Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Sensebellum Remixes Vol.1

Sensebellum is proud to bring you a pack of Creative Commons visual loops for any type of use. These visual loops are based off of the work of Beeple, an artist by the name of Mike Winkelmann, who specializes in integrating visual with sound elements. His work has shown great definition and style for visual content ans has been included in such acts as Flying Lotus. This, coupled with the Creative Commons license, produced broad interpretations for Mike's work that we then are able to provide for everyone. Of course, Sensebellum released these derivatives in the same form, Creative Commons, and here we are.

So, here is a short mix of the different visual remixes, and, a link to the loops in their whole form. We might add that these loops are in 1280 x 720 Apple ProRes 422 Proxy codec.

Here is the link for the remixes Sensebellum Remixes Vol.1

For more information on Beeple, check out his website.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Harvest Fest 2012

What an amazing Harvest this year: beautiful late summer weather, friendly people, and a great audio/visual experience that spanned the entire campground. Heading up the East end of the field, Sensebellum and Dj Pandorum cooked up a splendid stage design that incorporated massive size, environmental lighting, and visuals that engaged the architecture.

Creating the content blended a mix of 3D software and pictures taken on site to generate a truly 3 dimensional perception of the structure. Check out a few pictures of the content below then swing by the website for all the goods!







Smashing Convention

When Sensebellum was contacted by The Music Producers Club at Western to make a Halloween themed concert poster, we wanted to approach the poster creation process with a smashingly fresh perspective. This was of course to create a scene and photograph the destruction of pumpkins for a one-of-a-kind poster - breaking the norm of purely digital promotion.

Ironically, the image of the cinder block about to smash the pumpkin was chosen as the final image. This was due to its freeze frame/anticipatory qualities. Just like the poster, the party doesn't start until the brick hits the floor on October 20th, Fright Night - be there!

Make sure to check out the great pictures of smashes, crashes, and outtakes from the shoot below!

Also, a big thanks to Katy Bentz, Tate, Cameron, Jakob, Josh, John, Elliot, Max, and all the others who helped out!



Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Summer Meltdown 2012

"What a great time dude!"
"I'm Melting!"
"Did you see them play down by the river?"

Were all phrases that could be heard at the 2012 Summer Meltdown Festival held every year at the Whitehorse Amphitheater in Darrington, Washington - 12 times running. This time around Sensebellum and friends travelled in group up to the mountains north of Seattle to see what it was all about!

It was myself, Casey Scalf, as Lead Visual Artist, good friend Tate Petersen, Zixent (Rashad Collins), and a host of other mates made up the Visual Arts campground. Settled next to the Chazzam sign guys and the people at the Wild Buffalo Camp we all shared the hospitality of the evergreen woods and their sun blocking power to let it be chill. After breaking camp it was time to go explore the grounds and oh was it not the most perfect setup I've seen. In fact, I had seen this place before. It happened to be the site of the first music festival I had ever been to, The Classic Rock Festival of 2006 when I was in 8th grade - gooood times. Either way, the grounds are flanked by a slow river with the Main stages and areas to gather caught between the forrest and grassland camping.



Walking up to the sites of the stage we got everything setup. Glowing orbs: check. Massive amounts of sound equipment: check. High powered short throw projector for Northern Lights stage: check. Stretchable, mappable fabrics: also check. It was a great setup from a production standpoint too. The boys and girls at Meltdown had done everything to make sure this year was the best (and believe me it was!) including a killer meal for everyone working there to enjoy at night!

During the days it was mostly chilling: hanging out at camp in the shade, walking to the river and swimming with strangers in the nude; as casual as it could be. Once afternoon hit everyone would head down and grab some good vibes by the main stage as it warmed up. Then, just as the sun lowered past the trees, it was time for Sensebellum to shine. Integrating live projections with 11 stretchable shapes and a bamboo structure that covered the stage was a dream. Using Senses, a live visual content mixing program developed in house, along with a mapping tool, a beautifully lit and crafted stage came to life.


Working the visual elements at Meltdown was a realt treat. Not only was the structure fantastic but the parameters of the content resulted in a interesting content workflow. Creating and mixing visuals for live electronic music is a completely different animal than say blue grass, folk, jazz, or funk - yet great as well. I worked with the different musicians to find something that was suited to their style. Whether it be animating album artwork for The True Spokes of That 1 Guy, maybe integrating footage from the river of clouds on site for Ha Ha Tonka, or, my favorite, was working in sacred geometry, flower of life, and other forms into Acorn Project's set (as per request).

Then, as the Northern Lights stage wore down it was time to switch gears to the Late Night tent for some electronic magic. Using Canvas sections of the large outdoor tent a visual medley was unleashed from a mapped out triangular section. Once again, Senses cut the loops, modulated, mixed, and brought out all the crystalline themes of the tent and camp for a end of the weekend blast off.

When the 6th day on site rolled around, it was still sooo much fun but everyone was feeling it. We were all totally melted... Yet, still in good spirits - especially when the hot pancakes rolled out that last morning.

All in all it was a really great time. I want to thank Preston Hall once again for inviting Sensebellum out there. I'd also like to thank all the great musicians who played and brought down the house every night. I'd like to thank the volunteers and staff for working so hard and putting it all on. See you next year!

- Casey
 

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Photography Buzz

     One of the many things we specialize in at Sensebellum is photography.

     Whatever the medium, abstract, landscape, portrait, or heavily altered - it's all a blast capturing the different perspectives from a given experience and sharing them with the world.

     In a recent outing to the Pike Place Market in Seattle Washington, I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of the famous Pike Place Sign. So, after walking around I found a luscious display of vegetables at one vendor's stand. Quickly, before the stream of patrons knocked me over I snapped this picture.


All in good fun, it was a blast at the areas best open air market.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Interactive Planets on Building


On August 22nd of 2011, Sensebellum met up with those at El Capitan's Hot Dogs in Bellingham Washington to create and interactive installation on the side of an abandoned 4-story building. We knew the owners from several occasions "The Root System" had performed there so we figured it would be a great time.

After some local advertising, an event page and a few other means, we had a good gathering come to check out what exactly we were doing. For this installation, we chose to concentrate on the planets, specifically being able to explore them with your body and hands.

We designed the software to enable a user to explore the planets in very natural and intuitive ways. By doing so, no training was needed to interact and explore the planets. You could hold, rotate, and expand the size and orientation of a planet just like you were holding a beach ball. When a person clapped their hands, it would switch to the next planet. It was all very easy to use, which resulted in a short learning curve so you could get right down to it. Those using it could even notice the ice caps of Mars,, "I didn't know Mars had ice caps!" said one man. "I had no idea Africa was so huge!", exclaimed another. 

It was all a really good time and a learning experience for all of us. Thanks again to Zac, and El Capitan's for lending us the space and power!

Interactive Billboard at The Cobra Lounge


Back in August 4th of 2011, Sensebellum met up with the good people from The Cobra Lounge in Bellingham Washington. We met up to see what we could do with some projections on the front of the building. The Cobra Lounge, by the way is a Hookah Bar in the middle of downtown Bellingham with locations in both Tacoma and Seattle.

After meeting with Niko "Nikology" Ritter he was on board and we got the green light. After checking out the location, we thought that projections on the front of the building, the billboard that carried the logo, would be the best place for it. On top of this, we decided it best to add an element of interaction that would synthesize the senses - part of our motto. So, we hooked up the microphone, aligned the projectors and mapped the building's front.

It was really interesting to see how people reacted to the installation. With the projectors out of the way most were awed at not only the precision, but the polished look: no cords or equipment laying around. As they approached, their voices, footsteps, and laughter would alter the front of the sign dynamically. Furthermore, people could walk up and grab the microphone. Some would beatbox, some would talk, other would say gibberish but it all came down to the point. People interacting with the physical environment in a way that blended the senses in new ways thanks to innovative uses of technology. That is what we do and we enjoyed doing it!

Once again, thanks to The Cobra Lounge in Bellingham, to Niko, and to all those that came by.