The Artistic Layers of Music and Acting

Delve deeper, beyond the surface, appreciate the layers.

Traditional art forms such as painting, graphics or sculpture is when, the artist creates a piece of artwork.

Music and acting is Artistic expression that takes the form of a performance such as; acting in cinema or on stage; creating music on stage or a recording. The artist is also the artwork. 

Art usually aims to express a message, feeling, emotion or generate an atmosphere from which a multitude of expressions can be generated without a specific goal or correct perception. 

Acting can differ in its various genres. Often actors or screenwriters are required to portray an accurate depiction of an event, person or entity. This gets a bit hazy, as everyone’s perception is different. To accurately or exactly depict something through acting is hard and is usually adapted for impact and acceptance while partially but not entirely giving an accurate depiction. 

It could be argued that nothing is real, yet everything each person sees or hears, is real to them, but not to anyone else. 

So, while the initial intent may be different. The outcome is still a medium of artistic expression that is generated through a perceived view and received by the viewer with their own interpretation. 

The actors must become someone else, yet still express themselves, as they can never truly be the object of their study.
I consider an actor to be a piece of art. They are something to be moulded and adapted, to create and become part of another artform, a movie, play etc. 

Art within Art. 
Simulation within  simulation. 
An expression within an expression. 

Music is very similar to the art of acting and you often find the artists blend both in their portfolio of abilities. Musicians are primarily audio, and this rings true in previous eras, but in this digital world, it is increasingly important that they master visual acting and storytelling with video clips and imagery as well. 

AIVA (Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist) is an AI Music Engine built for composers. Below are a couple of audio recordings you can listen to while reading the rest of the article.

On the Edge – AI Generated Rock Music Composed by AIVA- 4 min audio only

EPIC Fantasy Music Composed by AI | AIVA-
2 min audio only

Classical musicians may be disagreeing with me right now, and I agree that their genre of music is primarily all about the audio and the resonating emotion it expresses and draws out of your listeners. However, the operatic stage performances and orchestral live performances, just add another layer of depth to your performance and gives you a greater reach through diversity.

Inset below is an interesting article on AI in the music industry.

The Amazing Ways Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming The Music Industry

“Musicians and professionals in the music industry will need to acquire tech skills in order to leverage the power of AI tools that will help them do their jobs even better.”

Read more at – Forbes Article – by Bernard Marr

The current and future use of AI to create music, actors and images, enforces the need for humans to adhere to and express human emotion and depth through artistic expression, rather than just seeing or hearing it.

Appreciate those layers and depths, or you lose those you don’t appreciate.

Below is a short film by Omeleto titled : Human actors are obsolete. 15 min

Human actors are obsolete. Now there are A.I. holographic projections. | Sprites – by Omeleto
15 min

We must embrace vision, depth and emotion through artistic expression. Virtual reality and Augmented reality will bring a greater depth to artistic expression and emotion. Viewers, listeners and users, will literally become immersed in the experience, and take it to the next level. The positive benefits need to be harnessed and aligned to counteract the possible negative effects. While some facets or actors may become obsolete or become a more unique part of the industry, hopefully the human aspect can be redirected to become stronger in other areas of the industry and newly created artistic roles.

Inset below is a thoughtful blog post on VR in media and life.

“Virtual reality is not a media experience,” explains Bailenson. “When it’s done well, it’s an actual experience. In general our findings show that VR causes more behavior changes, causes more engagement, causes more influence than other types of traditional media.”

Read more at – Diamandis Blog

Not only can VR enhance the user experience, it can also be used by human actors to create other virtual or augmented actors in a media production.

I am not an actor or musician, this article is based on my perception and views, rather than from experience. Movies and music play a major influencing role in many societies, even in a non professional capacity. I would expect a large contingency of people to have opinions and views based on the cross platform promotion of music, acting and other visual media. Even politicians, activists and journalists etc have been called “actors” in today’s world, although I acknowledge the reference is not used in the same context. 

Hence, my view that artistic expression is important and should never be suppressed as it is a major part of being human. 

---