The Art of Listening
Opening Titles
Sony Music / Emmanuel Moran / Michael Coleman
Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Motion
Anthony Ciannamea / EFFIXX
Anthony Ciannamea / EFFIXX
Music
Christopher Willits
Christopher Willits
Sound Design
Anthony Ciannamea
Anthony Ciannamea
Typography
Ryan Sievert
Ryan Sievert
The Journey Sound Takes...
In early 2016 I directed, shot, edited, finished, and contributed sound design to a title sequence for a stunning music documentary called The Art of Listening. Directors Michael Coleman and Emmanuel Moran have created a beautiful piece of narrative about the journey sound takes from maker to listener. Between inception (instrument-making, writing), performance, recording, to the media we consume it on, this film takes audiences on an adventure which leaves us thinking about whether we're ultimately doing justice to the music we care about once it arrives at our ears..
Main Titles: Process
Picking up design cues from art director Ryan Sievert, who produced wonderfully timeless poster art and collateral, I wanted to extend his graphic treatment but bring to life the photographic details the various vehicles sound is delivered by. My approach in telling the story of sound's journey from manufacturing material to a listener's ear was to focus on the textural details of surfaces and sound vibrations, as well as the time-worn patina of the studio equipment used in the process.
Practical FX and Handcrafted Typography
In order to exaggerate the idea of materials and instruments commanded by the human hand, I thought that typesetting and animating the credits by hand would give the motion a very imperfect and incidental feel. Typography was minimally composited, with very little adjustment to the way words fell onto the frame - an extraordinarily fun and practical way to leave the result to chance and work with with a relatively short project timeline.
