If You Could See What I HearA soundtrack is a list of musical compositions that are recorded to accompany and synchronize with pictures from a film, play, book, television show, radio broadcast, or video game. Its purpose is to assist the viewer in forming emotional responses, provide rhythm for scenes and sequences, and make observations about events. A soundtrack is frequently as integral to the cinematic experience as the film visuals, and in some cases, becomes as legendary as a film itself. As a cinema enthusiast, my passion for film soundtracks extends beyond a film’s plot and visuals and is not bound by genre or culture. This type of music, which lacks lyrics, has inspired me to translate the abstract music I adore into a visible visual language, or, in other words, to design and create from a musical stand-point. I took inspiration from designer Ran Zheng’s Look/Hear project, adapting the approach of merging music and 3D software to develop my own visual system.
I used Cinema 4D to create a 10*10*10 matrix of squares and spheres, with each two-column matrix responding to the music’s various hertz. This arrangement enables listeners to appreciate the music’s layers and depth. Next, I chose walker from Ryuichi Sakamoto’s 2017 album async as the soundtrack. This album comprises experimental music by Sakamoto, who incorporates many natural sounds into his work. Walker has no excessive instruments and tracks, just simple melodies and forest sound, so it was the best choice for my project. Finally, I merged the music and Cinema 4D’s visual system to demonstrate how the components interact from six distinct angles.