LIVE ANIMATION DRUMS TO A NEW BEAT

Audio visual pioneers The Sancho Plan have always liked drumming to their own beat, but now the phrase takes on a whole new meaning for the band as they've teamed up with Golden Square to add an interactive element to their live show.

The end result, a narrative animation sequence called The Black Page, reacts to the rhythm of the band's live drum performance to synchronise the motions and sounds on stage with the action of the on-screen characters. A digital signal triggered when drummer Joel Farland hits his kit causes various pre-rendered visual loops to play on screen, creating a mirror image of his actions via the animated avatar.

The story of The Black Page revolves around a futuristic being called Taiko who is plunged into a desert world where he encounters The Jailer, a dark, edgy character flanked by two Victorian cabinets which are actually speakers.

For Farland, the interactive element takes the audience's audio-visual experience to a whole new level and is unlike anything he has ever seen. "This is definitely nothing like what is out there at the moment for music and performance," he explains.

The project has been two years in the making with the video comprising a whopping 20,000 frames over 13minutes of footage. With each frame created from scratch that's no mean feat.
For twenty-three year old Farland - whose drumming is at the centre of the performance - setting up the gear ahead of each gig is an act of choreography in itself. "If I unplugged the wrong pad or cable, or moved any little thing at the wrong time we'd have to start all over and it would delay us for hours," he muses.

The Sancho Plan is the brainchild of animator and director Ed Dawson Taylor and aims to take the best from different artistic disciplines to create a complete musical, visual, artistic product. "We're hugely happy with the result and have just come back from seeing it in action at its premiere in Newcastle…a great occasion of all involved", Taylor explains.

In keeping with the theme of breaking the boundaries of live music, a live synch will be demoed at Golden Square's annual art exhibition on November 26. If you'd like to see The Black Page up close and personal you can sign up for you own audio-visual animated extravaganza when The Sancho Plan announce their tour dates in the coming months.