Michel Gagné - Animation

Sensology
An Animated Abstract Short Film Proposal

Back in June 2006, I was invited to the Vancouver International Jazz Festival by one of the organizers, the amazing Rainbow Robert.

Nancy and I had a wonderful time and were treated like VIPs. The last show we saw was by famed Jazz composer and improvisor Paul Plimley. After the amazing musical session, I shared my thoughts with Rainbow on how this music inspired me to do an abstract animated short film. To my surprised, Rainbow said, "That's why I brought you here, I was hoping you'd say that!"

I've always been a fan of the abstract films of Oscar Fischinger and Norman McLaren and it's always been a desire of mine to do such a project. I even pitched the concept to the head of Warner Brothers Feature Animation while I was supervising special effects there (even meeting Quincy Jones in the process), but was flatly turned down.

Needless to say, Rainbow and I got tremendously excited. We discussed possibilities including ideas about how an abstract animated film based on the music of Paul could be used to promote the jazz festival.

Upon returning to my studio, I immediately got a hold of several musical pieces by Paul. After many hours of listening, I selected a piece called "Sensology": a chaotic, energetic and powerful musical landscape featuring Paul Plimley on the piano and famed improvisor Barry Guy on the Bass. I then created a short teaser that can be used for funding proposals. The ultimate goal would be to pitch this project to the Vancouver International Jazz Festival to be used as a promotional piece in 2008. If everything goes as planned, I will start animating the short very soon. Can't wait!

Click here to dowload the short teaser done for the proposal (3.7 mb).
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