We were given an interesting task for the U.S. Open Tennis Championships: to create an original and dynamic score for the tournament using data from the tennis matches. Musician James Murphy was brought on board to be the primary musical brains of the project.
IBM collects an impressive amount of data on the games: the number of aces, ball speed, court temperature and much more. We created an algorithm that took this data and translated it into instrumentation. This instrumentation was overseen by Murphy, allowing him to control the overall sound and feel of the dynamic music.
We built a site that would allow anyone to watch and listen to the matches. We created a visual system that correlated to the major moments in a tennis match. As a match was played, each piece of data would play out with dynamic music and visuals, which were unique to each match. At the end of U.S. Open, we had created over 400 hours of music. Murphy took some of his favorite matches and remixed them into an album. I was the Art Director on this project and my involvement included design, animation and concepting.
-AGENCY: TOOL -CLIENT: IBM -ROLE: ART DIRECTION, CONCEPTING, DESIGN & ANIMATION
