This past April, Audrey Harrer, the Creative Manager of Multimedia at PULSE and myself, a Multimedia Producer, took a trip to New York City for the F5 Conference. F5 is a motion graphics and animation festival that explores the intersection of art, design and entertainment. F5 brings together the thinkers and doers that are breaking ground and shaping new standards in media and design. The event is meant to be refreshing…in all meanings of the word. After all, F5 is the refresh key your computer.

I went to the conference hoping to be inspired by the amazing speakers, their projects, and their collaborations about art and media. I was happily surprised to see that many of the presentations integrated music in interesting ways. It helps me to come up with exciting ideas for my work here at PULSE!


I really loved VJ group Eclectic Method.
While most DJs mash up various audio sources, EM slice up TV, film, music, and video game footage to create a unique audio and visual experience. The trio demonstrated their process during their presentation at the conference, and then showed off their skills at the official F5 After Party.

We love to make music interactive here at PULSE so the presentation by Dustin Callif of Tool of North America really hit home. He discussed the making of an interactive music video for the song “I’ve Seen Enough” by Cold War Kids. The video allows the listener to switch out instruments while the music is playing. Dustin talked about the mind-bending technical issues that they had to overcome to make this project possible.

My favorite talk of the event was by Adam Sadowsky of Syyn Labs. Remember that viral music video for the song “This Too Shall Pass” by the band OK Go? It featured a massive Rube Goldberg machine and they created it! Adam walked us through the two-story machine in its entirety and pointed out a lot of interesting details that most people would miss. For example, there’s the moment when the camera operator trips over a rolling barrel, and the drummer, upon seeing this, thinks the take is over and stops singing. Ha!

Being at the F5 Conference made me realize that it doesn’t matter what multimedia sector you work in – Video, Art, Advertising, Education – we all face the same challenges and it’s wonderful to be able to come together to inspire and motivate one another.

A few weeks later the PULSE multimedia team had the opportunity to interview Damian Kulash from OK Go at the Rethink Music Conference. Look for this upcoming post next week!

Thanks,
Nicole Bedard

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