I was commissioned by the Melbourne Recital Centre to develop a 45 minute animation to accompany a live orchestra for the performance of “Musical Picture Books“.

The animation developed was an interpretation of two award winning Australian childrens books, The Rain Birds by author David Metzenthen and illustrator Sally Rippin, and The Night Garden by Elise Hurst.

The challenge was to create a dynamic piece of visual accompaniment that would remain sensitive to the original books as well as work on screen in front of the musicians. As this concert was to inspire children with an appreciation of the narrative magic that classical music can inspire, the visuals were also required not to dominate the production at all times, but sometimes to drop back and provide ambience while the music took the centre stage.

The production was very well received by the children and parents alike and the Sydney Opera House has expressed interest in screening it as part of their children’s program.