radio. “Then sit back and watch as Simon Rattle, who takes over the storied London Symphony Orchestra this fall, morphs into an oozing blob, a twisting tower of metallic rods and, rather deliciously, a tangle of angel hair pasta…. The LSO teamed with techies from the University of Portsmouth and Vicon Motion Systems, who captured Rattle’s movements while conducting … Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Digital artist Tobias Gremmler was then called in to convert the gestures into animated films.… The data has also helped create a new font for the LSO. Rattle’s swooshing, custom-built baton slices through letters and numbers, resulting in a customized typeface. The New York Times, in collaboration with New York University’s Movement Lab, crafted something similar [when] they strapped in New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert, and tracked his motions while conducting, in order to better understand just what makes conducting work.” Video is included.
Posted June 22, 2017
