The story of a young boy who finds a portal into the past has been translated into a film which is being performed to live music later this month. Artistic director Vince Briffa tells Veronica Stivala how cartoons will come to life.

Aidan is a young boy who is set on meeting his grandparents, who mysteriously vanished before he ever had the chance to meet them. This is the basic premise for The Everlink, a locally-written story that comes to life in the fantastic form of a film performed to live music. The story gets more exciting as it focuses on the prehistoric temple as a portal, or ‘everlink’, to a world of fantasy, monsters and pirates.

But Vince Briffa, artistic director and Head of Department of Digital Arts at the University of Malta, refuses to give the story away. He is keen, however, to discuss more about this interesting venture that is being screened and performed this month.

The Everlink is a live and audio-visual show that features original music composed by Reuben Pace, performed by a 40-piece orchestra and live signers.

The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Marcelline Agius, will be under the direction of Raoul Lay who is coming from Marseilles especially for this event.

Malcolm Galea’s powerful script will be narrated by Alan Paris, while the visuals are by Briffa and a team from his department .

Briffa is keen to underline how the visuals are entirely created by students from the department of digital Arts. His role is to see that the visual style, tempo, atmosphere, visual narrative and anything associated with what is projected on the cinema screen works well with the rest of the elements of the production.

The visuals comprise live, filmed sequences and what is known as 2.5D animation, where flatly-drawn cartoon characters are brought to life with the real prehistoric temples acting as a gateway between the live action and the animation.

“In order to do this,” says Briffa, “the students had to take on a variety of responsibilities including the video filming and its direction, the drawing, colouring and animation of the characters and backgrounds and the overall look and feel of the production.”

Particularly from a visual perspective, The Everlink is pitched at the family, but specifically at the seven- to 10-year-olds.

The difficult task is to find ways and means of synchronising the orchestra, narrator, singers and effects with the visuals

It comes as no surprise to learn that the difficult task in such a production is to find ways and means of synchronising the orchestra, narrator, singers and effects with the visuals. “Everything must run like clockwork,” says Briffa.

The team is devising what is known as visual timecode synchronisation between the visuals, the conductor and the narrator. Everything else will follow. Long and rigorous rehearsals ensure that this will be done successfully.

One has to note how the concept of live music being played to visuals is not a new concept. One could even say we’ve evolved beyond this.

So why is this means of performance being revived? And what differences will there be between the ‘old way’ and this? Briffa concurs that the method is definitely not new and has its roots in the silent films, where a piano player gives mood to the action through music.

It is also very common for an orchestra to perform to a film or video production. In fact, in April 2013, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra put up a similar production entitled Icarus at the Edge of Time, a futuristic reimagining of the classical Greek myth of Icarus.

“One can really argue that this type of production is not really being revived as it has never gone out of production,” says Briffa.

“Film and cinema have simply taken the upper lead through time.

It is really about the spectacle that a full orchestra provides the public, coupled with the visuals that give the story more relevance and extravaganza.”

Those who are familiar with Pace’s music will know that it is very contemporary. It brings together all the components of the orchestra and is really the prime mover of the production.

“Contrary to film, where the visuals dominate the soundtrack, Pace’s expressive music score, Raoul’s conducting and the live orchestra and singers not only drive the narrative but also offer the lion’s share of the spectacle,” says Briffa.

What is his favourite part about the project? Admitting difficulty in answering this question, Briffa notes that it is the fascination of such a complex production coming together after months of hard work which gives him much satisfaction.

The Everlink shows on Friday at 7.30 pm and on Saturday and next Sunday at 4 pm and 6 pm in Cinema 16 at the Eden Cinemas in St Julian’s.

www.edencinemas.com.mt

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