Illuminated Manuscripts DVD

DVD Features:

• 17 Animations
• Ambient Remixes
• 6 Eternal Loops
• Source Stills Slideshow
• 5.1 Dolby Surround
• Organic Computer Animation

Layering computer manipulations over scenes of ancient temples, forests and doorways, this DVD introduces a new experience of art that draws its spirit from nature, film and special effects. Perfect for home theater enthusiasts, with eye-popping visuals set to electronic world music.

Step into ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS and enter a liquid kaleidoscope of color, art and form. Ancient temples, forests and doorways transform into a world of transcendental beauty through a unique blending of computer animation, video and photography.
Images and ideas flow and pulsate, opening like flowers before turning into new and mysterious shapes. Watch the unfolding of an ancient manuscript, as evocative and forgotten symbols take on a life of their own.

One can select from the three sections or instead be carried on the entire journev from beginning to end. “MAIN” begins the journey with 13 animations that vary in length; each can be viewed in its own right, while parts 5-12 comprise the “Journey Cycle.” Then there is “AMBIENT”, whose new and remixed works, possessed of a relaxed and meditative nature, are presented as images flowing one into another; with text appearing, changing and renewing. The final section is “FEATURES”. This includes both a gallery of stills combined with ancient symbols and text translations, along with
“LOOPS; 6 moving sections featuring waterfalls and a glistening forest among other tranquil scenes playing continuously.

Presented in full screen format, Dolby Digital surround sound accompanies the images with a seamless blend of international music and electronica. The DVD has been mastered by R&B Films so as to insure the best possible image for home viewing.
Let ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS spark your imagination and be your guide on a journey of self-discovery.

Learn more at Arktek.com

“‘Illuminated Manuscripts” is a title which doesn’t tell one much. Originally, illuminated manuscripts are what the medieval monks turned out in their cloisters, creating new bibles by hand, “illuminating” them with fabulous borders of gold leaf and colored inks.
This DVD is a bit different.

What producer John S. Banks and composer Fritz Heede have put together here is a collection of, as they put it, “meditative journeys into the spirit of nature.” Indeed, they have taken some wonderful pieces of outdoor photography, nature shots, ancient temples, primeval forests and decorative doorways and transformed them with highly imaginative computer graphics to create a completely eye-catching, and yet marvelously soothing set of short music videos.

This is not, of course, the kind of video you sit down to watch in the same way you would the new “Spider-Man” movie, or even an old one. Like all music videos, the best use for this highly imaginative disc is for background. In this modern age, one’s television (if that’s what you’re still using as your monitor in this fast-paced future of ours) is more than just a stage. It is an extra window, one that can bring us all manner of worlds to sooth our tired eyes.

Thanks to Heede’s always welcome compositions, the videos in this collection are amazingly relaxing. This is the perfect album to put on during parties, quiet dinners for two. or even for making one’s wav through boring household chores like folding clothes, rolling coins, doing the bills, etcetera. One doesn’t have to pay strict attention.

One can look whenever they want, and when they do, some interesting eye candy will be accompanying those always stress-releasing Heede melodies. This is not to dismiss the animated section of “‘Iluminated Manuscripts.” Far from it. Unlike many such discs, the animators here have worked hard to keep from simply repeating the same boring fades over and over. Each segment has its own style, and vet the strong central motif of magical doorwavs throughout time and space holds the entire set of images together without imposing some sort of nonsensical importance to the whole. It is this casual approach, this self-knowledge of what the project is actually about which makes it works so well.

The package contains 17 animations, a terrific set of ambient remixes and six “eternal loops.” The total running time is 84 minutes. The score was done in 5.1 Dolby Surround. All in all, a great little package.

C.J. Henderson
Author of “The Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction