Overview

This BBC4 series had conductor Charles Hazlewood and a specially-formed period orchestra appear in three rehearsal/performance programmes, taking some of Beethoven’s key works and analyzing them in detail with interactive graphic overlays.

As the piece progresses the audience is treated to an interactive visual representation of the musical structure, key changes, tunes and development of ideas. Charles would conduct, talk, conduct again, and jump around the symphony’s movements to illustrate original composer’s ideas and key themes.

Implementation

Working at Huge Designs (opens new window) for BBC4 Music (opens new window), focused and precise communication between myself, the series producer and director allowed us to produce 300 minutes of animation in around 10 weeks.

The tight deadline hinged on logging, organising and revising massive amounts of external data in Excel, then using it to automate After Effects using JavaScript. After an initial development period, I was able to produce an entire programme within 2 or 3 days, whilst retaining the flexibility to change our minds at any point.

The project was mainly programming - everything from designing and building an interactive data-logging application for the production team, to programming and producing the final animation, as well as producing an interactive Flash version for the web.

I also produced an interactive Flash version for the web, as well as a the following year’s Beethoven Uncovered.

Links

• Huge Designs (opens new window)
• BBC4 Music (opens new window)