Post 27: More of the Same...

    I do hope the ticket marketing department considers filling the unsold seats (if any) with young people that would not otherwise get a chance to see the show, either because they wouldn’t know about it, or because they couldn’t afford the regular tickets.

   I actually wish we could have a special additional afternoon performance of the Requiem, and bus in a concert hall full of school children. Food for thought...

  Classical music IS an acquired taste, and one has to be exposed to it early. I am afraid we are losing the younger generations to smart phone entertainment on demand, and I am glad we now have in Carlos a conductor who is keenly aware of the importance of getting involved with schools, having himself grown up in the justly famous El Systema of Venezuela. 

  I strongly believe that having images supplementing the music of the Requiem would really appeal to youngsters, and THIS IS OUR CHANCE, our ONLY chance actually, at least until another crazy artist devotes him or herself to doing this kind of thing again. Because, let’s be realistic, the ASO can’t afford paying somebody to do it: this show is really worth over $50,000…

  I sincerely hope everyone enjoys this show, and would like as many people as possible to see it, because it may not happen again for a while. I am getting old, and this was a huge drain on my energy and time for a whole year. I probably wouldn’t have it in me to do it again, if I was ever asked...

  

Post 26: Trying to get as many people as possible to see the Requiem

   I noticed that in the Season Program, the Concert was listed as BEETHOVEN FIFTH SYMPHONY. Granted, it is much better know than the Requiem and the ASO probably believe that it IS what sells tickets. But there is really nothing new there, I have heard it a thousand times. It’s a great standard piece of music, a mainstay of the Repertoire, and I am sure Carlos will give us a fabulous performance of it. 

   But I feel the Requiem with Projection really IS the Special Event of the Night, the Creative Thing that has not been done before, and might have deserved a little more visible billing. And the season program only reaches the people on the ASO mailing list anyway. Are we not trying this “stunt" to pull in a new younger audience, to modernize the image of the ASO?

   One thing we talked about Sunday night after I mentioned the above to my friends after testing the show on them was: "What can we do to let more people know about the show?". Each one will definitely post on Facebook and tell their friends, but what more?

   How can we let as many people as possible  know that something new, exciting, unique, and hopefully wonderful is going to happen on April 15 and 16. Only two nights and it will be gone forever. 

  We need to reach out to the community at large, especially the “OUTSIDERS” that don't attend ASO Concerts, especially the younger crowd of Millenniums, the Music Video generation, the compulsive multitasks, the rock concert goers, that I believe will be more drawn to the Symphony by an AUDIO VISUAL performance like the Requiem than by the Fifth. We should even reach out to the school children who are the future audience.

   If the show is not sold out, is there any way to fill the rest of the house with young people from local universities and schools. Fifty to Eighty Bucks a seat is way too steep for a lot of these young people anyway. 

  The Fifth will draw the older conservative crowd and the Season ticket holders for sure. No surprise there, it’s a sure bet. But could we not try to promote the part of the concert that is truly innovative to a different younger crowd, the one that does NOT have season tickets, does NOT go to the ASO web site, does NOT follow it on Facebook yet, may never have been to an ASO concert before, may NOT have ever heard of the ASO, and possibly even think Beethoven is boring and classical music is for a bunch of elitist old folks…?

   I am not knocking Beethoven here, the 5th is great music, it was revolutionary in it’s time, but that was 200 years ago! I actually grew up on that music 50-60 years ago, I know it very well, but frankly, I have heard it so many times already that to me, the Requiem IS the exciting part of the evening. It is rarely performed, it is beautiful, historical, meaningful, and as far as I know has never been done before with a full length hour long dedicated projection. And I am not saying that out of ego or of pride, nor because it is my work and I spent a thousand hours working on it. I would be just as excited about it if somebody else was in my shoes, and would not miss it for the world. 

   There are conservatie people out there that will come primarily to hear the Fifth, and will hear AND SEE the Requiem as an add on, that they may or may Not like. But then I believe there are also A LOT of people out there that don’t give a hoot about the Fifth, but might come ESPECIALLY to see the Special Presentation of Cherubuni’s Requiem with VISUALS, because it is new, modern, hip, cool, inovative, exciting, different, and a World Premiere, in Birmingham, Alabama of all places...

   Please don’t mind my rant. I always speak my mind, no matter what, and sometimes get a little carried away. You have to understand I have invested myself heavily creatively and emotionally in this show, having spent over 1000 hours and a whole year of my life to produce it .

Post 25: Test Run with Friends

   We had friends over for dinner Sunday night, and I asked them to look at the show as it was and give me some critique, as well as check it for mistakes, jarring things and spelling errors. Sometimes, one gets  involved so closely obvious mistakes are not noticed.
  They seemed impressed with what they saw, but did find a number of spelling mistakes, which I set out to correct yesterday. That of course gave me the opportunity to fine tune a few things, remove a few unnecessary things, and add a few new ones of course. Ideas keep coming...

  I rendered the revised Dies Irae last night, only to find when I watched it this morning that I had made a spelling mistake in the one word I had added! The R key is next to the T key. I never ends...

Post 24: Working on the Dies Irae

    I found some great images to use in the Requiem. The problem as always is to find high quality images in hight definition. Things have gotten much better since the days when pictures on the internet were something like 400x800 or less. It has become common for people to post stuff straight our of their camera. Still, amateur pictures are often badly framed, badly lighted, and badly exposed, and I am looking for the best possible images. Also, I need mostly images shot straight on, and many pictures reshot at an angle. Furthermore, my canvas is a huge 5760 pixels wide, and images that big are hard to find.
  So in a way, the project has been influenced by my lucky finds. 
   Different sequences require different approaches. Some I work on in a linear way from start to finish. Others, especially the longer ones, I work on in sections. That is the case with the Dies Irae. I did the beginning linearly, but am now working on "snippets" that will be joined later wit transitions.
  For example, I knew I wanted to do a section on the famous "Martyrs of Compiègne", the whole convent of 16 Carmelites that were guillotined together on July 17, 1794, one of the very last days of the "Terreur". Georges Bernanos wrote a book, and Francis Poulenc an Opera about them. The youngest was 30, the oldest 80. My pickings were slim, nuns didn't get their portrait painted very often, but I am putting together a short hommage, and an also doing a section on the treatment of other "refractaire" priests and nuns that refused to swear allegiance to the Republic when the Churches were taken over and the convents closed.
  I am also doing a small section on Madame du Barry, born Jeanne Bécu, courtisane, and long time Favorite of the former King Louis XV, also executed towards the end of the "Terreur". 

Post 39: Back to the Dies Irae!

  As a way to keep myself going 12 hours a day, I have to change movement  periodically, and work on all at the same time. Some people would probably prefer finishing one, then the next, etch I just can't work that way, as everything I discover working on one might be used on another. I prefer the back and forth approach, and find it gives the ensemble more unity.
   Talking about unity, the Dies Irae stands apart, and I waited quite a while to tackle it.  I then came up with an idea I pursued for quite a while, an kinda put aside because of concerns some people might laugh... Not allowed during a Requiem.
   I started working with another more sedate idea, but my heart was not into it. So I showed the first draft to a few trusted friends, and they thought it wasn't funny, and I should pursue my first instinct.
  So I re opened the file in After Effects this morning early, and have been cutting things,out,  adding new ones, and moving stuff around. I am at the same time simplifying and adding new complexity.
  In particular, I decided to add some "tricoteuses". Rather than explaining, I will give you the Wilkepedia Link.
  I found of course caricatures of the nasty ones

but also a wonderful image by Greases of a young sweet adorable "Tricoteuse Endormie"(asleep)

     I should be able to use it to good effect...

Post 38: Things are Good

   I really like the new machine a lot. Even though"on paper", the tests only show a 50% increase in speed, rendering goes a lot faster, and working with it much faster.
   I have nearly completed the Agnus Dei, with a long list of "slightly wacky" credits, including the Kings, the Philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment

 the Revolutionaries both American and French, etc... Even the Founding Fathers!

  I am well lease with last night's rendering, which took a mere 5 hours, with no more than a few bugs and hiccups to correct.   
  I came up with pretty elaborate individual background for each credit, even though they will show only a few seconds. I particularly like the picture of Carlos I tinkered with in Photoshop to go from this

to that:

I also did a little Hommage to my Dad 

and one to my Mom:

  I think my sisters will like these...

Post 37: Faster Machine, I think...

   Well, the new Accelsior PCIe card arrived in two days, and immediately went into the top slot where my old Apple Hardware Raid Card had been sitting unused. I installed the latest version of El Capitan, which went very fast. I only installed Photoshop, Bridge, and After Effects, the "OLD" Quicktime 7 Pro, the VLC player, plus my usual utilities: DiskWarrior, What Size, Clean App, Black Magic Speed Test, CineBench, Matrox Power Desk.
  I plan to reserve this new machine named ACCELSIOR for heavy lifting, and leave it as uncluttered as possible to avoid font and software bugs.  
      I am not getting the maximum 820 Mbits/s speed they claim(up to), and am a little dissappointed in that I was hoping for at least 700, and am only getting about 655Mbits/s...

  But then, that's "on paper", and when it comes to actually working at full def, and especially rendering in After Effects, things seem to go a lot faster. 

   I have a month to send it back if I am not satisfied anyway. We will see how it goes in the next few days...