La Serenissima - Rondo Veneziano
Twenty years before Daft Punk ever considered releasing Interstella 5555, an Italian Orchestra called Rondo Veneziano released an album that was a surrealist mix of bass, synth, drums and violins, written and orchestrated by Maestro Gian Piero Reverberi. This was matched with an animated short drawn and animated in a Japanese style and influenced by the pulp magazines and comic books of the late 70's and early 80s by Walter Cavazzuti & Giovanni Ferrari. The result was what you see above in all its pulpy Heavy Metal glory.
You think Heavy Metal was some kind of influence here?
You can clearly see the inspiration of the music video, art and album covers is based on the covers of Heavy Metal and Omni magazine. Raising Venice is an obvious choice for the Italian creators, and the mix of the rock-opera-roller-boogie vibe is strangely a pretty good marriage for the animation. Rondo Veneziano made several other animated shorts to pair with his music over the years, all based in science fiction and high fantasy. Quite the reality check when you compare the quality and music of this animation and some of the other things we find beautiful and different today. If you dig around enough, you may find out what you think is unique has already been done, and occasionally.. in some ways better.
Enjoy some HQ animation cells below:
