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-Jon Nix
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As two extremely dedicated Kurt Vonnegut Fans Jon Nix[animator] and Jim Curtis [composer] decided that they wanted to use their personal talents/professions to create an audio visual experience in Kurt’s memory.
For the animation, the library gave me a blank canvas. I’ve always been a fan of minimalist animations but didn’t want to leave it feeling flat. So for a background used multiple paper textures and stains to give the piece and textured feel but left all of the graphics over top somewhat clean. Each screen is a pivotal event or aspect of his life that I thought best described his character. I wanted the animation as a whole to feel like a worn book found in the rubble at Dresden.
After seeing the animation I was ready to start working on the score. For me the animation set the tone and I needed to create a piece that would fit my own experience of Vonnegut’s work. Simply breaking his style down into two categories, serious and humor. I used these tones to split my piece on one guitar. I chose to make half of the guitar parts in a major key (Indicating the humor in his writing) and the other half in a minor key (serious). The introduction of the marching presents a rhythm that gives the piece an odd but fitting unbalance.
We are very proud to have collaborated to create such an impacting piece for Kurt. It’s a small contribution to his memory but we hope that everyone who views it will appreciate and understand his incredible impact on our lives.
Jon Nix & Jim Curtis
