EARLY JAPANESE ANIMATION - THE BARBICAN CENTRE, BARBICAN CINEMA (5/6/22)


E Fineston-Robertson was part of a group of composers writing the soundtrack for the Barbican Silent Film event. In writing the soundtrack for Yasuji Murata's short, Two Worlds, a hybrid approach was explored; combining the Roland System 100M with a woodwind quintet. Eleanor was also involved in prepping the cinema prior to the actual performance, as pictured above.


'A selection of rarely screened early Japanese animation, showing some of the very first anime films, will be accompanied by electro-acoustic music on our biggest screen, with Benshi narration. Very few of the earliest animated films from Japan survive - after being screened alongside live action features, films were often sold on from cinemas to smaller mobile venues where they would be broken down and sold as single frames. The films that have been preserved in archives offer a fascinating glimpse into the beginnings of a rich history of Japanese animation which continues to this day, soundtracked by the Guildhall School's Electronic and Produced Music Studio'.