Grant Weiss
GD300
11/4/12
Zelda The Symphony of
Goddesses:
An inside eye
Front and slightly to the left of
the stage we sat for what was soon to be the show of my life. As the curtain
raised the 138-chair orchestra and full choir was revealed in perfect luminance
with regard to contrast and balance. The lights above the stage conformed
together creating entire light spectrums. All of this just to ensure the
balance of the overall Hogue of the stage itself. As I was sitting there only
gazing at the stage, before the performance even had started, I only found
myself thinking of my brother and our childhood’s growing up together, playing
this game. And now it was in front of me. It was real, an actual document of
performance! Soon after my eyes would not stop watering, and I noticed that I
was crying. So this was more than just a performance; artistically it was
beyond incredible.
Behind
the performers was a video screen the size of the massive Chicago Theater stage.
On this screen Zelda was played from the 16-bit start to finish.
Scored completely in time with the
live performance happening inches in front of the screen. Therefore the quality
of art was amazing. When taking criteria we learned from class such as
integration, geometric, and deconstructive into consideration watching this
performance, I could correlate all of it to the visual game performance.
The
visualizer carried on with the performance-depicting Link (Zelda) fighting
through the worlds of pixels. It is a very geometric world, only using basic
graphics to define most environments. And of course characters. Link himself is
composed of rough rectangles and squares which are easily notable to the eye as
he moves and tweens across the screen. This adds a sense of sincerity, and
delight to the performance. A quality that is tough to find these days. We can
also apply integration when thinking of the actual performers and their
juxtaposition with the visuals of Zelda in the background. The performers and
conductor are perfectly in time with all of the elements of the performance,
lights, sound, and visual. Thus creating balance within the score. And not only
balance but an actual tangible real life expression and representation, of what
is playing on the screen. Which is a perfect juxtaposition of emotional and
visual stimulation for the viewers. When taking deconstructive qualities into
consideration we see lots of overlap, screen shaking, and disorientation.
Textures in the game are clearly rendered well but it is 16-bit. So textures in
the game are overlapped to create shading and depth to the wireframe of the
game. But that is passed over by the viewer as the screen shakes when Link is
in trembling terror evoking more emotion, putting the viewer in Links
disoriented shoes!
Absolutely
conceptually amazing! All of this plus a one time performance with one of the
world’s most renowned orchestras, (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), was second to
none and an unforgettable experience. It was refreshing to see material I was
learning in class that could be conceptually applied to something like a
performance, as I am a musician myself. With out a doubt the single most
impressive, thought provoking, emotional experience I have ever had.
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