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Chrysalism

An exploration of the intersection of music composition and visual art, painting original piano music through animations dynamically projected onto sculpture

I created Chrysalism, an audio visualizer projected onto a 3-dimensional wall sculpture, for my senior thesis project. I built Chrysalism because it allowed me to fuse many of my interests—music composition, audio production, 2D animation, and digital fabrication—with an area that is new to me, projection mapping, into one fun yet challenging project. I was very honored to have Chrysalism awarded as the Most Innovative Interactive Multimedia Thesis Project of 2023.

Inspired by the introspective emotions that rain can evoke, the music and visuals of Chrysalism are intended to combine to create a meditative experience for visitors. Calming yet engaging animations are cued by key moments in peaceful instrumental piano music, synthesizing an experience in which one cannot tell whether the visuals cued the music—or vice versa. These visuals are projected on laser-cut circles mounted on the wall, extending into the three-dimensional space of the installation room. The combination of physical and projected textures, colors, and music fuses to create a relaxing audio-visual experience, hopefully producing a moment of inner stillness for visitors.

Process

I created Chrysalism in many stages, with several tools. This project required a lot of iteration and the testing of several different methods and tools, so I learned a lot in the process.

I first researched projection mapping, audio visualizers, sound design, and sculpture to gain an understanding of pioneers in the field, their work, and industry standard tools and methods (you can read a copy of my thesis proposal highlighting my research here ︎︎︎). I then moved into conceptualization and production.

On the music side, I started by composing the piano music for the project, then recorded my piano performance in TCNJ’s Mayo Concert Hall with recording technicians Mark Kalinowski and Gianna Marrano. I then mixed and mastered the recordings in the TCNJ recording studio with the help of studio technician Evan White.

On the design side, I designed the wall sculpture in Adobe Illustrator, cut it out using the laser cutter in the TCNJ Makerspace, and assembled it. I created all of the animations in Adobe After Effects and brought them into MadMapper to project them onto the wall sculpture.

Remembrance Piano Composition - written and performed by Haley Wright

Animation - Haley Wright

Projection Mapping - Haley Wright

Wall Sculpture - designed and fabricated by Haley Wright

Thesis Advising - Chris Ault and Warren Buckleitner

Audio Recording - Mark Kalinowski and Gianna Marrano, at The College of New Jersey’s Mildred & Ernest E. Mayo Concert Hall

Audio Mixing and Mastering - Evan White and Haley Wright

Special Thanks to: Teresa Nakra, Brett Ratner, Rachel Lichtenberg, and Kyle Lopinto