Official Blog of City Sonic Toronto

Director: Rob Pilichowski, 2009
Sarah Slean was caught between two worlds. The singer/songwriter was studying classical piano at the Royal Conservatory of Music at the University of Toronto, but her pop tendencies were in need of nurture. Only a few blocks away, in the backroom of the Rivoli restaurant and bar, Sarah knew that non-virtuosos were enthralling audiences. As a teenager, she had been slipping into town from her home in Pickering to watch shows by the likes of Hayden and Kurt Swinghammer since she was in high school in Pickering. In this poetic short, the singer reveals how the Conservatory shaped her music education, but how getting to play the Rivoli helped transform her from a frustrated music student into an innovative performer who combines both classical and pop. Featuring exclusive animations of Sarahs visual art and excerpts from her latest recording, The Baroness.

ROBERT PILICHOWSKI is not only music video director and filmmaker he’s an animator (check out his opening title sequence for David Cronenberg’s eXistenz). We paired him with another visual artist: singer Sarah Slean, whose paintings Rob brought to life in their City Sonic film about her musical evolution from Philosopher’s Walk to the Rivoli.

LL: Give us your “”elevator ride”" pitch: the concept for your film in three sentences or less.
RP: The episode on Sarah Slean deals with her balancing wanting to learn music theory at U of T and the Royal Conservatory, while yearning to perform with her peers in the bars of Toronto, such as The Rivoli.

LL: What did you learn about Sarah that surprised you?
RP: What impressed me most about meeting and working with Sarah is how down to earth, humble and genuine she was in person. It makes my job that much easier when the interviewee is an open book and is excited to tell their story.

LL: Tell us about animating Sarah’s art. What was your approach?
RP: Sarah is not only an accomplished songstress but a talented multi media artist. When I first saw her art, I knew I wanted to bring her paintings to life through animation. I painstakingly cut out elements of her paintings to create separate elements, then I moved a camera through the environment. I also animated some graphics, layering them on top of the live action because Sarah spoke in such a visual and poetic way.

LL: How do you see the future of films made for mobile?
RP: I think there will be more and more films made for mobile and by mobile phones. I honestly don’t think a mobile phone is the best way to view a film, however. I see mobile phones becoming more like VCRs, where we use the phones as a player that projects the films onto our glasses for instance. So imagine the famous Blublockers sunglasses but with video!”

To explain why the Rivoli meant so much to her Sarah Slean had to first describe her experiences at the University of Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. It was here where she learned the fundamentals that would rank her as one of Canada’s most talented female artists, but it was the Rivoli that taught her the things that she couldn’t learn in school. Check out the production pics from Sarah’s tour of her old stomping grounds here.