Lines for Clarinet
John Osborne
Edmonton
2011 Animation 4:47
Lines for Clarinet is an animated video created to a musical
composition written and performed by Edmonton clarinetist Don Ross for this
work. Using only a single white dot as the graphic element, a fluid sequence of
interacting dots and lines were synchronized to the music. The video attempts
to rise above its minimal graphic form and evoke the emotional feel of the
music. This animated video was made with the Punto y Raya (Dot and Line) Festival
in Spain in mind. Considered the
most abstract film festival in the world, the criteria require that only minimal
abstract forms be used with no figurative representation or dialogue.
John began experimenting with abstract images and film in
the late nineteen sixties and later worked for two years as the operator of a novel
hybrid analogue computer used to make some of the first computer animated
television commercials in the UK. In 1975, John returned to Canada and began a
30-year career with a large multinational company working in areas of
information technology and environmental research, but continued his interest
in the visual arts. In early 2000, he returned to the computer as a creative
tool and began experimenting with mathematical algorithms to generate patterns
and abstract images. He began to animate these images to music using a variety
of tools including Adobe After Effects. John is interested in the relationship
between sounds and images and exploring those through computer and video
techniques. Over the last few years, he has had films shown at festivals in
North America and Europe.