Some test animations that went unseen in 2023.

I recently wrote and animated a short film which I made for Sam Jr. of Broken Social Scene.

I’ve started carrying the DJI Pocket 2 with me to capture interesting video and stills. I then use AI to upres the footage from 4k to 8k so I can reframe and stabilize the shots (although the DJI pocket’s gimbal keeps things very smooth) From time to time, I’m going to compile this footage into these short stream of conscious films. The first mini film I made was inspired by the forest fire smoke in Toronto in early June. The theme is volumetric objects and how light interacts. Clouds, fog, water, fire, etc. I shot everything on my DJI pocket. There might be a few iphone shots in there as well. Everything else is entirely digital using cinema 4d for the 3D animation. I added elements of photogrammetry and made extensive use of my own VDBs to create these moody shots. I used Octane render engine to render out each shot. I then composited everything in After Effects and edited Premiere where I also colour graded the footage.

Very grateful to everyone in Broken Social Scene for asking me to make the visuals for the 20th Anniversary show for You Forgot It In People.

I will be creating visuals for Broken Social Scene’s 20th Anniversary concert celebrating the release of You Forgot It in People on December 17th.

I will be showcasing some live visuals as apart of Charles Spearin’s set at Wavelength on Sunday, November 20th, 2022 at 8pm.

Poster artwork by Connory Ballantyne

From wavelength.ca:

Wavelength Presents…
In partnership with Slaight Music

Wavelength Monthly Series November 2022 featuring:

CHARLES SPEARIN (Member of Broken Social Scene & Do Make Say Think / Toronto post-rock pioneer plays gorgeous instrumentals with an all-star band of friends)

Sunnsetter (Member of Zoon & Ombiigizi / solo ambient shoegaze folk excursions / Norfolk County, Ontario)

+ Projections by Jared Sales + General Chaos Visuals
++ Decor by Roxanne Ignatius

Sunday November 20, 2022
@ 918 Bathurst Centre for Culture, Arts, Media & Education
918 Bathurst St.,Toronto
Doors 7pm

$15 advance at ShowClix.com
$20 at the door (NOTAFLOF)

Ticket Link: https://bit.ly/WL-Nov2022
All Ages + Licensed

“Charles Spearin represents a very unique part of Toronto, the scene that really built indie music. And Andrew McLeod (aka Sunnsetter) is a direct result of that kind of musical influence on a city. I don’t think Andrew would have developed his talent without Charles’ music, especially projects like KC Accidental. It was almost a singularity, sort of a torch-passing, when I think about their music side by side.” – Daniel Monkman, concert curator

November 20th pairs a Toronto indie music icon, Charles Spearin, with an artist from the next generation, Sunnsetter, who credits him as a sonic influence. The first concert curated by Wavelength’s new Artistic Associate, Daniel Monkman, an Anishnaabe musician/composer known for the Polaris-shortlisted projects Zoon and Ombiigizi, sees the long-running series return to one of its best-loved venue homes, the acoustically marvelous 918 Bathurst Centre.

Best known as a member of pioneering Toronto bands Broken Social Scene and Do Make Say Think (both profiled in Wavelength co-founder Jonny Dovercourt’s book Any Night of the Week),  Charles Spearin’s recent solo work includes two albums released since COVID, both via Arts & Crafts. The first, 2020’s Thank God the Plague Is Over — a startlingly prescient if ironic title — was a neoclassical collaboration with Swedish violinist Josefin Runsteen, recorded in Italy prior to the pandemic. The second, 2021’s My City of Starlings, is a beautifully textured blend of instrumental art-rock and electronica born from a song-a-day recording club of friends and peers from around the world. 

Together with his all-star band, including drummer Dave Clark, saxophonist Karen Ng, harpist Julia Seager Scott, trumpeter Michael Barth, pianist Jason Kenemy, bassist Michael Herring and violinist Laura Bates, Spearin will perform material from his last two albums as well as his 2009 solo debut, The Happiness Project.

The evening will start off with a solo set by Sunnsetter a.k.a. Andrew McLeod, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and recording engineer living in the rural area of Norfolk County, ON. Across Sunnsetter’s many self-released albums, McLeod fearlessly crosses genres, including ambient, singer-songwriter, shoegaze, post-rock, slowcore and others. McLeod is also a member of Daniel Monkman’s project Zoon as well as Ombiigizi, a collaboration between Monkman and Adam Sturgeon (Status Non Status) —  both Polaris Music Prize shortlisted artists.

Poster artwork by Connory Ballantyne

Grateful to have made the latest video for the Rural Alberta Advantage and their song 3 Sisters.

Another AI test using the After Effects Plugin Slitscan to blend the generated images together.

Back in November, Charles Spearin (Broken Social Scene, Do Make Say Think) told me he was working on a new musical project with some musicians from Mexico. He sent me this track and with it's fuzzy guitars and dreamy harmonies I was immediately intrigued.

So I set out across the city of Toronto '3D scanning' buildings using photogrammetry software Polycam and used Cinema 4D to mash it all together in this new video. With the exception of the characters, every element in this video is taken from a real life source.

So I present my latest video from 'iiis feat. Petite Amie' (pronounced eyes eyes eyes) and the song Al Reves (Upside Down) which was released today by Arts and Crafts Mexico. There are two versions of the video in both Spanish and English.

Testing out a 3D environment made entirely from photogrammetry assets.

I took this photogrammetry scan of a pay phone during the day and brought the scan into Cinema 4D and relit for a night time scene and also added some volumetric fog.

Last fall, I spent a few days capturing a large library of 3D assets using photogrammetry. Using the app Polycam on my iPhone, I am now able to capture and recreate almost any real life environment in 3D software. A few weeks ago, I wrapped up work on my latest music which uses this technique extensively. In the meantime, here is a quick mockup of an environment and characters made up entirely of “scanned” assets.

I have been working a lot with artificial intelligence lately and learning to guide the algorithm towards creating interesting imagery with intention.

Just a few of the animations made during 2021.