BUG 15: Neurosonics Audiomedical by Chris Cairns
Chris Cairns's brilliant short film Neurosonics Audiomedical is based on a simple yet imaginative notion: hearing the sound of someone's voice being scratched on a turntable has always made him visualise that person's head actually on the turntable.
Finally, the support of Partizan helped him initiate the project - and shoot on 35mm - and its taken at least 18 months for him to realise that idea. It is, after all, a low budget project that involved compositing and 3D. But the result is a joy to behold.
Chris recruited the services of super-skilled DJ team the Scratch Perverts and MCs Orifice Vulgatron and Metropolis, and human beatbox star Schlomo from hip-hop crew Foreign Beggars, and although the main idea is as simple as the laboratory setting, you must watch Neurosonics over and over to fully appreciate what's going on - from the varying skills of the participants to the awesome FX. You want to watch it over and over anyway...
The Foreign Beggars sat on turntables on the shoot, Chris matched it all up in post with the turntablism by the SPs - and it's a perfect match. "The head guys we shot at super high speed - the rotation of the heads really fits the movement of the record," confirms Chris. "To myself and other geek peeps that was supremely important. Because when you see Djing on film usually it makes me annoyed. I hoped it would work for people who actually do it."
Much of the VFX were achieved at The Mill and hats off to everyone involved. It's a labour of love that's absolutely, jaw-droppingly marvellous.
