thlai-LookingOutwards-02

Wombats – Techno Fan is generative music video created in 2010 by computational artist Memo Akten. Akten developed his own software using C++/openFrameworks to process video footage of the band. Akten goes into some detail of the process he went through to generate the footage – each raw video shot was edited quite heavily and separated into layers, which were then individually fed through Akten’s software. The software, I imagine, finds the most interesting points of the footage and movement and outputs a new sequence. There are different styles and “looks” applied to different video footage, resulting in a final compilation of a variety of colors and compositions. I wonder how this project would be different if he hadn’t used code and instead drew out each frame. I imagine the results would be extremely different because the randomness of each frame is what makes the video interesting.

The most admirable aspect of this project is that Akten uses existing software to he creates custom software in order to achieve his artistic vision. Not only is he successful in doing so, but the final piece is a visual stunner. He brings the final music video together in After Effects and Final Cut Pro.