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We're gonna go back, way back, back into time...

For my third review i thought i might turn the critical eye upon myself and some previous animation work i did whilst i was a student at Leeds Met.

The brief entailed making a stop motion animation to act as an intro to a new TV programme. The work was done in groups, although mine only consisted of me and one other person, we were to create the audio track from elements of the visual and synchronize one to the other.

We decided to do our intro for a student cooking programme, which meant we would have to create the soundtrack from eggs cracking, pots and pans and any other kitchen based items. We spent 3 weeks creating the beat and everything you hear aside from the scratching is homemade. The shoot took us two weeks and post production one more,this was extremely time consuming because of distinct lack of animation skills we had, which was to be expected considering we were music tech students.

We received a distinction for the piece, which i feel we deserved simply for the amount of man hours myself and James Cope undertook, whilst others shared their work load between 5 or 6 people. The visual editing is pretty hideous and naive, but it is a light hearted video that is carried by an up-tempo instrumental, which references the images on screen enough so much so that the viewer doesn't lose interest.

I would like the opportunity to try something like this again, though i much preferred making the soundtrack as opposed to the pain-staking procedure of moving vegetables around at no mile per hour.

I hope you enjoy the old-school flavas and for those with sharp wits, keep your eye out for the fight club reference!!!!

Praying to that porcelain toilet

'Cannibal Ox' are a rhyming duo from New York, whose debut album 'The Cold Vein' was released on Definitive Jux records in may of 2001. It's sound brought promise for a bright, changing future in hip-hop, with El-p providing the space age industrial instrumentals for the two emcees Vast Aire (the big fella) and Vordul Mega (the nipper) to propel their outlandish wordplay over.

The album features many stand-out tracks, though only one made it to a visual medium (not that a music video is a gauge of a songs brilliance) "Painkillers" can be viewed as just another run of the mill drug ballad, but the poetic detail and observation both lyricists apply to the chosen topic make it stand apart from many of its predecessors. Vast Aire gives one of his better performances on the album and manages to combine hilarious metaphors with eerie descriptions of life.


"I might tell you something that'll change your death /Pain kills the life, Pleasure loves the breath"

The video is synchronized to the track perfectly and director Zach Johnson uses the standard 'rap to camera' style in a such a way that makes you forget that is was probably made on next to no budget. All in all the video is one of the better of its kind and is a good representation of the music of the Def Jux label.

The Original Stencil Pioneer....

"I am Blek, Blek le Rat. I am a French graffiti artist. I was one of the first artists to use stencils for an artistic purpose in Paris in the beginning of the 1980s—in ‘81 exactly. At first, I put rats and I made them run along the wall. I wanted to do a rat invasion. I put thousands all over Paris...."

'Original stencil pioneer' is a short documentary film about revolutionary french graffiti artist 'Blek le Rat'. He is said to be the one of the innovators of stencil art in Europe and also one of the first people to bring the influences of New York across the Atlantic.

The film documents his life in graffiti and allows the middle aged artist to reflect upon his career on the streets, as well as his degrees in Architecture and Graphic Design. He talks in depth about his reasons for his political stencils and why there was need for them in Paris in the early 80's.

The pieces chosen show Blek's progression, rather than simply showcasing his best work. This may initially seem tedious, but the narrative shows the strong connection between the man and the art. The interviews featured are interesting, but there isn't enough exploration of a career spanning nearly thirty years in length and this is the major let down of the film. Many shots are replayed over and over and the general editing of the piece doesn't do justice to the creative genius it attempts to portray.

The DVD includes a gallery of additional photos, but these are simply stills of work included in the film and do not help to feed the hunger the viewer is left with after watching the short 30 minutes of footage.
Overall the film serves its purpose in giving you an insight into the man behind the art, but in no way does it delve into enough detail of a mind that has altered an entire generation of artists, including most notably 'Banksy'. The body of work included is limited, though this may be due to the fact it had either been removed or that Blek did not give director 'King Adz' full access to the photo collection him and his professional photographer wife will have collected over his vast career.

Despite this drawback the film is a good watch for any creative type and for those who are interested in graffiti or hip-hop it is essential viewing.

To read an interview with Blek click on : THE SNEAKY BLEK