NUMB - exploring emotionally charged interactions to motivate reflection on non-fiction topics
(2023)
author(s): Elin Festøy
published in: University of Inland Norway
This PhD project in artistic research by Elin Festøy, research fellow at The Norwegian Film School, Innlandet University College, is situated in the field of interactive experiences. Festøy explores how emotionally charged interactions can be used to build trust and communicate non-fiction topics in a way that is more likely to motivate empathy and change. The artistic exploration consists of a consecutive row of conceptual VR experiences. The reflections turn to the role of freedom and agency in interactive experiences and how these can help build a trusting relationship between creator and participant.
Ways of expression: the impact of VFX technology on modern storytelling in film and interactive media production.
(2023)
author(s): Rafal Hanzl
published in: University of Inland Norway
The rapid development and adoption of digital technology expanded horizons of creativity and opened new artistic frontiers. The broad array of options can potentially have a negative effect, however, as artists can become overwhelmed by the means of expression enabled by new methods they could never have imagined were possible.
Visual communication assists storytelling and should be used precisely to emphasize the desired features of a story. In filmmaking, visual effects (VFX) should serve as a creative instrument to strengthen the story and artistic vision and communicate the desired idea to the audience. Using VFX in planning and developing the implementation of artistic ideas can play a key role in contemporary art as well. This challenge of visual communication is all the more noticeable in an emerging medium of virtual reality. I argue that VFX tools facilitates solving artistic problems in the majority of creative activities.
My project investigates the creative and artistic potential of the tools of digital manipulation. The research focuses on two key artistic creations: a feature documentary “In touch” and a virtual reality installation for the Lodz Philharmonic “The Road to Excellence”. Through artistic experiments performed in these two projects, I develop innovative creative methods for a new creative profession in the film and interactive media industry: a digital visual designer. My aim was to explore how this new artistic collaborator contributes to the visual universe of the artistic creation.
Storytelling in improvisation-based composition: a classical flute player's experience with experimental music
(2023)
author(s): Catalina Popa-Mörck
published in: Research Catalogue
This master thesis is a documentation of a journey towards self-discovery and artistic development which took place during my two years as a NoCom (Nordic Master for the Composing Musician) student at the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg, Sweden.
In the Research Catalogue pages I have gathered ideas, reflections, analysis, experiments, scores and audio/video material that, I feel, surmise the work I have done during my studies. However, beyond the tangible elements offered, I believe this content tells the story of my process towards coming into my own practice.
With the goal of using the creative and performative tools at my disposal (that stem from my background as a classical musician with a passion for rock/metal music and live electronics) in order to facilitate storytelling through my compositions and a better communication with the audience, I present to you my journal as I go through this process, told in the frame of a fairy tale.
Transient sound
(2023)
author(s): Alicia Lazaro Arteaga
published in: Research Catalogue
Art, and music, have the capacity of placing us in front of the symbolic. They bring us closer to everything we cannot understand in a rational manner, allowing us to see ourselves from the inside. Going back to the notion of music as a transformative ritual, a role that has had along centuries in most societies. Music as a sacred space.
This exposition explores the relationship between music and text. Placing the idea of narrative as part of the music, connecting storytelling with sound. By using folklore stories as a structural element in the composition process, I have attempted to grasp the emotional landscapes inside of the tales and translate them into music. This process has been crystallized into several pieces that show the path between the starting point, which was using a text to create music, and the broader conception of music as an experience that involves not only sound but images, space, and movement.
Classic Expression: the effect of storytelling in a classical concert for children
(2022)
author(s): Vivian de Graaff
published in: KC Research Portal
The traditional way of classical concerts – i.e. a concert of 1,5 hour, no moving or making sounds, no interaction – is not the way to attract children to classical music. There are different inviting ways to interest children in a classical performance, for example with interaction, participation or storytelling. In this research we investigate if storytelling has an effect on children’s enthusiasm for classical music and their likeability of playing an instrument themselves. Furthermore, we assess if there is a relation between musical interest, engagement and/or emotional intensity during the concert. We do this by comparing a story-condition with a technical information-condition, in which the presenter talks about the instruments or the performance location. It is executed in the Classic Express, a concert truck in which laureates of the Prinses Christina Concours, a Dutch competition for young musicians, perform and present classical music for primary school classes. Children answer questions before, directly after and one week after the concert about how much they like the music, if they want to experience it again and if they are interested in playing a musical instrument themselves. The results can support musicians wanting to give engaging performances to children, improve the quality of concerts for this target audience and raise likeability of classical music in young generations.
Demmin – letting a city sound
(2020)
author(s): Mareike Nele Dobewall
published in: VIS - Nordic Journal for Artistic Research
The project ’Demmin – eine Stadt zum Klingen bringen’ (’Demmin – letting a city sound’) explores the history and stories of the German city of Demmin in a dialogue between the local choir, Peenechor, and the site of Haus Demmin. During a two-week workshop the choir and Mareike Dobewall explored how to vocalise other stories, of the inhabitants of Demmin and the two decaying buildings known collectively as Haus Demmin (the ruins of an 11th century fortress and a former mansion). In a sonic dialogue between ageing voices and decaying architecture a vocal performance in the open air was created. Stories, history and fairy tales took new shape through vocal music, and un-listened sound was given presence. The site-determined performance allowed for the memory and the imagination of the visitors and the participants to rise up and become a part of a holistic experience.
Classic Express Research project
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Ilona Sie Dhian Ho, Joram van Ketel, Vivian de Graaff, Ilja Venema, Camilla Genee
connected to: KC Research Portal
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
In a combined qualitative and quantitative research the influence of storytelling in concerts for children is analyzed. In a controlled setting, The Classic Express (mobile concert hall), groups of schoolchildren attend either a concert with or a concert without storytelling. The groups, similar in socio- economic background and age, are compared.
In a quantitative research the involved listening, the felt emotional intensity, the interest in classical music and the interest in actively playing an instrument, will be measured. For quantification new grading systems are developed by scientists and musicians in a collaborative process.
In a qualitative research on the influence of storytelling the focus is on children with severe learning disorders. The emotional responses of these children in concerts with and without storyelling, and in combination with participatory elements (moving, gestures) are observed by teachers and caretakers, They compare their observations in the concert to the normal behaviour of their pupils. Both Interviews with the teachers and their grading of arousal, attention and emotional levels in the concert will provide data that will be analyzed by the reserachers.
This research is the first study of The Classic Expression Research Group, a group of researchers from the Royal Conservatoire and Leiden University, collaborating to provide new insights on the impact of presentation techniques in classical concerts.