For my design practitioner comparison I have decided to write about Tal Rosner and Grant Gilbert. The reason for this is that they are both mainly involved in film and animation and I am also very interested in this area of design.
Grant and Tal come from very different backgrounds and are from totally different countries which means they gain inspiration from different places and cultures. They did, however, both study the equivalent to BA Graphic Design which is the subject that I study also.
When Grant finished the course he worked at planet 24 designing phone boards which was at the bottom of the design ladder. Tal seemed to be more focused on what he wanted to do and didn’t seem to start at the bottom but did what he wanted. Tal had realised from his course that he had a knack for movement and rhythm and Grant hadn’t been so precise in what he had wanted to do at this stage.
The way Tal speaks about his work is much more theoretical and almost scientific compared with Grant. He seems passionate and obsessive over his work in a way that Grant seems quite casual and relaxed even though his are of work brings a lot of pressure. This obsessiveness and attention to detail has brought him massive success within the industry aswell as winning a BAFTA award. Despite this I see Grant as having more respect and a bigger following within the TV world than Tal because he is well sought after by all the main companies for his renowned work. Tal’s work can be seen as very abstract and not to everyones taste and Grant’s work caters more to the masses and doesn’t do much to offend anyone. Although there was a time when him and his workers used up a £1.2 million budget on idents and a new identity for BBC. This was a total brand overhaul aswell as animation. Grant has the expereience of branding and identity from his past jobs that Tal wouldn’t have been able to call upon if he had been given the same job. This general knowledge of design by Grant could be seen as very positive by most people but for pure animation genius Tal would be the man to call as he has produced world renowned pieces including Stravinsky- Concerto for 2 pianos which combined the elements of groundbreaking techno animation with the classical tones of the piano and they work well together.
Tal prefers to work by himself and not have people interfering with his work. He is totally self taught on After Effects which is remarkable considering the work he creates. His believes adjustment = intrusion. He always tries to make his work tell a story and have a beginning, middle and an end. This can be achieved by working alone and being given blank canvasses to do what he wanted which was helped by a grant from channel 4 which helped him express himself through film. In contrast to this Grant is usually the head of a team or works as part of a team to achieve his objective. Although, he too likes to have his independence as he doesn’t like being told what to do either. He is essentially a freelancer working under the name of Double G Studios.
Channel 4 is a direct link between Grant and Tal as they have both produced impressive work for big projects with them. Tal produced the title sequences for the hit TV show ‘Skins’. He produced over 70 ideas for this including hidden scenes which had to be paused to see the idea. Aswell as this he, along with 5 other designers, was commissioned by channel 4 to create an experimental video. He was inspired by this poem :
Calm down
what happens
happens mostly
without you
by Josef Albers
He is also influenced by 1905-1935 design and modernism and believes that this is making a comeback aswell as the Bauhaus and visualising music. He can come up with a concept at any time and create it without a brief which could then be used 2 years down the line.
Grant’s work for Channel 4 was again more design based where he worked on the identity using film and image. He was involved in managing lighting, cameramen, concepts etc and created some really eye catching work which was groundbreaking for Channel 4 at the time. From this he also produced the identity for More 4 and this involved animating the logo. There was a massive amount of wild ideas created until a simple logo and animation was chosen which reinforced Grant’s idea that simple design is the best design.
The way they both go about their work is very different. Where Tal is structured and precise, Grant will go for a softer approach to engage with a wider audience. I don’t think Tal cares much for this and is willing to upset a few people with his attitude and abstract work. If people don’t like his work he believes it’s worth it if anyone else does. Tal liked to work with a grid system where if something goes to the right it will come back to the left etc so his work always had a certain structure. He also used repetition and tiling to give effect of zooming out and pattern. He told us about the technique of grading which is the editing of an already edited film where colours can be changed. Apparently a difficult process. Grant likes to take snippets out of the brief and exploit them. This can be seen when he was commisioned by the BBC to rebrand BBC1. The current logo was a red box with BBC1 in which was went to symbolise rhythm and movement but looked boring and not special enough for the BBC. He sought to make the logo softer and show the unity and coming together that the BBC want to achieve.
Overall Tal and Grant are very talented in what they do. Tal is more focused on one discipline and Grant is adaptable. In many ways they have similar views to the way they work but produce totally different work and have their own very distinct styles.
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