Animate Projects Observer

Oliver Harrison

To coincide with the premiere of his Animate Projects commission for Channel 4′s Random Acts, this month we feature the wonderful artworks of Oliver Harrison.

Apocalypse Rhyme is Oliver’s latest film, created for Random Acts it was broadcast on TV on 24 April and is now showing on the Random Acts website here. Apocalypse Rhyme is a black and white, kaleidoscopic, multi-layered, hyper-kinetic typographical poem. Using the letters of the word APOCALYPSE each line explores different areas of our lives that have been eroded by recent events.

Oliver has a fantastic filmography with a distinctive style in his choice of monochrome colours, use of beautiful typography and the intricate and complex details within each of his films. He has a further two films in the Animate Collection which can be watched below.

Love is all (extract), Oliver Harrison, 1999

Spirit of Place (extract), Oliver Harrison, 1992

Apocalypse Rhyme will be available to watch at animateprojects.org from 24 May.

Watch a video interview with Oliver on APEngine from 2009 here.

 

About Oliver Harrison

Oliver Harrison graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 1988. His graduation film Amore Baciami – a film made up entirely of typography – received much acclaim and was later bought by DMB&B and made into a commercial for the Royal Mail. This commercial subsequently won a string of awards including a Gold Lion at Cannes Advertising Awards, a Gold Arrow at the British Advertising Awards, The Epica d’Or and a Silver Pencil at the D&AD Awards.

Since 1988 Harrison has made a successful career as a live action director, having made commercials for Nike, Marie Claire, P&O Ferries, The Independent newspaper, Molson Beer, Toyota, IBD and MTV. Many of these commercials feature music written by Harrison, sometimes in conjunction with other composers. Oliver also designed the titles for the Oscar winning Howard’s End.

Oliver Harrison has made six short films: Amore Baciami (1988), Time (1990), Spirit of Place (1992 ), Love is All (2000), The Fallen Word (2011) and Apocalypse Rhyme (2012). Love is All – a three minute epic – has been shown in over 70 festivals around the world, including the celebrated Cannes Director’s Fortnight. The film has picked up seven awards including the Jury prize at Oberhausen and New York. The making of the film was featured at the Barbican exhibition, Passionate Obsessions, and at the Tate Modern exhibition, Thresholds of the Frame. Love is All has also gone on general release in the UK, Germany and Switzerland as a supporting film (cert U). The Fallen Word, is a dark sinister ‘fairy-tale’ starring Julian Bleach, Steve Smith and Emma Hill.

For more information visit Oliver’s website.