Dido and Aeneas: An Opera on Film
Music holds the power to span over several generations and carry universal themes no matter the language.
Opera has been a form of musical storytelling that captures raw emotions the audience can relate to on a deeper level. Henry Purcell's 17th century opera, Dido and Aeneas, captures the feeling of love lost and found in times of struggle, both individually and within a community.
The Client
As one of the Big Seven musical conservatories in the country, the Cleveland Institute of Music recognizes the power classical music has and strives to ensure the success and creative growth of their students.
The school focuses on setting the students up for success and prides itself on its encouraging and skilled faculty. CIM graduates and leads in Dido and Aeneas Emma Nossem and Rachel Rose both praise the school for its uplifting atmosphere.
“People root for you. They're happy when you succeed even if it's something you were both going for. It's a healthy educational environment, and the teachers are like that, too. There's no studio toxicity or anything like that. All of our faculty really have the same ideals of healthy and beautiful singing.”
-Rachel Rose, CIM Class of 2022
“When I got to CIM, it was just an unbelievably different experience compared to the other auditions I had taken at other conservatories and other schools of music. The admissions team was super welcoming and so were the members of the student body I met that day. I just remember leaving my audition thinking that if I get into (CIM) there's no question that I am going there.”
-Emma Nossem, CIM Class of 2020
The Project
Back in January 2021, CIM's Dean Southern had a big idea. Since the pandemic had taken away the opportunity to have live performances for the foreseeable future, what if an opera could be filmed like a movie?
Southern expressed this idea to production designer Inda Blatch-Geib and asked if there was anyone who could help make this a reality. Blatch-Geib had worked with Red Point on a few projects in the past, so she reached out to our owner, Eric Vaughan, and a meeting was scheduled!
Prior to our first meeting with CIM, we had recently done a shoot of a stage performance of The Nutcracker. Southern, however, wanted to go in a different direction. Vaughan and Southern instantly had creative chemistry and began firing off ideas for how we could make this project possible with the limitations of Covid in mind.
With all the feelings of anxiety and dread the world had been feeling at the time, Southern and Vaughan were inspired and decided to create a modern interpretation of Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with a dystopian and technology-driven twist.
Now, it was time to work our movie magic!
Pre-Production
CIM announced the production and put out a casting call for the available roles for the film to their opera students, and along with the list of roles, there was a note for the students to speak with their teacher about which part was appropriate for them.
Having studied the character for her Masters and also playing multiple different roles in the opera in the past, Rachel Rose proved herself to be a clear choice for the lead role of Dido. Emma Nossem also had previous experience with the opera, and being a talented mezzo, she was perfect to take on the role of the Sorceress.
CIM prepared the students to record their parts with the accompaniment of Grammy award-winning sound engineer Alan Bise, conductor Harry Davidson, and the CIM Orchestra. As a precaution during the pandemic, students recorded their singing parts individually.
Scriptwriting
Back at red point, it was our job to transform the 17th century opera into a movie script! To accomplish this, we listened to the libretto and placed all the singing parts, scenes, and actions into movie script format. Some adjustments had to be made since all the action would not be seen in the same area, unlike a stage performance. For example, we took the character Belinda and broke up the role into four separate characters; this change allowed us to show multiple locations while still maintaining narrative consistency.
Location Scout
We had lots of fun location scouting for our dystopian New Catharge. We wanted to find a place in Cleveland that had both a modern and dystopian feel and would allow us to take the original story, the baroque retelling, and our version of Dido and Aeneas and roll them into one. Lucky for us, the Westinghouse Building in Cleveland was exactly what we were looking for, with its street art and abandoned feel, and it had the artistic power to stand as its own character.
Production
Once the music, script, and location were ready, we were all set to start filming!
We began filming in May 2021, and due to scheduling and the students’ availability, we did not see or hear any of their performances until the day of shooting. We planned to shoot at both the Westinghouse Building and in our studio in Akron for scenes requiring a green screen.
What was wonderful about this shoot was from the lead cast to the ensemble, every single cast member was gifted, motivated, and prepared to take on the film. Even though many of the students had never acted or performed in a movie before, everyone took the challenge head on and used this as an opportunity to develop their performances.
Vaughan said, "I don't know if I'll have a cast again that is so directable and talented from top to bottom as this."
To accompany the dystopian approach we were taking with the story, production and costume designer Inda Blatch-Geib took advantage of the Westinghouse Building's amazing architecture and colorful designs. Her work in the production as well as the cast's wardrobe brought the vision to life and tied everything together flawlessly.
Post Production
Since Dido and Aeneas is an opera, there was an added element that needed to be taken into consideration when it was time for post production: lip-syncing.
Lip-syncing can be a tricky factor when editing, especially if the talent is lip-syncing to audio that is not their own. Lucky for us, the CIM students were following along with their own voices and music they knew well, so they were able to effortlessly match any movements and inflections from muscle memory. It made it simpler for us to sync the video and audio, while making purposeful edits if there were any issues with the lip sync. With the talents of Grammy award-winning sound engineer Alan Bise and conductor Harry Davidson, the lip sync created a stunning performance from the CIM students.
Another aspect of Dido and Aeneas's post production was the animation and VFX. To prepare for animation, our team went through the shot list and determined what needed to be accomplished and what type of VFX were needed.
For elements like the holographic phone, all shots had to be tracked and rotoscoped, so our team could later apply effects such as a hollow matrix, to give the footage a more digitized look.
Our animation team used a similar approach when building the Witches' World. The witches were meant to be in a post-apocalyptic universe within the opera, so when filming the witches' scenes, we utilized a green screen. Our 3D animator, Lauren Moore, built the world using 3D VFX in Unreal Engine.
Challenges
When working on any larger feature project, there will always be challenges to overcome; however, Dido and Aeneas had to face an obstacle no one had ever dealt with before: the Covid-19 pandemic.
When the school year began the previous fall, our friends at CIM did not think they would be producing an opera on film in May. Once the production was underway, CIM was nimble in their problem-solving and facilitated what we needed to make it happen while still being safe during the pandemic.
The Results
Since the release in 2022, Dido and Aeneas: An Opera on Film was a finalist for the 2023 Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera by OPERA America.
From the initial idea to the private screening at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Dido and Aeneas: An Opera on Film was hands down one of our most memorable and fulfilling projects.
Enjoy the trailer below, and stay tuned for more updates on our incredible opera on film!
