Saturday 1 November 2008

Tal Rosner


Tal is a film maker and graphic designer who has made his name with radical interpretations of musical compositions.
Most recently, Tal has won a BAFTA Television Craft Award (Best Title Design) for his title sequence for Channel 4's television series Skins.

One of Tal`s Latest offerings is a short animation called Without You, it is a visual exploration of London's industrial suburbia. The short was is inspired by a poem by Josef Albers, it focuses on the notion of natural and manmade environments existing side by side in harmonic indifference. Initially it seems like a walk around any generic industrial estate then the film starts to focus onto small details revealing the complexity of these apparently simple forms. These simple shapes become vividly complex. I love that he can turn these everyday, almost mundane shots of industrial buildings, which initially seem identifiable, into geometric abstractions of themselves where the original shot almost becomes unrecognizable and takes on a whole new dynamic. He utilises the software it has been produced on to enhance subtly, not obscure his original shots.

When Tal presented a lecture in stockport he showed many different videos, the body of his personal work seemed narrowed down by a single theme, exploring music visually, utilizing, non objective abstract forms. Only more recently for a commission for Channel Fours Skins has he had to make it less abstract animations, incorporating live filmed footage and symbolism relating to the characters. I think his work before the skins commission looked very studenty and experimental and i couldn't help but think of the lack of substance behind some of his animations for me there seemed to be an element of just making things because they "look good" with no real relationship to the music. This is why the strongest ones in my opinion had more direction, where the sounds and animation correlated to each other. It seemed allot of his work up until recently was experimental, he was exploring the possibilities of the software. It seems he has reached a new level within his work. Now he has mastered the software he can begin to explore more interesting content. When he has something to relate back to and react against his work becomes far mar interesting.

1 comment:

Abigail Addison said...

Here's Without You by Tal Rosner for anyone who hast yet seen it, plus interview, test film, stills etc.

http://www.animateprojects.org/films/by_date/films_2008/without_you