The All State

Media Credit: Jenny Wallace Various software and electronic equipment were used to create the audio and visual effects in "Metropolis Remix Live." [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Jenny Wallace Austin Peay State University Professor Barry jones answers questions after the show. [Click to enlarge]

Since 1927, the silent black and white movie "Metropolis" has stirred the imagination of many with its futuristic architecture and dark surrealism. It has inspired the design behind movies such as "The Matrix," "Blade Runner" and Tim Burton's "Batman."

Nov. 7, in the upstairs room of The Deli, one graduate student and two professors from Austin Peay State University unveiled their own rendering of "Metropolis".

Digital artists, Robert Fladry, Barry Jones and Kell Black have spent the past four months compiling and editing video footage and music for their piece entitled, "Metropolis Remix Live."

Lasting close to 30 minutes, "Metropolis Remix Live" is an artistic compilation of scenes from "Metropolis" and other, more recent footage from movies, newscasts and documentaries.

It is underscored by music pulled from artists like Rob Zombie, as well as electronic creations from Kell Black, an art professor at APSU who is also known as DJ Black Noise.

"At first I improvised on the piano," Black said. "Then I decided to make it an electronic extravaganza."

All three men decided to collaborate on the project in the hopes of accomplishing something most people don't get to see.

"We're doing something different here by adding video improvisation," said Barry Jones, an associate professor at APSU. "We've done club stuff in Nashville and thought it would be great to make this an event that was actually about something. Not a lot of people are doing this, so it generates interest."

The curiosity of students, faculty and friends was certainly piqued, proved by over 100 people showing up for the debut of "Metropolis Remix Live."

"More people showed up than we expected," said Robert Fladry, a graduate student at APSU.

"We put out 75 chairs, and ended up having standing room only."

"Metropolis Remix Live" is scheduled to go on tour, and will be shown in Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina by the time it ends in March 2008.

Their hardest decision wasn't about going on tour. It was about how to get everything to work the way they wanted it to.

"It went pretty well for the first night," said Jones. "There are still a few things we need to work out. We had a few technical difficulties because we have to use a lot of computers."

"I'm already thinking of what needs to be reworked," Black said. "Just watching it tonight made us think of what needs to be slower, and what needs to be faster. This is a work in progress, and will probably keep evolving as we change different scenes."

Fladry, Jones and Black all agree that people should come to see "Metropolis Remix Live" for the entertainment and experience of incorporated art forms.

"There has always been a disconnection between art and entertainment," Jones said. "People tend to think of art as being boring. This is art you can have fun with." For more information about "Metropolis Remix Live," or the men who created it, visit their Web site, www.fladryplusjones.info.

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