Résumé

Two short animation films were made in collaboration with the Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra (SJO), Canada, for a project called ‘Dimensions in Sound’, simulating the phenomena of sound synesthesia. This project investigated how synesthesia could inspire new music scores that in return could be interpreted by synesthete visual artist to develop animations. It builds on a previous collaboration between the author (a synesthete and visual artist) and the orchestra. The visual aspect of these projects – animations to simulate the experience of sound as seen in the author’s mind’s eye – was made with the intent to engage audiences to learn more about this neurological phenomenon and contemplate their own experiences of music. The project began with two music composers, Paul Suchan and Silas Friesen, presenting the author with a series of sounds to activate synesthesia-specific responses. With this information, the composers created scores that were recorded by the SJO. The films were created by first selecting open-source video footage capturing the floating, circling, and fluid shapes that resembled the visual sounds found in the music. Using a rotoscope animation method, the video footage was transcribed into thousands of drawings by the author and her team. The animations were shown in several international film festivals and received multiple awards. In June 2022, the project culminated with a live concert event hosted by the SJO during which the films were projected behind the orchestra who played the compositions. The Dimensions in Sound project was funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.