We work with schools, further education, orchestras, music and media training providers that have the need of motivating students with the curriculum and engage them with the community and local environment.
Big Bang Lab team creates and manages projects under time and budget connecting issues and designing learning programmes where students can apply their skills and knowledge in a real situation. With a defined time line and objectives we offer practical situations and ways of learning new skills with a real purpose. Our projects become then real productions with high quality values that connects learners and the school with the outside world. People create new films without shooting and/or new original music. Our work doesn’t finish there. We promote the work produced in the school to venues and through international exchanges, public performances and more. Participants gain the experience and excitement of performing live music with silent films.
We are a creative agency that links archives with the community, specially those who are in need to implement practical solutions to bring their screen heritage alive, maximize the potential social and commercial value of their assets and engage new audiences. We do it by creating unique programmes, events and outreach projects and productions from live performances to DVD product design
Building Fragments from Big Bang Lab on Vimeo.
Delhi City Symphony project trailer from Big Bang Lab on Vimeo.
• Concept: Creative Learning project to engage participants with the city and its heritage.
• Outcome: a 20 min silent digital film about Delhi life and heritage made by children. New live soundtrack
• Challenge and opportunities: Indian Classical Music in a social context.
• Target: young children living in sheltered homes in Delhi with a history of child trafficking and displacement
• Funding: Cultural Leadership Programme, IPCE 2009 / British Council
• Final event: Live music performance and film screening at India Habitat Centre, World Heritage Day
• Main partner: Prayas is one of India’s largest NGO’s. Its goal is to protect the rights of marginalised children.
• Other Partners: Door Darsham (TV channel), Frameboxx (school of animation), Musicians collective etc…
This project is a strong social-research case study full of challenges and opportunities. Our objective was to find commercial, social and cultural value in the development of a single product or service that works across music, film and heritage. This is the beginning of future Big Bang Lab social responsibility programmes by contributing to the sustainability of music education for underprivileged children.
RESEARCH
• Introducing live music to silent films to audiences in India
• Music for film beyond Hollywood and Bollywood expectations
• Classical Indian music in the community and social context
• Opportunities for new forms of contemporary silent cinema
• Heritage engagement at community level
The project is aiming to benefit the children through the process by going through a series of stages of participation. Firstly, by giving the children a medium of expression, learning new skills throughout the project and connecting them with the local environment and wider issues. By being the protagonists in the co-creation of the film and the music through a collaborative participation we aim to increase their self confidence and personal development. As a result of the project we discovered a genuine new interest by the children in their own musical heritage. They were never exposed to listen and perform with traditional instruments. By presenting the event in a venue which plays a vital role in the cultural life in the city we are hoping to reach out further for the benefit of the host organization, the children and the community.
Full evaluation article available here
A sound vision The Hindu preview
Tughlakabad fortissimo Time Out Delhi preview
Visual Rhythm from Big Bang Lab on Vimeo.
Visual Rhythm is an example of Big Bang Lab cross curricular work and creativity in the curriculum. A noisy project exploring the relationship between music and maths in unusual ways. We complement the work that teachers were doing and provided a framework for the composition by the students of a series of rhythmic sequences.
Big Bang Lab commissioned a 3D abstract animation following specific musical time patterns to help students to perform live the music previously created during the workshops in the classroom. We explored the spatial relationship in the screen, the representation of time in the paper and the creation of sequences and patterns using a unique notation system based on geometric shapes. We use balloons as an inclusive musical instrument exploring in groups its limitation in order to explore controlled sound and the right technique in order to achieve different sounds in pitch, timbre and loudness, although sometimes we were slightly too loud!
• Concept: Relation between geometry, music composition / performance and abstract art in motion.
• Target students: Year 7 and Year 8 maths students and across disciplines (music, art and media)
• Client: Creative Partnerships.
• School: St. Bernards High School, Slough.
• Partner: Specially 3D silent digital animation commissioned by Big Bang Lab.
To view the final film click here
To view a short video of the workshops click here
Big Bang Lab in the community / filmmaking, music workshops, live performance and DVD production
Medea 2008 Awards Participant for more information click here
Unseen Voices is an example of interdisciplinary outreach project aiming to engage young people and the community through creative participatory practice using film archives, photographs and live original music. In particular the content of this project is focused in history, holocaust and citizenship aiming to create awareness of the importance of remembrance, commemoration, peacekeeping and human rights in today´s world.
• Concept: a digital silent film created using film archives, original music, live performance, DVD production.
• Client: Brent Council / Holocaust Memorial Day 2008.
• School: Preston Manor High School.
• Target students: Year 10 music students
• Support: Brent City Learning Centre and Brent Junior Choir.
• Partners: MLA, Anne Frank Trust, London Screen Archive, AJR, Wiener Library, Birkbeck University.
For a full description of the project click here
To view the final film click here
I have just watched the Unseen Voices DVD and congratulations on a wonderful job. What a very inspiring project and I am happy that The Anne Frank Trust UK could contribute to the project in the little way we did. The finished performance piece, mixing live performance with film visuals was not only an interesting concept but proved to be exceptionally moving and thought provoking. It was very evident that the young people involved have truly benefited from being a part of this valuable creative process.
My hope is that the educational DVD you produced can now be used to inspire other young people to get actively involved in these types of positive activities taking place in their communities”.