Masks: masks of the carnival and the stage

Choose the mask with the Mask control: on the template page, in Classic's look settings, in Studio's layer settings, on a Timeline clip's look, in the Layers tool, in Generate visualizer, in the Video studio and on the Layer assets page. Every look of the visualizer shows the mask you choose, so a project keeps its look when you switch.

The masks come from theatre and festival traditions and are drawn to be true to them. No sacred or ceremonial object of a living religious tradition is among them, no real person and no character from a film or a game.

• Venetian carnival: The masks of the Carnival of Venice: the bauta, the colombina, the volto, the moretta and the beaked medico, in gilded papier-mache, porcelain white and black velvet.
• Commedia dell'arte: The leather half masks of Italian street theatre's stock characters: the servant Arlecchino, the old merchant Pantalone, the schemer Brighella and Pulcinella with his long nose.
• Greek theatre: The comedy and tragedy masks of ancient Greek theatre, wide-mouthed so the actors' voices carried, the emblem of the stage ever since.
• Noh theatre: Carved and painted wooden masks of Japan's Noh stage, whose expressions seem to change as the actor tilts them toward the light or away.
• Kabuki: Kabuki's kumadori: bold lines painted on a white face, their colour telling the audience the character.
• Peking opera: The painted faces of Peking opera, whose colours carry a stage meaning: red for loyalty and courage, black for integrity, blue for a steadfast, fearless spirit.
• Carnival and masquerade: Mardi Gras in purple, green and gold, the lace mask of a masquerade ball and a superhero-style domino.

• Open the Masks template

Each by its tradition, as the picker groups them:

• Colombina: The Venetian half mask, named for the commedia's maid: gold leaf over the eyes and cheekbones, jewels at the brows, a fan of feathers and silk ribbons.
• Bauta: The Venetian full mask with a jutting square chin and no mouth, so its wearer could eat and talk unknown: white, edged in gold, under a black tricorn.
• Volto: The plain white Venetian full face, also called the larva: porcelain smooth, serene, its lips closed, a whisper of gold at the brows.
• Moretta: The small black velvet oval of the Venetian carnival, with no mouth: its wearer held it on with a button between the teeth and stayed silent.
• Medico della peste: The beaked Venetian carnival costume after the old plague doctors: ivory with gold scrollwork down the long beak, round glass eyes and a black hat.
• Arlecchino: The commedia dell'arte's nimble servant: a black leather half mask with arched brows, small round eyes, a snub nose and a bump on the brow, ribbons in his diamond patches.
• Pantalone: The commedia dell'arte's old Venetian merchant: a brown leather half mask with a long hooked nose, white bushy brows and a drooping moustache.
• Brighella: The commedia dell'arte's scheming innkeeper: an olive leather half mask with sly slanted eyes, a hooked nose and a black moustache.
• Pulcinella: The commedia dell'arte's Neapolitan clown: a black half mask with a long beaked nose and a furrowed brow, under his tall white hat.
• Comedy mask: Greek theatre's comedy mask, the muse Thalia's: a broad open grin, raised cheeks and laughing eyes, in gold, with a wreath of curls.
• Tragedy mask: Greek theatre's tragedy mask, the muse Melpomene's: a mouth turned down in grief and brows drawn up, in silver, with a wreath of curls.
• Ko-omote: The Noh mask of a young woman: a white face, painted eyebrows high on the brow, hair parted in fine strands and the faintest smile, brighter as it tilts up and sadder as it tilts down.
• Shōjō (Noh): The Noh mask of the red-faced sea sprite who loves sake: a vermilion face, a happy smile with dimples and high painted brows.
• Hannya: The Noh mask of a woman consumed by jealousy: gilded eyes, two horns, an open mouth and brows knotted in anger and sorrow, carved in pale wood.
• Kumadori: Kabuki's sujiguma face paint for a hero of bold deeds: a white face with red lines sweeping up from the brows and out from the eyes, the brows painted black and fierce.
• Peking opera red face: A Peking opera painted face in red, the stage's colour of loyalty and courage, with black brows sweeping up and white about the eyes.
• Peking opera black face: A Peking opera painted face in black, the stage's colour of integrity and an upright, impartial spirit, with white brows and markings.
• Peking opera blue face: A Peking opera painted face in blue, the stage's colour of a steadfast, fearless spirit, with black and white markings round the eyes.
• Mardi Gras: A Mardi Gras half mask in the carnival's purple, green and gold, sequinned, gilded at the edge and crowned with feathers.
• Masquerade ball: A masquerade ball's eye mask of black lace, its silver filigree grown along the edge, with satin ribbons.
• Domino mask: A superhero-style domino: a sleek lacquered eye mask with pointed tips, black with a crimson edge.

No mask is a picture. Each is a recipe the visualizer builds every frame: a silhouette from a family of curves (a full face, the jawed bauta, a half mask with its brow wings, an eye mask, the Noh oval, a wide-mouthed theatre face, a commedia half mask, a painted face), mirrored so both halves always match, with its eyes, brows, nose and mouth.

Then its ornament is grown: gold filigree vines that grow along the edge, curl by curl, as the song builds and bloom on the drop; jewels set at matching points; feathers fanned along a curve; and silk ribbons that hang and blow with simple cloth physics. Last its material: gold leaf with a highlight sweeping across it every two bars (more slowly across a mask that fills the frame), gilded white, porcelain with a fine crackle, silver, lacquer, black velvet, leather, the carved and painted wood of the Noh stage, face paint, sequins or lace.

Each mask's brows, eyes and mouth follow the song's mood: Greek theatre's comedy and tragedy masks turn all the way from one to the other as the song turns, the carnival masks lift their brows and smile, and the Noh masks keep their carved faces and tilt instead, brighter as they tilt up and sadder as they tilt down, as on the Noh stage. Every mask glances and breathes on the beat.

The candles, chandeliers, footlights and lanterns pulse with the kick, the jewels and sequins glint with the highs, and the drop is the big moment: the mask lifts away to reveal the light behind it, the game's hidden light pours out and the parade's biggest firework bursts. With no drop, these come at the start of each eight-bar phrase.

In the game the masks swap places along arcs on the beat, and every round their swaps bring each mask home, so a phrase-long clip starts and ends on the same picture. At the ball the couples take three steps a bar when the song is in three and step on every beat when it is not.

Each look is a moment, and every mask plays in all of them:

• The Masquerade: A masquerade ball: couples in masks waltzing round the floor under crystal chandeliers, three steps a bar when the song is in three and a step on every beat when it is not, the masks catching the candlelight as they turn.
• The Mask Wall: A wall of masks in a Venetian shop, the chosen one in the middle: on every beat a ripple runs out from it and each face lifts its brows and smiles in turn, the gold catching the light as it passes.
• The Mask Game: A shell game of masks: they swap places along arcs on the beats while one of them hides a light, and when the round turns (on the drop, the most) that mask lifts and the light pours out. Every round the swaps bring each mask home.
• Theatre: A stage behind a gilded proscenium: the mask in the spotlight, its face turning with the song's mood, comedy and tragedy above the curtains, the footlights pulsing on the beat.
• Carnival: A carnival parade at night: a great mask riding its float over the crowd, masks held high on poles, lanterns swinging on the beat, confetti falling and fireworks bursting over the palazzi on the drop.
• The Unmasking: The big moment: the mask fills the frame, breathing and glancing as the song builds, light leaking round its edge, and on the drop it lifts away to reveal the light behind it.

Every light that rises with the music (the gold's sweep, the light behind a lifting mask, the footlights, the lanterns, the fireworks) goes through the flash limiter first, which holds flashes to fewer than three a second, red ones too. Repeating patterns (the filigree, the wall of masks, the curtains' folds, the stage's boards, the rows of lamps, the light's rays) ask the site's pattern guard how much contrast they may have, and the masks lift and swap at a pace that keeps their bright faces from flickering. The Contrast setting lowers it all further.

Beside the colours, speed, glow and the settings every look has, the visualizer has its own, labelled the same in every editor, and SW Agent can set each one by its name:

• Mask: Which mask the moments show: its tradition's shape, material and ornament, and how its face moves with your song. Choose any of the 21 masks below.
• Ornament: How far the filigree grows along each mask's edge (it grows as the song builds and blooms on the drop), and how much the feathers sway. From 0 to 1.5.
• Gold sheen: The highlight that sweeps across gold, gilt and lacquer every two bars (more slowly across a mask that fills the frame), brighter with the song's energy. From 0 to 2.
• Expression: How far the faces turn with the song's mood, from tragedy to comedy, and how much they glance and breathe on the beat. From 0 to 1.5.
• Lights: How bright the candles, chandeliers, footlights and lanterns. They pulse with the kick. From 0 to 2.
• Couples: How many couples waltz round the ballroom behind the couple in front. From 2 to 8.
• Variation: Another take on the same scene: the game's swaps, the wall's other masks, the dancers and the fireworks. The same number always gives the same scene. From 0 to 99.
• Ribbons: How long the masks' silk ribbons are and how hard the music's breeze blows them. From 0 to 1.5.
• Confetti and sparks: The parade's confetti and the sparks thrown out when a mask lifts. From 0 to 1.5.
• Reveal light: How much light pours out when a mask lifts: in the game at every round, at the unmasking on the drop. From 0 to 1.5.
• Masks in the game: How many masks swap places in the game. From 3 to 5.

Layer assets and the Layers tool offer each look's own layers (the ballroom, the chandeliers, the dancers, the wall, the other masks, the chosen mask, its ribbons, the hidden light, the stage, the comedy and tragedy above it, the street, the lanterns, the fireworks and the crowd) on their own, each named for its mask, to add to any project. Motion graphics has every look as a design to customize; Generate visualizer can put a masks layer over your picture; and the Stream studio has it in its rotation.

• Browse Layer assets
• Generate a visualizer from a picture

Ask for it by name: "make a masquerade visualizer", "a bauta lyric video" or "a kabuki video for TikTok", and SW Agent builds the project with the mask already chosen. In an open project, say "switch the mask to harlequin", "more ornament" or "longer ribbons", or ask it to apply the masks look; each change is one step of undo in Classic and in Studio.

Through our MCP server, get_engine lists every mask with its tradition, and build_editor_setup opens Classic or Studio on any of them (its maskId, by id or by name). A link with ?mask= on the editor's address opens the look on that mask too.