Electro Swing Production

Rationale (170 words)

Swing music was established in the US and dominated the 1930s and 40s. Prior to the development of swing was the era of prohibition where ‘moonshine’ was produced, a homemade illegal alcohol, which was said to have been so strong that it had hallucinogenic qualities.

The concept for this project centres around the idea of drawing parallels between then and now with this modernisation of the genre into 'electro'-swing. Dali's surrealism of the 40s pared with the historical context behind the development of swing, encompasses this idea of distorting a civilised elegant 1930s dinner party into a psychotropic experience. Accordingly, a Mad Hatter’s Banquet was staged drawing influences from 1930s versions of Alice in Wonderland to inspire an appropriate pastiche interpretation.

The banquet takes place in the era of swing but through the eyes of the subjects themselves. The event stages a weird and playful production that captures both the roots of swing and the contemporary touch that has brought it into the forefront of the electronic music scene of current.

Slideshow production:

After the appropriate photographs were selected, they were ordered in camera styles and content to allow for a coherent flow. A blank frame was put between images to resemble a reel of film flicking between shots, to aid the vintage feel.

Adding music:
Caravan Palace are probably the most well-known Electro-Swing band, and as such their most famous song 'Lone Digger' was used as the backing track to the slide show. Its fun beat goes in time to the picture transitions and adds a playfulness to the images through its contextualisation. 

Vimeo Link to final video:

The slideshow was repeated 4 times to stretch the length of the song, which will then be played on a loop on the screen at the exhibition. It was important for the whole song to be used in order for people to join at different points and feel the need to stay looking for longer, to see the whole story unfold. 

https://vimeo.com/265911404


Evaluation:

The end design well reflects the vibe of both Dali's Dinner and Alice In Wonderlands Tea Party, capturing the silliness and vibrant animated qualities of the latter in a more formal adult context of the former. Particularly the use of a pause between images int he slideshow contributes successfully to its vintage connotations. 

There was however a reel of film that was not able to be developed. If re-staged, the design would use on camera and focus on keeping a more consistent visual output, instead of spending a lot of time editing digital pictures to look old.