GENN turns their album cover into a 3D online interactive space
Band member Leanne Zammit of GENN explains the creativity and artistic passion that went behind their 3D interactive album art.
The Internet is a magical thing. The tools we have access to in the modern day give us the most impressive means and opportunity to present ourselves than ever before.
The issue? The same goes for everyone else. Many, many people have something they want to present to the world. A good number of those have a multitude of avenues to do so, thanks to the current state of the Internet. However, it can be really easy to be disheartened due to the sheer amount of material online. So, how are we supposed to stand out when everyone else is trying their best to do the same?
As I have been in a band for the past 8 years, I have come face to face with this question time and again. My current band, ĠENN, is about to release our first album, and the stakes have never been higher!
To complement the album’s cover art concept (for the viewers at home – it is a fully rendered house fantastically designed by @ajnakkathings and @marcfrancisprints over on Instagram), we decided it would be fun to transform it as a browser-based 3D space.
Conceptually, unum 3D is designed to present the mundane. This computer-generated image slowly begins to take on a life of its own, presenting us with unexpected turns and surprising tricks that make some of it not so mundane after all.
As a companion to the album, the 3D house engages with the lyrical themes in a dimension outside of, but in tandem to, what the music offers. We first offered it as an unlock page reward for people subscribing to our mailing list, and then made it available to the public in late August.
Having a virtual 3D space is by no means a new concept, though. Bands like Gorillaz did this several times over the 2000s and early 2010s with their Flash-based games and representations of their fictional Kong Studios and Plastic Beach.
If you go even earlier, they had also made a ‘game’ version of their 19-2000 video – Gorillaz Final Drive. The level of interactivity was close to zero, and it was very easy to make it glitch (a Youtube search corroborates this), but equally, many recollect the thrill of engaging with what is still a very well-known music video.
Now, of course, we’re 20 years past that point, but the essence of what made using the likes of Flash to make mini-games back then still holds true. Recognizing the Fortnite-have-already-done-it side of things, we still see projects of this type show up. The band Covet recently put together an online 3D art gallery to promote their latest album, asking people in the lead up to submit their art so that it can be displayed in the same space, alongside the art of the band itself.
Inviting prospective audiences to actively participate in your art is a tried and true way to win people over. From making a video game in place of a music video, to adding dimension through visual, narrative or lyrical ties to your music project, there are a myriad of ways to give your audience new ways to get invested in your creative world. Not only is this key to making lifelong fans, but also a sure way of rising a few rungs up the challenging ladder we call showbiz.
Click here to check it out yourself!
