'Bio Reel'

"Bio Reel" by Cerys Heys and Louis Cook, University of Southampton.

The video won third place in NBIC's #BiofilmCreate Art and Photography Competition.

"Bio Reel" is an animation inspired by the process of biolfims forming. The music was created first, with the sequenced bass part reflecting bacteria gradually attaching to a surface. The sequenced bass part builds up with multiple notes - this has both a slightly random but structured feel, being a looping sequence but with lots of syncopation and no particular relationship between each note. This helps the electronic synth have a more natural feel but still represented the structured state bacteria within biofilms live in. The oscillating pitch on the pads reflects the movement of the biofilms, which involves extension and retraction. The visuals were initially created in response to the music, with the slide reel style and glitch aesthetic inspired by a slide reel we recently found in a charity shop, and the white noise generated by the Farfisa Organ emulator used in the music. The slightly creepy aesthetic follows my interest in surrealist and horror music. The visuals are based on bacteria attaching to a surface, losing their flagella and the biofilm growing across surfaces. We also took inspiration from quorum sensing, and created some zig zag lines in the visuals to try and represent this in an abstract way.

https://tinyurl.com/5atbz633