Audio Visual Performance
For this project, I set out to create a laser light show in Adobe After Effects. I would combine a variety of effects together and synchronise them to a piece of electronic music I composed.
This song is a remix of an existing song from my portfolio that is a character theme from a dungeons and dragons campaign. It has a dark and foreboding energy that with added electronic drums that are sidechained to compress the lead, creates an even more ominous sound.
09/04/25
Visual Inspiration
I was inspired to create this project by the visual effects in The Living Tombstone's music video for 'I Got No Time', with visuals by Pedro Calvo. They combine laser lights with CRT/Tape effects that create a retro aesthetic.
These are fast paced and advanced light displays created by an advanced visual artist, so I dont strive to jump into creating something close to this. I will begin with a more rudimentary light show, hopefully producing something akin to this:
11/04/25
Technical Inspiration
I was inspired by several guides into different processes for creating laser like visuals in After Effects:
14/04/25
Particle Emitters
I experimented with particle emitters, changing the birthrate and particle properties to try and replicate staggered light emissions. I found the results interesting, but they didn't capture what I was looking for.
16/04/25
Starfield Effect
By using a four colour gradient, star burst effect, light rays, and a matte choker, I was able to create this effect, which I went on to keyframe so that it is viewed after a zoom into a fisheye lens. By adjusting the scale and scatter I was able to create something that could be a visually interesting moment in the light show.
16/04/25
First Render
This is the first rendering of multiple effects, it features a waveform on a circular mask as an overlay from some different areas I explored.
16/04/25
Optical Flares
Optical Flares by Video Copilot, is an After Effects plug-in that has become central to my project. It generates simulations of various luminous objects and allows you to customise the individual components of the lights it generates, such as glare, beams, and spike balls. I have used it's beams to create laser beams, and a combination of objects to create a triangle of light. This triangle of light is masked to have a tight shape, and set to a 3D object so I could keyframe its movement to appear to scan across the screen.
18/04/25
Second Render
This second render features the use of the Optical Flares plugin:
18/04/25
Laser Animation
Animating individual laser beams for mere frame at a time is a slow and painful process, but allows you time to consider micro and macro adjustments such as frame length, looping, and alignment of different solids. I personally found that a smoother animation could be achieved by staggering light objects to create an evolving scene rather than switching between self contained patterns.
21/04/25
Third Render
This third render is short, but is a proof of concept for the final section of the animation in which the most intricate display of laser effects appears. This was achieved by creating a series of laser animations, playing them in reverse, and repeating the outcome.
21/04/25
CRT Effect
The process for creating a CRT monitor effect was inspired by the below youtube video, the process included adding an adjustment layer with a grid overlay, adding colour correction, glow, and a a lens effect.
23/04/25
Fourth Render
This render represents the first instance of a completed project prior to adjustments. I am very pleased with the skills I have developed on this journey, but still feel something is lacking in that I was unable to replicate the inspiration behind this project.
25/04/25
Smoke/Fog
I followed the attatched guide to create two main layers of atmospheric fog, one covered the whole screen but was beneath the laser layers, and the other was masked to only take up a portion of the lower half of the screen and sit over the laser layers. The technique for generating fog uses fractal noise, with time based evolving animation, and a combination of fast box blur and gaussian blur to soften the generated shape.
26/06/25
Final Render
Here is the final result. While I did not find a pathway to replicating the techniques used by my inspiration, Pedro Calvo, I have successfully emulated the visual motif of arcade lights and retro displays to synthesise my own unique audio visual project. There is synchronicity between the audio and visual material, which leads to both components complementing each other, and forming a coherent exploratory audiovisual piece. To take this project further, I would search for alternative methods of generating laser visuals that allow more three-dimensional movement, as despite my best effort, I could not create lasers with substantial depth. Nevertheless, I did manage to simulate depth with my laser sweep effects, and the atmospheric fog.
27/06/25