Art-Music Videos

[shostakovich]

I used to make art-music programs from 1971 to 1985 (slide-tape at the time). Two years ago, with the great help of my son, I began converting them to DVD. This year I started showing some of the DVDs. Each new one is, of course, a "world premiere". Last night I showed "Paintings that Inspired Music" at a nearby library: Botticelli's Birth of Venus with the same from Respighi's Botticelli Triptych, Hartmann-Mussorgsky's Gate of Kiev, Boecklin-Rachmaninov's Isle of the Dead, Klee's Twittering Machine with the same from Schuller's 7 Studies on Themes of Paul Klee, Grant Wood's Midnight Ride of Paul Revere with the same from Burrill Phillips' Selections from McGuffey's Readers, and finally a series of Van Gogh paintings to Don McLean's Vincent. I'm happy to say it went over very well.

So much for the bragging. I know of nobody else who does similar art-music videos for hobby or profession. My question to you all is "Do any of you know of anybody else who does this?" Can this possibly be an art form that I've "cornered an extremely small market" on?
Shos

[Shapley]

I'm not aware of any. I do seem to recall a showing of the Pictures At An Exhibition that once accompanied the music. I think it may have been in those old Leonard Bernstein "Young People's Concert" films we watched in school. At least I seem to recall them being in black-and-white.

I mentioned a while back in the "symphony orchestra" thread that Shore's Lord of the Rings Symphony was accompanied by images from Tolkein's book, with the map of Middle Earth being most prominent among them. I realize that is not exactly what you are talking about, but your post brings to mind the Audio DVD that comes with the "complete music" set of that movie score. It is accompanied by a similar images, including the map.

Sorry if I've hijacked this slightly. Your hobby sounds interesting, and calls to mind those images.

V/R
Shapley

[shostakovich]

Hi Shap. Thanks for the input. If it's a hi-jack, I'm ready to follow it. Shos

[analog]

sounds very interesting,

perhaps a local art gallery would be interested in having you as an exhibitor.

Your DVD's could be quite marketable.

may you outsell 'johnathan livingston seagull'.....

a.

[piqaboo]

Copyright 'em while you are thinking.
Cant hurt, and I bet they are wonderful viewing.

[analog]

...... I bet they are wonderful viewing.

that's what i was thinking. i'd love to see a snippet at least - is there a way to post an appetizer?

a.

[Shapley]

I was wracking my brain trying to remember some works I was familiar with that were inspired by artworks. I could recall, of course, Resphighi's Fountains of Rome and Church Windows, beside the alread-mentioned Three Botticelli Pictures and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an exhibition.

A little Googling found this site, which has a few I'm vaguely familar with but had forgotten, such as Schickele's Thurber's Dogs, Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, and Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead. Most of them, however, are new to me.

[jamiebk]

This: http://www.scarecrowpress.com/Catalog/S ... 0810845091 might help.

[Shapley]

But, back on topic, I can't find any indication that anyone is doing videos, slide shows, books, or other collections of the art behind the music. Yes, Shos. I believe you may indeed have found an untapped niche for your creative talents!

If you follow the links on the site I posted, you'll find the author's home page, in which he discusses his interest in a similar, though different, format - presenting a concert of art-inspired pieces with a presentation of the pieces projected on a screen during the performance (similar to the Lord of Rings Symphony format I mentioned earlier.

You may want to contact him, Shos, as his interest sounds similar to yours. (I first thought I might have stumbled onto your website, but I see he is younger than I.)

[Schmeelkie]

The Rochester PO did an OrKIDStra concert along those lines - played music, showed art on large screens. We, unfortunately, missed it. Pumpkin is much more into art than music, but I think he would have really enjoyed it. Oh, well.

[barfle]

As a proud recipient of one of Shos's DVDs, I can say that they are quite informative and entertaining.

Copyright and marketing could be a nice retirement income!

[shostakovich]

I was wracking my brain trying to remember some works I was familiar with that were inspired by artworks. I could recall, of course, Resphighi's Fountains of Rome and Church Windows, beside the alread-mentioned Three Botticelli Pictures and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an exhibition.

A little Googling found this site, which has a few I'm vaguely familar with but had forgotten, such as Schickele's Thurber's Dogs, Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, and Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead. Most of them, however, are new to me.

Thanks, Shap. This is a terrific compilation. I can add a few to the list.
Morton Feldman: The Rothko Chapel
Nicholas Flagello: Lautrec Suite
Flor Alpaerts: James Ensor Suite
William Walton: Portsmouth Point, based on a print by Thomas Rowlandson
Claude Debussy: L'Isle Joyeux, based on Watteau's Embarkation for Cythera
Gavin Gordon: The Rake's Progress (Hogarth is on the list for Stravinsky)
Jan Peter Wagemans: Europe after the Rain, based on Max Ernst's painting with same name

This last painting is in the Wadsworth Atheneum. I just made the matching in the video I finished last week. I captured the Wagemans work by accident while taping a radio concert from The Netherlands.
Shos

[shostakovich]

This: http://www.scarecrowpress.com/Catalog/S ... 0810845091 might help.

Thanks, Jamie. This book goes way beyond my limited scope, which is restricted almost exclusively to paintings, and even more limited to the slides and recordings I've collected. Nevertheless, I appreciate having the book called to my attention.
Shos

[shostakovich]

But, back on topic, I can't find any indication that anyone is doing videos, slide shows, books, or other collections of the art behind the music. Yes, Shos. I believe you may indeed have found an untapped niche for your creative talents!

If you follow the links on the site I posted, you'll find the author's home page, in which he discusses his interest in a similar, though different, format - presenting a concert of art-inspired pieces with a presentation of the pieces projected on a screen during the performance (similar to the Lord of Rings Symphony format I mentioned earlier.

You may want to contact him, Shos, as his interest sounds similar to yours. (I first thought I might have stumbled onto your website, but I see he is younger than I.)

Why, he's a mere child. I may contact him. The picture for his "dissertation" is Munch's The Scream. Coincidentally, that was the very first impetus for my hobby. Sitting in on the first session of an art class, The Scream popped up on screen, and a scream from Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra (Elegy movement) popped into my head. The rest is ----------- "whatever".
Shos

[shostakovich]

As a proud recipient of one of Shos's DVDs, I can say that they are quite informative and entertaining.

Copyright and marketing could be a nice retirement income!

Unfortunately, I am computer illiterate, unless I have a recipe, such as the one my son gave me for making the DVDs. However, if I could impose on Barfle to post some or all of the video, that would be great. I forgot which one it was.

The several suggestions of copyrighting will get me looking into it. Thanks for your support. I suspect documentation of the videos might pose some problems, as I had only verbal permission from the museums to photograph "for educational purposes". I never thought to get record company permissions. I'll look into it, but no longer have the stamina for a lengthy process, nor can I count on lots of years left of retirement. I turn 74 this month. However, all encouragement is much appreciated.
Shos

[Shapley]

I turn 74 this month.

Happy Birthday!

[Shapley]

I suspect documentation of the videos might pose some problems, as I had only verbal permission from the museums to photograph "for educational purposes". I never thought to get record company permissions. I'll look into it, but no longer have the stamina for a lengthy process...

If you can find a producer to market the DVD's, they may be able to do the legwork for you, obtaining the necessary permissions. The DVD's may be something that The Teaching Company may be interested in producing. They have an extensive line of educational DVD's and audio CD's, including quite a few on music and art. I believe we had a thread on them a few years back. Prof. Robert Greenberg seems to be the 'educator-of-choice' for their music lectures. I have Understanding the Fundamentals Of Music on DVD. I enjoy it, but I dont find the time to sit down and watch television that often. I am currently using the audio CD course The Long Shadow Of The Ancient Greek World. I have to take a few long flights soon, so I bought that, along with a Sony Diskman, so I can use some of the flight time to my educational advantage. But, I digress...

That's just a thought on how to make your DVD's available to a broader audience. Some others may have better ideas.

Good luck!

V/R
Shapley

[shostakovich]

Thanks much, Shap, for your good wishes and good ideas. Shos

[barfle]

Happy birthday, Jack! I hope I'm as young as you are when I'm as old as you are!

There are lots of ways to protect and profit from your work. I have little doubt that the museums that own the paintings and the companies that provided the music would want a cut, but really, for them it's gravy, so those fees are usually reasonable, and would leave you with a nice bit of income should you go that way. I'm guessing that an intellectual property attorney would be willing to talk to you about it at no charge. At least the ones I work with would. You want one with copyright experience, and unfortunately, that's not what the guys I work with do, but it's similar law.

I've started making a few DVDs myself. It takes a program to do all that (actually several, in my case). Simply being "computer literate" isn't going to help. I have some experience editing video and audio from waaaaaaay back in another millenium, so I know how to decide what I want, but it's always tedious getting there from here.

[Haggis@wk]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

All your video are belong to us:

“You see, there is something very important, that the vast majority of both consumers and video professionals don’t know: ALL modern video cameras and camcorders that shoot in h.264 or mpeg2, come with a license agreement that says that you can only use that camera to shoot video for ‘personal use and non-commercial’ purposes (go on, read your manuals).”