1. rhythm
process
Jennifer Briselli
TMC 2013
School of Design
Carnegie Mellon University

2. 1. song selection
Huun-Huur-Tu
Öske Cherde (Foreign Land)
The assignment for this project was to
“give visual dynamic form to a piece of
music.”
The first challenge was to select a song
with distinct rhythm.
I have long been a fan of khoomei, or
Tuvan throat singing: a vocalization
style where multiple pitches are created
simultaneously over a fundamental
pitch. For some, it’s an acquired taste,
and learning to hear the beautiful
tones created within the fundamental
pitch, (usually a deeper growl), was a
wonderful moment for me.
I chose a song by Huun-Huur-Tu that
incorporates instruments and traditional
vocals along with some khoomei.

3. 2. sketching
I listened to the song several times,
sketching abstract gestural forms as
it played.

4. I tried to visualize each
instrument separately, and
then together as one.
When I listen to throat singing,
I feel/hear/see the notes
hiding behind other notes.
They are there to be heard
but somehow hard to pay
attention to, like something
that flutters in your peripheral
vision but disappears when you
look directly at it.

5. 3. storyboarding
I began transforming the gestural
sketches into a storyboard. I wanted to
avoid conventional geometric shapes and
aimed instead for a more organic feel.
When I listen to this song, I imagine
brightly colored lines swaying and
braiding back and forth.
I decided to attempt a digital
representation of that visual experience.
My goal was for the effect to be
mesmerizing, or hypnotizing.

6. 4. digital sketching
I had no idea where to start, to achieve
this visual effect. So, I just started playing.
I didn’t save most of these files; I just
fooled around in After Effects, applying
filters and effects to various objects,
cameras, and background shapes.
I experimented with timing as well.

7. 5. refining
With feedback from Dan & my
classmates, I explored the “wiggling
lines” theme further, and experimented
with moments that allowed for
alignment of visual behavior and
rhythmic sound.
To visualize the parts of the song with
throat singing, I wanted to make the
‘vocal’ lines behave like the vocals:
somewhat hard to see but also deviating
and rising out of the mesmerizing
‘instrumental’ lines.

8. 6. letting it go
While there is always a little more one
can do, I’ve found it important to learn
when to stop working and let a piece
be complete. There are certainly more
refinements I’d like to make- playing
with color in a few places, experimenting
with more splashes of behavior that
match the rhythm in pulses or twitches,
for example.
However, this piece ended up in a
finished state that represents fairly well
the mental imagery I experience when I
listen to the song. A number of people
described the video as hypnotizing or
mesmerizing and several complemented
the aesthetic of the wavering lines that
move along to the vocals.
I may have this song stuck in my head for
months, thanks to this assignment.