#FREERENDER FUNKEL
RENDERFARM.RO is proudly presenting the 1st winner of our #FREERENDER program!
During the month of June, we helped FUNKEL bring The Turning to life.
#FREERENDER winner, Simon Schaller aka FUNKEL, presents The Turning. Enjoy!
The audio-visual marriage of minimalistic beats and catchy tunes. Created by the German designer, scenographer and multi-instrumentalist Simon Schaller, FUNKEL dives into musical „Sfumato“. His spherical tracks form a collage of field recordings, distinctive beats and unique melodies, that will stick with you for days. FUNKEL is no mere musical project – it’s a holistic approach to discover a new depth of music: sound, visuals, performance. Simon wrote a little musical skid for the track „The turning of the world“ of spoken word artist Micha Kunze. He took his thoughts and lyrics and formed a whole song with vocals from Amy Jarrett.
During our interview that you can read below Simon reflects upon his audio-video creation and the theme of The Turning.
“Since I always think audio-visual, I had the idea of building 3D scenes that are pretty minimal in movement. The only movement is the walking shadow as result of the turning of the world. I love the hypnotic aesthetics of the scenes, light, shadow and movement of the sphere. As the music builds up, the sphere gets to life and wakes in dance.
The main theme of “the turning” is quite a simple one: what if we stop for a second and shut down all the noises of everyday life? Then we’ll come to the realisation that not only the earth will keep on turning (a great relief!)- we have the chance to actively experience the calmness of our slow, quiet but ever going life in a new way. A moment where we can say: it’s gonna be alright. The earth is still turning even though I slow down for a second.”
The interview
RENDERFARM.RO – Hi Simon, would you please give a brief introduction about yourself and FUNKEL?
Simon Schaller – Hey, I’m Simon, a 36-year-old dude from Germany, living with my family in Stuttgart. I work as a freelance designer in the field of spatial design and have my little office in the east of Stuttgart with my mate Niko. If you like to check it out here
Since I’m also a musician and VJ, I was always interested in the combination of music and visuals. I played as a drummer in several bands, but at some time I wanted to create my own music and start something new for me: An ambient electro project – FUNKEL – to combine what I love – music and visual.
RF.RO – You are a multifaceted artist, both a talented musician and CG artist. How do you manage both of these very different fields?
Simon – Thanks :) It lies in the nature of my job as spatial designer to combine variant disciplines. I use 3D in my work to visualize spaces and spatial concepts. The FUNKEL project lets me try out new things and increase my 3D skills. The agenda is to play every other instrument than drums (what I did in all my former bands) and do every video in 3D. (We’ll see if I can keep up with this).
But yes, it’s also hard to manage because it‘s very complex and time consuming to create music and 3D at the same time.
RF.RO – What was the inspiration for your new song and what is your process when composing?
Simon – The theme of the song comes from my dear friend Micha Kunze – a spoken word artist. I contributed the music to his little skid on his album and he wrote the line for the vocals of my track.
For the music process I can’t really tell. I always try to capture the atmosphere and feeling of the moment. Certainly, I am influenced by the music and videos I consume at that time.
RF.RO – The video looks very cool! Can you explain to us the message you want to convey with it?
Simon – I searched for a way to give this moment of pause – what the lyrics speak of – a visual correspondence. Since I love the abstract and modernist worlds of artists like @teaaalexis, @notooSTUDIO, @charlottetayl
I had the perfect inspiration of minimal abstract „worlds“. Since it‘s a video, I needed some motion so I came up with the idea of the moving shadow – the world is turning and everything else freezes.
Maybe the description of the track helps here concerning the message: The main theme of “the turning” is quite a simple one: what if we stop for a second and shut down all the noises of everyday life? Then we’ll come to the realization that not only the earth will keep on turning (a great relief!) – we have the chance to actively experience the calmness of our slow, quiet but ever going life in a new way. A moment where we can say: it’s gonna be alright. The earth is still turning even though I slow down for a second.
RF.RO – Can you tell us what made you choose RENDERFARM.ro for your project?
Simon – Since working on Mac with Cinema4D and Arnold I realized pretty quickly I am underpowered for this 4-minute-project. So, I searched for an online render farm on the net.
I found a website that presents various render farms. RENDERFARM.ro was listed too so I checked it out and found the #FREERENDER program. I applied for it and was very happy when you guys gave me the credit. And with this the ability to realize my video. Otherwise, I would have not been able to ever finish it.
RF.RO – What software and plugins did you use for your project and why?
Simon – I use Cinema4D for 3D, Arnold for rendering, After Effects for compositing and motion graphics. Plugins: The Material Collections from Greyscalgorilla. I love the high-end materials perfect matching for Arnold.
Why, I don’t know this is the only program I have for this task ;)
RF.RO – Can you tell us a little about your 3D creation process? (maybe a making of, or some work in progress images, etc.)
Simon – Sorry, don’t have any making of material. The scenes are pretty simple. I set up a few primitives and walls. Then take only the Arnold sky and play with the settings till it looks nice.
The sphere is kind a protagonist in the video which symbolizes the „world“. Sometimes the sphere was first and I built the scene around. And, sometimes, the opposite.
RF.RO – We really enjoyed working with you. Can you tell us about your experience working with us?
Simon – Same here. I was totally surprised and excited that you gave me such great and personal support. I didn’t expect that. This stands out between other render farms.
I love the fact that you are interested not only in render stuff, but the person behind the projects.
RF.RO – What’s next for FUNKEL?
Simon – I have lots of tracks in my ideas folder ;-) The journey begins in making it a proper music track and video track the same time. Since I only have two released tracks, I am eager to finish more songs and play a whole set live.
Maybe someday in Bucharest. You never know ;)
Thanks for your interest in my work and art!
Thank you Simon for taking the time to talk with us and we look forward to collaborating on your next projects 😊
Links to FUNKEL here
#audiovisual #ambientmusic #downtempo #cinema4D #arnoldrender #abstractart #motiongraphics #freerender #givingback