New addition to therefam [Lost Volts LV4 Theremin]

I’ve been playing digital theremins, Open Theremin V3 and V4, for the past few years, but I’ve just taken delivery of my first analogue theremin, a Lost Volts LV4. I’ll post some videos soon.

Initial impression: easy to set up and play, a lovely, smooth tone, a pitch field that is a bit less linear than the V3/V4 and this does take some getting used to, and a warm-up time of only a few minutes after which the field is stable. Controls are simple, ultra-sensitive and also include a built in waveform dial that subtly changes the tone.

Grow For Me [Review: Vesper]

Like literally all of the best films, Vesper begins with text explaining the apocalyptic future we are about to enter: one where biotechnology has gone rogue, destroying much of the world and much of humanity. Rich people live in distant citadels shielded from the bio threats while everyone else scrabbles around in the mud, relying on the citadels for terminator seeds.

Vesper is a young girl growing up in an abandoned farmhouse looking after her terminally ill father. They are hermits who refuse to join the collective run by her uncle, and Vesper ekes out an existence scavenging or trading for food and for the bacteria needed to keep the father alive, while studying bioengineering using materials she has stolen from an abandoned laboratory. Her life changes when a flying biomachine from the nearest citadel crashes, and she rescues its inhabitant, a strange, pale woman, and brings her home.

Watching an indie sci-fi film like Vesper was a welcome change from the Marveltsunami that has swept through cinema in recent years. Vesper’s forest setting and biological creations reminded me of another indie sci-fi movie, Prospect. Both feature a young lead character having to fend for themselves in a hostile world and amongst hostile adults, played by Sophie Thatcher in Prospect and Rafiella Chapman in Vesper. Neither pull their punches when it comes to pain, suffering and despair, and both use special effects sparingly and intelligently rather than simply flooding the screen with lightning bolts.

Along with the understated effects comes the understated villain, the uncle, played by Eddie Marsan. He’s creepy, selfish, deceitful and vicious when he needs to be, but he’s not angry with you – just disappointed. He’s as far from a Marvel pantomime supervillain as they come.

Score: Three perfectly bio-engineered stars out of five.

All movies reviewed on The Sci-Fi Gene blog are awarded three stars out of five.

Seasons Of Love [Concerto for Theremin by Kalevi Aho]

Clara Rockmore, in her “Theremin Method” published in 1998, defined thereminists as those who use the theremin as a voice to interpret real music, rather than a magic toy for producing strange and eerie sounds. Robert Moog once lamented that Leon Theremin invented an instrument with a unique sound, but musicians simply used it to play in existing musical styles.

I like Clara Rockmore, and I like Robert Moog. But which is better? There’s only one way to find out!

Kalevi Aho’s Theremin Concerto is a modern Modern Classical classic. I’ve heard Carolina Eyck perform it twice now, once in a streamed concert and once at the Royal Albert Hall during the 2022 BBC Proms. It bears repetition – I found the first time difficult, something I often find with modern classical, and I felt able to appreciate it much more the second time. There are eight movements, each corresponding to one of the eight seasons of the Sami – take that, Vivaldi! and there is a real sense of a cycle, with each movement a natural progression from the last.

Aho tends towards Moog’s vision for the theremin, celebrating its unique sound and properties – broad octave range, infinite legato, smooth glissando. There’s never a sense that the theremin is imitating a violin or any other instrument, in fact there are times when different sections of the orchestra often seem to be imitating the theremin. The concerto also features theremin and voice duets, Eyck’s speciality, and there are passages of abstract or perhaps magical sound as well as imitated birdsong.

Aho has described the theremin as a shamanistic instrument and its player as a magician. This is never more true than when watching Eyck’s highly expressive style of play, casting musical spells through movement. The Albert Hall was the perfect venue for a magic show. This is a performance space that feels like its’ own self-contained universe, and a universe in which it is completely normal to look up and see the inverted mushrooms floating above.

Although the focus is on the theremin, the concerto also stands out in its use of percussion, which is often subtle, but still central to every movement, and incidentally requiring a fascinating line-up of unusual percussive instruments and machines.  

Goodbye Norma Jean [Doctor Who: The Power Of The Doctor]

So long Thirteenth Doctor. You were fabulous, surfing the crests of your best episodes and rising above the weaker ones. You gave us a Doctor who could think on her feet and who inspired trust in those around her even as she drove them mad. A Doctor who wanted to love and be loved but, in stark contrast to her bravery in battle, was desperately shy and awkward.

Your stories may have varied in their quality but no-one can say they lacked ambition. If you had been Star Trek the new twists shaking up your origin story would have driven canon-obsessed fans to apoplexy. Happily Doctor Who has never had a canon.

Your final episode was worthy of you and worthy of classic Doctor Who, facing down multiple threats with the help of friends past and present, with wit, ingenuity and feeling. If the trend continues then at the very least we will see you at every future regeneration episode…

All The Fun Of The Despair [AI Art Generation]

Working with an art generation AI, at least one that is freely available on Google Play Store but in crippleware form, is strangely like rubbing a lamp and coming face to face with a genie who informs you in booming, mystical voice "You may have five wishes per day. To unlock unlimited wishes, subscribe to Genie Pro. Also some categories of wish may require in-app payments."

The striking and not-at-all-contrived similarites do not end there. As with making wishes for genies, at least in my experience, when making up prompts for art AIs the wording matters - and it's hard to know what words or phrases will make a difference, let alone what will lead to a result close to your actual wish. As with genies, always assume that the art AI wil interpret your wish in the most unhelpful way possible, so try not to give wiggle room. You could of course experiment with hundreds of alternative phrases but then you would need to pay the subscription fees or risk running out of wishes too quickly.

"Artists staring sadly into the abyss"

Sci-Fi Gene (with minor assistance from Wonder AI), 2022

Digital

On the other hand, if you are willing to perservere, then at least sometimes your wishes really can come true. At least if your wishes are to see medieval cities made out of cheese.

"Busy medieval city made of cheese"

Sci-Fi Gene (with minor assistance from Wonder AI), 2022

Digital

I asked Wonder AI to come up with posters for some of my films, using the titles as prompts and the Cinematic AI. The results are... interesting.

"Last Zombie Standing" - does indeed feature one standing zombie and has created a decently creepy atmosphere, or at least has bunged some gaslamps around the place. Other zombies are present but one is sitting on a ledge and one is leaning on a wall so neither are technically standing. Wonder AI has delivered on the brief and I would have been happy to use this poster.

"We Can Get You Some Really Cheap Gear" is not at first glance a film about camera equipment at all - it's a lighthearted (but adult) LEGO-animated comedy about a top-secret experimental drug that allows a failing writer to access 1% of his brain.

But AI is more powerful and more insightful than you might think. Wonder AI has correctly deduced that my film is in fact a sharp and unapologetic satirical deconstruction of the entire film industry, taking particular aim at the two most over-used cinematic techniques of all - foreshadowing and the focus pull. As an auteur it's nice to be understood once in a while.

Meanwhile my over-long title has nothing at all to do with drugs: it's a reference to the regular and highly delusional claim made by Kino London club organizers that they could, through their extensive industry contacts, score cheap equipment for filmmakers. And indeed, were you to take them up on their offer you could well end up with something like the device featured in the poster.

"Steampunk Girl" while I cannot fault Len Peralta's original artwork for John Anealio's song, which appears in the final reveal at the end of my lyric video, this image comes a close second. I was particularly impressed to see that Wonder AI has perfectly captured the steampunk vibe without hypersexualizing the image, and without resorting to the most obvious genre tropes: no brass goggles, and not a single cogwheel. What happened to Steampunk Girl's left arm is a question to be answered in the prequel.

You can watch all three films on my Short Films page here.

Real life sci-fi: portrait of the artist as an AI [AI Art Generation]

 The Sci-Fi Gene occasionally pauses to observe respectfully the evolutionary progress of our future overlords and masters as we approach the inevitable singularity. It seems that, while we were metaphorically sleeping, an Artificial Intelligence-generated image was entered into an art competition in Colorado and won first prize, to the annoyance of some human artists and commentators.

The picture, Théâtre D'opéra Spatial was produced by Jason Allen by sending an unspecified prompt to the art generation AI Midjourney. You can read more about the picture and the online reaction at VICE here.

Personally I'm not sure what the fuss is about. All the AI did was produce a detailed and evocative picture in classical style with powerful composition and lighting, layers of possible meaning and symbolism and an emotional kick. It's not like it taped a banana to a wall or anything.

As far as I can understand, AI artists work by analysing large numbers of images, breaking down the details in the images and deducing rules about the way those details go together, then using those rules to create new images. (Of course this is completely different from art students learning by studying great masterpieces.) A consequence of this process is that it seems to produce Impressionist works. For example here are two responses to my prompt "Renaissance woman with mysterious smile" by the AI Wonder and, for comparison, a little-known work by a human artist on a similar theme.

From a distance, the AI images look convincing enough. It's probably a good idea not to count the fingers too carefully, look too closely into their eyes, or speculate too deeply on exactly what lies behind their expressions. In all three cases perhaps it would be better not to know.

Flower Duet - Open Theremin

 Flower Duet from the opera Lakme by Léo Delibes, played as a double recording on Open Theremin V4. I'm still getting used to the V4 - overall it's a lovely instrument to play but occasionally the pitch field can misbehave, whereas my V3 was always very stable and obedient. Adding a 3D-printed case seems to have helped.

Conspiracies

 Flat Earthers, I'm afraid I don't follow

Your theory is too hard to swallow

It seems clear to me

So why can't you see

The Earth can't be both flat and hollow!

Roland Limmerich III

 Roland Emmerich's new film is called Moonfall

The Moon's going to pay us a close call

But where will it land?

And where should we stand?

I'm steering clear of the White House, y'all.

A typical Emmerich film features

Lots of rockets and heroes and creatures

What drives this mad artist?

In the depths of his heart is

A desire to annoy physics teachers.