New York creative content house Hero Studios and Barcelona animator/AD Germán Di Ciccio add visual insights to a Radiolab podcast “about music, memory, and what it means to be human” by exploring the phenomenon of musical hallucinations.

Germán Di Ciccio: “This is a tribute short film dedicated to [American psychoanalyst and UCLA psychiatry professor] Leo Rangell. In this episode, he discusses the extraordinary condition that enabled him to experience hallucinations while listening to music.
 

“The narrative was already beautifully put together by Radiolab, so our challenge was to condense the original 20-min episode to just a few minutes.”

 
“We knew from the beginning we wanted to make something different, and yet within the reach of a small, passionate team. The primary sources of inspiration for the visual style were the works of the French artist Henri Matisse and contemporary collage illustrations.

“The narrative was already beautifully put together by Radiolab, so our challenge was to condense the original 20-min episode to just a few minutes. We quickly realized we were dealing with two narratives in one. The first one explained the science behind a song getting stuck in your head, while the second narrated Leo’s story.”

Watch the animatic:
 
 

 

 
Production: Hero Studios
Director: Patrick Scerri, Germán Di Ciccio, Alejandro Norman
Visual Development: Germán Di Ciccio
Animator: Adrián Doménech
Concept Artist: Matheus Castro

Sound Design: Wes Latta

Special thanks: Radiolab, Leo Rangell