trance a Piece of Stuff by breville (Brendan Reville) Trance is a multimedia CD-ROM created by 17 young Australians, combining eclectic poetry, ambient soundscapes and 3D artwork. trance logo trance logo (submitted by breville.) trance island image the trance "welcome" island (submitted by breville.) Working hard to create trance Jed, Ryan, Brendan, Michael and Caroline - creativity abounds as work continues (submitted by breville.) image from trance - sheer beauty The sheer beauty of a nature which hardly exists... an image created for trance. (submitted by breville.) image from trance - ponderous A world seen from a slightly new angle... an image created for trance. (submitted by breville.) During the summer holidays of January 1997, 17 people gathered in suburban Sydney. For five days they would work intensely, creating a piece of multimedia art. The team assembled in suburbia, in an open room with five networked computers. Candles, the wafting smoke of incense, hanging chimes and a lounge completed the atmosphere. Work began early in the morning, and continued late into the night, culminating in an all-nighter at the end. TRANCE: 1. an interactive meditation 2. a multimedia CD-ROM project trance is a piece of multimedia art software designed for PCs running Windows 95. It combines computer-rendered images, ambient sound, and the written word. The final delivery medium will be CD-ROM. Third year computer science undergraduate, Brendan Reville, who programmed the core engine which runs the software, founded and co-ordinated the project. The People The members of the trance team were: Brendan Reville, Ryan Williams, Denis Valente, Justin Reville, Caroline Shepherd, Michael Courtney, Michael Reville, Michael Park, Karina Chin, Jed Fisher, Mark McLaren, Derek Santibanez, Ravi Dullab, Ricardo Aravena, Michael Chin, James Chatwin, David Joffe. The Experience The software essentially takes the viewer on an interactive journey through fragments of unreality. A scene is displayed; haunting music playing in the background; written phrases sliding, fading on and off, across the screen. The viewer uses the mouse to choose a new scene, with a new image, new words and new sounds: a new fragment of the world of trance. The members of the team were divided into three disciplines: RENDERERS (a cross between architects and visual architects) used sophisticated computer software to render 3D landscapes, using modelling techniques comparable to those used in movies. The resulting landscapes are magical, not quite real, yet stunning in their depth. Over 200 scenes were rendered during the 5 days of creation. WRITERS created passages exploring feelings of alienation, isolation and stillness. Each phrase had to stand, individually, as a powerful thought. Yet the phrases had also to piece together to create an atmosphere for each scene. This was challenging work for the writers, who rose to the occasion. The writing included strange stories, purely sensory work, environmental pieces, quiet feelings and more. MUSICIANS had to record chunks of sounds, be they electronic or natural. These chunks would then be assembled into soundscapes. A soundscape would comprise layer upon layer of randomly arranged ideas, a gentle swirl of chords, melodies, percussion and soft noise. The range of musicianship contributed was impressive, the electronica of Clan Analogue's foBik offset beautifully by the sitar, tabla, tabuka, quena, bass and guitar of other team members. Many members of the team moved between disciplines, learning new skills every day. trance brought together a very diverse group of people. It united them in a project that was done, not for money, but as an experience, and as a contribution to an exciting new realm. A realm afforded by silicon, but created only through the drive of the imagination. Ultimately, trance will be published on a CD-ROM, as this is the best delivery medium for multimedia software. A web site has been established, giving more detailed insights into the trance project. The web site features biographies of the team members, screenshots of the artwork, photographs of the week of creation, and much more! Feel free to ask questions, make comments or just send greetings. Contact the trance team by email or snail mail at PO Box 304, Milsons Point NSW 2061, Australia Related Web Site Created on Mon, 26 Jan 1998 and last modified on Fri, 30 Jan 1998.

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