Meet aelion project

The winner of HeavyM contest 2017

Aelion Project - Cover top

1. Tell us more about the origin of Aelion Project?

First of all, thank you so much for this interview, we are very pleased of this feature for the launch of HeavyM blog!
Our history began in 2011 with “Monumental Video Art”, an artistic festival we organized, where we created an architectural video mapping called AELION (ancient word related to the little town of Guardiagrele, in the center of Italy). We were a group of six friends, and this event motivated us to continue our adventure as an artistic project.
In 2013, after two years of hard work, we opened the studio which is now called Aelion Project. The interest in visual and digital arts, the passion for artistic experimentations led us to open, in Bologna, a creative multimedia studio with young graphic and visual designers. In 2015, we collaborated with a professional team for a new corporate identity and a new website, in order to strenghthen the image of our visual design and multimedia studio. Today, we create customized services for communication purposes. We design audiovisual, light and interactive installations by using motion graphics, 3D, live actions, visual arts and projection mapping. We also contribute to enhance the corporate image and visual identity of brands with graphics contents and photo/video production.

2. You are all Italian, does your patrimonial heritage influence your work?

Probably, yes! For example, for architectural video mapping projects, we often inspire from Italian ancient architectures. From the beginning, we have also been inspired by international artists and studios. We have always preferred to look for new ways of doing than to look back. There is still much to do here, because Italy doesn’t help a lot of young workers to express their creativity in new media and visual design.

3. How are your projects managed, between artistic, design & technical sides in the team?

Part of our team is more creative and the other is more technical. When we construct a project, we never limit creativity in the development of ideas and we don’t set boundaries on new ways of doing. We interact a lot, always trying to help each other during the animations and setups. Over the years, these shared knowledge and skills created a strong relationship between the team members and our collaborators, enabling us to learn continuously and to be multifunctional on every projects.

Aelion Project team

Jesse James Allen – a portrait in front of his last work

4. Speaking of the team, tell us more about the members

We started our adventure quite young, we were 22-23 years old! From the beginning, we surrounded ourselves with young enthusiastic guys, passionated about multimedia and visual arts. Our studio is made up of an internal core of 3 owners and 3 other permanent collaborators. Additionnaly, we built a larger team of a dozen of professionals, mainly friends and external collaborators. We also work with schools and universities for interships, a good way to train those who would later become our collaborators! We always seek for new talents, we do our best to prepare them to the work world and to introduce them in our network of visual and graphic designers.

5. You realized some project for the medical world, and we noticed Neuroleadership. What interested you most in this project? Do you think science can be a booming sector for video mapping?

I think video mapping can be an innovative form for the science world. It is a perfect device to highlight what we don’t see. The aim of Neuroleadership was to show the results of researches in an innovative way, alongside the oral presentation of an interactive visual support. We made a video mapping on the brain’s 3D model, while the side sections of the structure were projected with motion graphic contents. It was a true challenge to design a realistic representation of the brain and its internal components functioning. Surely, video mapping can help a lot for education thanks to a dynamic and effective demonstration of scientific subjects.

6. What is, for you, the added value of using heavym software?

If I think about the time we spent creating contents for live events, I could go crazy! (laughs) When we discovered HeavyM software, we quickly saw it could help us to expand video mapping performances on stage and live events. I think it’s a very useful and enjoyable software, with a good dynamic: it can be exploited for simple installations but above all for complex stage mapping. We combined HeavyM with other editing softwares (as AfterEffects, Cinema4D…) and other VJing softwares (as Resolume, …) to enrich live and programming performances or audio-visual installations. In recent projects, we favoured HeavyM because it gave us the opportunity to offer very interesting animations for the performances of DJs and musicians.

Aelion Project - Cover top
Aelion project - Close up HeavyM interface

Jacopo’s working with HeavyM

 7. What would be your next expectations to improve HeavyM?

I think HeavyM team has really done a great job until now. And they keep going with great commitment and passion. Continuous updates, tutorials and software enhancements are more and more effective for the video mapping professional world, and also convenient as a teaching tool for young people or those who want to enter the fantastic visual design world. As ambassadors, we want to contribute to the evolution of the software and we think we are on the right track to develop functional and practical devices to use in live installations.

 

8. Did you make great contacts after winning the first HeavyM contest?

After winning the contest, several customers contacted us and asked what we could bring to interior design and virtual scenography, as well as for fairs and events. The contest gave us the opportunity to show our added value to new universes!

Participants’ projects of HeavyM contest 2017

9. Did you use your awards?

Certainly! We utilize the fantastic mini projector for small office installations and tests, while the Olga kit (which we already knew before, because it was successfully used during an artistic event for Nero Factory here in Bologna) is so helpful to design and study permanent installations in clubs and discos. This month, we are working on a top secret project and we used the Olga Kit as a permanent installation for the entertainment world. To be discovered soon…!

10. What is your best Aelion Project 2016 memory?

2016 has been an important year for the development of innovative projects in communication. I’m thinking about Presiana MakeUp: we realized a 3D woman’s face installation, to showcase the various types of makeup for weddings. For years, we wanted to work a face and this was a great occasion! Presiana MakeUp presented our installation on a fair and it draw so much attention on their stand, the visitors were fascinated! After several years, 2016 was also the time of our return in Guardiagrele, where our project was born. It was really exciting to build and perform an architectural 3D mapping for on one of the most important symbols of our country.

Presiana Make Up

11. Do you have exciting projects you’d like to share with us?

Recently, we took up important challenges, with precise goals, using video mapping both as a form of entertainment and as a cultural form of art.
The first challenge: a 3D theatrical scenery for a Mozart lyric opera. We created four 3D scenographies with motion graphics to animate each settings. Thanks to video mapping, we projected on a 9×3 meter installation on the opera stage.

Scenic design - Mozart - Aelion Project
mapping stage design - Mozart - Aelion Project

Video mapping on big wall behind the actors

Second (very complex!) challenge: a video-projected documentary on Santa Maria Maggiore church, in Guardiagrele, the most important monument in the country. This work has been commissioned for the opening of Artigitale festival, a digital arts festival created by young ambitious people from the town. We have been working hard for a month so that the whole church history could be restored through faithful 3D reconstitution of the palace, digitization of many finds and creation of elements characteritics of the 800 years life of the church.

Video mapping on big wall behind the actors

Last but not least, the video mapping made for VAN & FRIENDS concert during CasaFestival, in Casablanca, Morocco. It was a great experience, shared with many good musicians and singers, but above all with a great professional music composer like VAN. It was a great pleasure to work with him.

 Thank you Aelion Project for your participation!

Aelion Project uses HeavyM Live for their projects