Digital images cover the dome-shaped StarRider Theater in the Adler Planetarium. Thumping bass beats radiate through the walls.
Instead of simply listening to the music, audiences are absorbed by it — while sitting in comfortable reclining chairs.
SonicVision is a multi-sensory, wild ride — a creative, original, 38-minute piece of digital choreography.
SonicVision opened at the StarRider in February and is playing for an open run. In SonicVision music is seen just as much as it is heard. This new type of production blends music videos, immersive 3-D film and virtual reality, taking audiences on a multi-sensory ride through the sound.
Aliens with antennas, wands, and heart-shaped torsos and faces rock out in fluid movements. Stars drizzle down from the sky and huge, illuminated forms morph and tumble through the simulated atmosphere.
Henna-painted hands play with a delicate flame and odes to great, historical, dome-like architectural spaces seem to appear out of nowhere.
This is a new kind of entertainment for today’s college- and post-college-aged crowd who missed out on “Laser Floyd,” Pink Floyd’s laser-and-music-show, and the trippy light shows that came standard with the concerts of rock ‘n’ roll greats such as Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead.
SonicVision is a 21st century piece of art: original imagery, psychedelic colors and intergalactic themes conveyed through cutting edge music selections and digital animation.
“We had all this new technology and we were wondering what the manifestation of shows like ‘Laser Floyd’ would be like,” said SonicVision’s lead technical director Mark Bajuk who animated SonicVision pieces set to Fischerspooner, The Prodigy and Queens of the Stone Age.
The show is set to a soundtrack mixed by Moby — in association with MTV2 — and contains tracks by artists such as Coldplay, Radiohead, U2, David Bowie, Zwan, Stereolab and The Flaming Lips.
Bajuk said that Moby’s interest in astronomy along with his talent and popularity made him the natural choice to mix the project’s music.
After the soundtrack was developed, animators got to work, using a variety of different software and techniques.
Nineteen animators and artists brought these sounds to life, using digital animation software to create 3-D images similar to those in Pixar films such as “Finding Nemo.”
The spectacle involves multiple projectors and special playback computers, Bajuk said. The video projection system used has a much higher resolution than the average person’s television screens — the availability of new technology is a primary reason that this New York import is now reaching Chicago audiences, he said.
Even before its September 2003 debut at New York’s Hayden Planetarium, SonicVision’s creators approached Mark Webb, Adler’s theater manager, about bringing the show to the technologically advanced StarRider dome.
“I loved it,” said Webb. “It was the best show of its type I had ever seen.”
Chicago was the logical step after a New York run, he said.
“They felt Chicago would be the perfect venue and we were already looking to do something like that.”
Webb had already been planning for programming like SonicVision.
“A little over two years ago, we started trying to come up with ideas for new types of programming. We realized … we had certain audiences (ages 18-30) that we weren’t reaching very effectively.”
The show has drawn in crowds of all ages, including the sought-after 18- to 30-year-olds but has also expanded its reach to children, parents and grandparents, Webb said.
Is SonicVision the next big thing for our generation in entertainment?
This is really a question of technological advancement, Webb said, adding that it’s rare to find an immersive computer graphic environment for an audience of 200 people.
Shows like SonicVision will continue to pop up as more technologically savvy theatres come into being, he said.
“This display environment and technology couldn’t be done five years ago,” said Bajuk.
“Hopefully five years from now it will have continued to evolve.”
SonicVision
Where: Adler Planetarium StarRider Theater, 1300 S. Lake Shore Drive
When: Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. & 10:30 p.m.
How much: $10
How to get there: Purple Line to Clark/Lake, take to Green Line to Roosevelt
More info: www.adlerplanetarium.org
