Film Overview

Transfigurations is a 50-minute piece of conceptual video art combining photgraphs of natural objects and landscapes that very gradually morph into surreal, digitally manipulated and artistically transformed images of the same photographs accompanied by an original, ambient music score. The piece exists as a DVD for installation presentation or for home viewing. In essence, the piece, on both visual and auditory levels, alternates between what we perceive as real and the realm of abstraction.

THE IMAGES:
The images consist of photographs of mountains, forests, waterfalls, oceans, deserts, rocks, sky, plants and flowers which were taken by Melissa and Steve Kornicki in Southern California, Southern Arizona and Western Pennsylvania. Visually, the images follow a predetermined sequence and are divided into two sections.

In section one, black and white photographs transition to artistically transformed and digitally manipulated versions of the photos. Section 2 consists of the same process with color photos. Gradually, the photos become completely obscured through digital manipulation, and the piece concludes with transfigured images of the original photos from the previous sections.

THE MUSIC:
The soundtrack is a conceptual piece of music entitled "61 x 5" (Amplified Harmonics and Microtones Resulting from a Predetermined Tonality). This music consists of 61 pre-recorded samples and fragments of live instruments (flute, piccolo, horn, trumpet, violin and cello) composed and recorded by Steve Kornicki, which have been electronically altered, modified, transformed and looped through the use of layered digital effects. These samples were then archived onto a single compact disc.

The final version of the music consists of 5 copies of the CD played on 5 CD players with the players set on shuffle play mode and started in succession within one minute of each other. Thus, the 61 fragments are each heard 5 times throughout the piece, in random order, producing various textures and combinations. In this setting, the machines (CD players) determine the order and outcome of the layered sounds.

The pitches of the instrument samples for this piece all reside within the 7 notes of a diatonic scale. The heavy processing of the instruments amplifies the natural harmonics and also reveals deviations in pitch, thus amplifying microtonal qualities between the various textures. The idea of creating a piece utilizing recordings of processed live instruments and sounds is a direct link to the "musique concrète" practiced by composers of the first tape music from the 1950s.

AUDIO PLAYBACK NOTES
This DVD contains a stereo mix of the 5 CDs for home use. This mix was created by layering the 5 CDs within a digital mixer (10 independent tracks), then mixed down to a stereo, two-track soundtrack. In an installation presentation, accompanying the video, there would be 5 CD players with a stereo speaker pair for each player, thus the piece would require 10 speakers plus 5 optional subwoofers. For home use, this DVD is compatible with and can be played through a surround sound amplifier home system. A low to medium listening volume is recommended