Situations, inspired by the Hollow project and In association with BBC Get Creative, set about to create a "digital forest" that would forever encapsulate the memories and experiences of people that wished to contribute.

Situations worked along side Bristol Creative Agency Extra Strong, who kindly approached me to collaborate with them. They wanted a short ambient piece written to complement the experience of navigating this digital woodland.

The Idea:

Whatever the sound palette would be, I decided a blend of organic and electronic elements would make for an interesting concept.

Why?

Because this was a digital impression of a real world environment and it's the real world the idea is paying homage too.

So, I wanted to have the real world woodland ambience; the wind through the leaves, the birds singing and chirping etc. intermingled with a synthetic soundscape that could convey a particular feeling for the experience.

When it came to deciding upon what the mood should be, I thought about what people were thinking once they'd decided to participate. They would be recalling memories.

So, whatever the textures would be, they would have to evoke a feeling of nostalgia and serenity. A pleasing sense of looking backwards and remembering something. But the premise of encapsulating these memories due to the uncertainty that these particular trees would still exist in the future also evokes a slight sense of melancholy. I set out to find a sound that captured these feelings.

The Inspiration:

The final product can be heard on the treebank site here:

http://www.buildtreebank.co.uk