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City Sonic (2009)

Through an immersive multi-platform music-video experience, 20 of Toronto’s top music artists tell intimate stories about the places and musical events that inspired them.

A co-venture of Kensington Communications and White Pine Pictures, City Sonic was distributed as an interactive experience for mobile and the web, and the short films were packaged as a four-episode half-hour series for AUX and IFC in Canada.

The project was selected for screening at the Toronto International Film Festival 2009. While the website has been decommissioned, you can still watch the videos on YouTube.

 

WATCH ON YOUTUBE

 

SYNOPSIS

City Sonic unlocks the hidden history of Toronto’s music scene.

As a nexus of Canadian music, the city has been enriched by wave after wave of homegrown and international musicians. Its stages, streets and alleys resonate with the notorious jams, numbing heartaches, and lucky breaks that are the city’s musical DNA.

City Sonic is a multi-platform music series that delivers its stories straight into the hands of music fans. It’s their mobile backstage, all-access pass to 20 revealing short films featuring contemporary music stars including Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene, Cancer Bats, Tyler Stewart of Barenaked Ladies, Sarah Slean, Fucked Up, Justin Rutledge, Danko Jones, Divine Brown, and Geddy Lee of Rush!

Each short film tells the story of one musician and their shared history with a legendary Toronto music venue. City Sonic creates a high level of engagement with the city through breakthrough location-based storytelling and a gaming component made for smartphones.

 

CREDITS

Executive Producers
JANICE DAWE
ROBERT LANG
PETER RAYMONT

Producer (Films)
ROBERT LANG

Producer (Interactive)
DAVID OPPENHEIM
CAMERON MITCHELL

Mobile Development
ECHO MOBILE

Cross Platform Design
LIQUID REALITY

Story Researcher & Writer
LIISA LADOUCEUR

Interactive Writer
TRAVIS SELLAR

Directors
ANITA DORON
ROBERT LANG
PETER LYNCH
BRUCE MCDONALD
CHARLES OFFICER
ROB PILICHOWSKI
GEORGE VALE

Directors of Photography
STEPHEN CHUNG
STEVE COUSENS
JOHN PRICE
DEREK ROGERS
ADAM SWICA

Location Sound
DAMON DE SZEGHEO
STEPHEN DRANITISARIS
ROB FLETCHER
JASON MILLIGAN
BRANKO SALINOVIC

Editors
TRISTEN BAKKER
CHRIS CASSINO
CAROLINE CHRISTIE
JAMES BLOKLAND
MATT HANNAM
ROUZBEH HEYDARI
DUFF SMITH
GEORGE VALE

Production Manager
DAVID METH

Researcher
SCOTT MCMANUS

Archival Research & Clearance
JASON WHITE

Music Clearance
MICHAEL PERLMUTTER

Stills Photographer
MAXWELL N. LANDER

Production Assistants
JENN SCOTT
NAOMI LANG

Assistant Editor
JIM MCDONALD

Additional Editing
BAUN MAUH

Opening animation
ROB PILICHOWSKI

Opening animation music
PETER CHAPMAN

Marketing Coordinator
HEATHER PHENIX

Usability Consultant
STUDIO 33B

Development Consultants
TONY WALSH
JASON WHITE
JULIA BENNETT
BONNIE HILLMAN

Publicity
MICOL MAROTTI

Logo Design
DREW MACEACHERN
DEREK TOKAR

Production Accounting
CANDIS BUDER
MICHELE DAVIS

Legal
DANNY WEBBER

A Kensington Communications / White Pine Pictures Project made possible with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation on behalf of the Ministry of Culture. Produced with the participation of the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund and Telus Innovation Fund in association with AUX and with the participation of Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, the Toronto History Project and CIMA.